The Rise and Decline of an Open Collaboration System

TLDR

Open collaboration systems such as Wikipedia depend on a steady stream of volunteer contributors, but recent studies show a persistent decline in active participants largely due to poor newcomer retention. This article investigates how policy changes designed to manage quality and consistency in Wikipedia have unintentionally stifled growth. The study examines the specific policy and algorithmic tools introduced to control quality and consistency amid rapid participation. The findings link decreased newcomer retention to the restrictive primary quality control mechanism and rejection algorithms, and to the inflexibility of formal norm articulation that resists changes proposed by newer editors.

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 politically 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.