From: Andrew Gray <andrew.g...@dunelm.org.uk> > > The absolute number of "active" community members on enwp peaked in > early 2007 and has been in a slow decline more or less steadily since > then; it's currently about two thirds what it was. > > I was given permission to forward any portion of an email I received from MZMcbride, and this is a relevant portion:
"Sure, but there is a more fundamental question about what the goal and mission actually is. I see it as about content creation. Wikimedia's focus should primarily be creating the best free content it can. Others seem far more interested in creating a "movement" (a large social network)." From: Andrew Gray <andrew.g...@dunelm.org.uk> If we don't increase the rate at which we attract and retain new > contributors while we can, there's a real danger we could end up by > 2020 or 2025 with a virtually moribund community - a small handful of > devoted vandal-fighters spending their days trying to keep millions of > pages clean and stable, and no influx of new users worth mentioning > because no-one has the time to cultivate it. > > That proportion of active administrators to content pages is already the case at Wikibooks. It pains me to say it as a heavy contributor, but the number of admins has fallen to a third of what it was in 2007. [1] While I could hope for content growth instead, that's also stagnated. [2] From: wjhon...@aol.com > > It's fine to say nothing's wrong as the Titanic sinks, but it's still > sinking. > > If Wikipedia is the Titanic, the sister projects are the Britannic. [3] I mourn the loss of many "missing Wikibookians" myself who were seriously involved in the community, helped mentor me and give me the enthusiasm I have for the project, but have since left. Nowadays I feel alone and the discussion rooms are nearly empty. I was disappointed that the usability initiative and outreach focused solely on Wikipedia. -- Adrignola [1] http://www.wikistatistics.net/wikibooks/en/admins/full [2] http://www.wikistatistics.net/wikibooks/en/articles/full [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMHS_Britannic _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l