Is Editing More Rewarding Than Discussion? A Statistical Framework to Estimate Causes of Dropout from Wikipedia
Year: 2009
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: In this paper we address the question: what causes formerly active Wikipedians to stop contributing?Seen from a different angle, we estimate characteristics of users, pages, or the whole system that increase or decrease the probability of dropout.We propose a general statistical method with which hypothetical causes of dropout can be tested.With this method it can be analyzed whether the emerging structures in Wikipedia function as incentives preventing Wikipedians to stop contributing.Applying this method to a selection of active users reveals, among others, that participation in discussion pages, as well as editing controversial pages, increases the dropout hazard, whereas editing general content pages has an attenuating effect on dropout.Although our method is solely illustrated on Wikipedia, it can be easily applied to other Web 2.0 applications.
Source: KOPS (University of Konstanz)
Authors: Ulrik Brandes, Patrick Kenis, Denise van Raaij
Language: English
Subfield: Communication
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2097176066