User talk:Geraldckane
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[edit] My advice to professor Kane before creating surveys:
- Create a userpage (yours is located at User:Geraldckane) that introduces yourself and explains your project.
- Solicit feedback and participation, as suggested above, on one of the Village Pump boards.
- Be as transparent as possible about the methodology and goals of your research, as well as the ultimate destination of this data. For instance, how did you get the figures of 2% and 5% -- did you measure frequency of contribution, or extent? During what editing period where these figures developed How are you going to account for the "self-selection" of your subject pool (that is, only folks that choose to respond to the survey)? You ask respondents to estimate how much time they spend on Wikipedia -- are you going to verify this answer with analysis of their editing patterns, or just take their word for it? At least a couple of the editors you contacted either a)primarily edited on the article's talk page or b)have very few edits to Wikipedia that are not to the Virginia Tech article. Ignoring the fact that the last group of people may have moved on and might not answer your survey at all, do you have any mechanism in place for distinguishing between these groups? Are you aware that during the heaviest periods of editing the article was vandalized several times, so many edits to the article are simply reversions of vandalism? It was also protected from editing from new and unregistered users at least once during this period.
- Where is this research going? Are you planning on publishing it? Is it part of a larger project? Book? etc?
- When/if you do create your survey again, I suggest you create a small template message to drop on user talk pages, with an internal link to a user sub page of your own that contains the actual survey. Your message as it stands takes up a lot of real estate. But that's just my two cents, there may be other, better ways to approach it that could be suggested by other community members.
- During your spamming spree last night, I posted the message on this page suggesting you research Wikipedia's policies more fully. You did not respond, and subsequently were blocked by another admin. I suggest that in the future if someone questions your actions, you pause them, and respond before continuing.
- Lastly, I don't know many professors that would spend their own time cutting and pasting a survey onto endless talk pages. I mean come on, most would have a student or research assistant do it. Can you assure us that you are the sole operator of this account and the only individual that uses it?
- I'll contact the blocking admin about your unblock request. Cheers Dina 12:29, 29 July 2007 (UTC)
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- Our messages crossed, Dina. I'd already unblocked Geraldkane and was writing a message when you posted your message. A few points about your otherwise helpful message: (i) your spamming spree seems an unnecessarily pejorative description at this point. (ii) Where is this research going? Are you planning on publishing it? Is it part of a larger project? Book? etc? The answer may be known and it may not be; Gerald might realistically have one paper in mind but hope for some extraordinary discovery that might provide material for three papers, etc. (iii) Lastly, I don't know many professors that would spend their own time cutting and pasting a survey onto endless talk pages. I mean come on, most would have a student or research assistant do it. "Endless" strikes me as a bit of an exaggeration, and not all teachers have research assistants or compliant students. I know some teachers who'd do this kind of thing. -- Hoary 12:42, 29 July 2007 (UTC)
- You are probably right about "spamming spree" and "endless" being a bit snotty though since I was editing at the time he started posting, that was definitely my real-time impression. Not sure that editing my post to make it nicer would be anything more than confusing however. I do think my concern about the actual poster being one of his students is valid. It may or may not be the case, but its certainly possible, and worth pointing out as frowned upon. Obviously I support the unblock. Cheers Dina 12:49, 29 July 2007 (UTC)
- OK, then, we pretty much agree. Gerald, what Dina's referring to is a rule that no user ID should be used by more than one person. Your students and assistant(s) are most welcome to participate as well, but if they do so they must do so with their own IDs. If Dina's fears are justified and you've already handed out your password to one or two associates, simply change the password and don't hand out the new one. -- Hoary 13:00, 29 July 2007 (UTC)
- You are probably right about "spamming spree" and "endless" being a bit snotty though since I was editing at the time he started posting, that was definitely my real-time impression. Not sure that editing my post to make it nicer would be anything more than confusing however. I do think my concern about the actual poster being one of his students is valid. It may or may not be the case, but its certainly possible, and worth pointing out as frowned upon. Obviously I support the unblock. Cheers Dina 12:49, 29 July 2007 (UTC)
- Our messages crossed, Dina. I'd already unblocked Geraldkane and was writing a message when you posted your message. A few points about your otherwise helpful message: (i) your spamming spree seems an unnecessarily pejorative description at this point. (ii) Where is this research going? Are you planning on publishing it? Is it part of a larger project? Book? etc? The answer may be known and it may not be; Gerald might realistically have one paper in mind but hope for some extraordinary discovery that might provide material for three papers, etc. (iii) Lastly, I don't know many professors that would spend their own time cutting and pasting a survey onto endless talk pages. I mean come on, most would have a student or research assistant do it. "Endless" strikes me as a bit of an exaggeration, and not all teachers have research assistants or compliant students. I know some teachers who'd do this kind of thing. -- Hoary 12:42, 29 July 2007 (UTC)
Thanks for the feedback. I admit that, although I have done alot of research into wikipedia and wikis, I am a relative newbie to the community norms and standards. I like the ideas mentioned above, to help me come across more clearly to the Wikipedia community. I will respond to the specific questions listed above on my talk page, and hopefully that will make my intentions more transparent. I do intend to publish my work in academic journals; but, as Hoary pointed out above, I am learning things I did not expect which is changing my target for the article. Also, I understand the concern about student assistants, and all posts from my account will be made by me and me alone. I do have assistants doing alot of work on the project, but mostly compiling and analyzing the data (once they assembled the list of top editors, it is relatively easy to send the form - thus, the perception of "fast spammer". I do like the link idea to administer the survey, and think its a good way to address the real estate issue. Again, I appreciate the feedback, and I do hope you check out the description of my research because it has been very interesting.--geraldckane 23:58, 29 July 2007 (UTC) 23:51, 29 July 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Feedback requested
Hi there! I like the way you've modified your data collection technique, and appreciate your willingness to cooperate with the community. As you have now found out, this place can be a bit of a minefield for new users, and sometimes toes are stepped on without any intention to do so. I'm glad this didn't scare you off, and hope that once you have the data you need that you decide to stay and become a Wikipedian! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to drop by my talk page! Also, I would love it if you would provide links to your research after you have finished compilation. I would find it very interesting to read! Thanks,--Xnuala (talk)(Review) 16:39, 30 July 2007 (UTC)
Hi Jerry. I've just reviewed your 'feedback' page as requested & it looks like you've toned things down greatly. People generally don't mind a short one or two lines on their page, in the case of surveys. Your rationale is a lot clearer now & people should be able to make a more informed decision as to whether they want to participate or not. I'd personally have not problem with this on my own talk page. May I suggest you maybe approach the Village Pump, state your intentions and wait a short while to get feedback from the community first before proceeding? Thanks - Alison ☺ 23:09, 30 July 2007 (UTC) Bold text
