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HijackingRecentChanges
MeatballWiki | RecentChanges | Random Page | Indices | CategoriesRecentChanges is the major meeting place for participants on a wiki. The members of the community proper read RecentChanges frequently, and are often RecentChangesJunkies. Further, RecentChanges is the primary means of soliciting PeerReview on a wiki because it automatically tracks all changes to the site.
However, RecentChanges does not scale very well. And making too many changes puts your name right out there in public, which is considered negative ala Wiki:NoKeening.
Consequently, when an individual makes a lot of changes to the wiki, it is sometimes (often?) embarassing to that individual to see her name so prominently on RecentChanges.
Sometimes, this can be alleviated by using MinorEdit. For instance, if you have a Wiki:RedPenObsession, it's actually obnoxious to bother everyone with your little tweaks. Flooding RecentChanges with spelling changes also denies the PageChurning aspect of fixing typos because it lowers the SignalToNoiseRatio.
Other times, this can be alleviated by being patient. Not replying right away, but holding off for another week. The WikiNow is patient.
But it really isn't a huge issue. Provided you aren't exceeding the community's ability to absorb your changes, there is no worry. You'll be able to judge this by seeing how many of your significant, thought-provoking comments actually provoke replies.
On the other hand, if you are the site proprietor, watch out! Flooding RecentChanges makes the wiki look like your exclusive domain. Back off, let others play. It's a community site, after all.
The "SeedPosting" page recommends that the founder plunge forward and add content every day, even if the founder is adding over 95% of all the content on the wiki. That seems to conflict with this "avoid flooding recent changes" advice.
Why do I panic when I hit "RecentChanges" on any wiki and almost all the edits on my screen are from one unfamiliar name? Because there are several ways that one person can hog recent changes, almost all of them bad.
- a spambot can quickly fill many pages with spam. Every minute I delay blocking this spambot might lead to another hour's work cleaning up the spam.
- I'm not using "Show preview" enough, and need to edit the same page over and over to fix minor typos I make. (The first WikiEngine collapsed all consecutive edits from the same person into one edit -- do any more modern WikiEngine have that feature?)
- I can't bear to let someone else get the last word in any conversation. WikiPedia:Wikipedia:The_Last_Word .
- I've managed to scare off or block everyone else.
- I am making many excellent, thoughtful, well-written contributions, during a lull when all the other editors are busy elsewhere.
Please continue making excellent, thoughtful, well-written contributions, even when there is a lull from other editors.