The Rise and Decline of an Open Collaboration System: How Wikipedia's Reaction to Popularity Is Causing Its Decline. (May 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Halfaker, Aaron; Geiger, R. Stuart; Morgan, Jonathan T.; Riedl, John
• Other Names: Forte Andrea guest-editor.; Lampe Cliff guest-editor.; Wellman Barry guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: American behavioral scientist. Volume 57:Number 5(2013)
• Page Start: 664
• Page End: 688
• Publication Date: 2013-05
• Subjects: Peer production -- governance -- quality control -- retention -- Wikipedia; Social sciences -- Periodicals; Political science -- Periodicals; United States -- Social conditions -- Periodicals; United States -- Politics and government -- Periodicals; 300
• DOI: 10.1177/0002764212469365
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0002-7642

Abstract

Open collaboration systems, such as Wikipedia, need to maintain a pool of volunteer contributors to remain relevant. Wikipedia was created through a tremendous number of contributions by millions of contributors. However, recent research has shown that the number of active contributors in Wikipedia has been declining steadily for years and suggests that a sharp decline in the retention of newcomers is the cause. This article presents data that show how several changes the Wikipedia community made to manage quality and consistency in the face of a massive growth in participation have ironically crippled the very growth they were designed to manage. Specifically, the restrictiveness of the encyclopedia's primary quality control mechanism and the algorithmic tools used to reject contributions are implicated as key causes of decreased newcomer retention. Furthermore, the community's formal mechanisms for norm articulation are shown to have calcified against changes—especially changes proposed by newer editors.