When I came here first, I was intrigued. What on Earth motivates thousands of loyal contributers adding quality articles to this exceptional encyclopedia, in lieu of no apparent remuneration? A day as member of Wikipedia, I figured it out. Behind this mammoth encyclopedia, there lay a large community who cares for its members as family. I realised money is not the only remuneration that matters, peer review & peer appreciation of one's work can keep that person working from now to eternity. A word of appreciation, or even letting the person know his hard work has been noticed goes a long way to keep him editing. Wikipedia's magic lays in its simplicity of format. Before Wikipedia came out, even an insinuation that a free to edit encylopedia should exist would have been laughed at. Even Jimbo Wales admitted he expected a lot more vandalism and a lot less contributions. But peer-review is such a strong tool, that not only will the person contribute but also police himself (& others). An edit is all that's required to get hooked. So you see a redlink user, a guy with 5 edits to his name or even an IP address, give him a "good work mate". You might have created tomorrow's admin!
Cheers,
Asterion talk to me 18:13, 26 April 2006 (UTC)
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