Grants talk:IdeaLab/Culture of appreciation for volunteers

Thanks for starting this page, Bence, I think it is really important. How should we begin? What do you think about starting a brainstorm list of ideas in a new section on this idea, of all the ways we might focus on creating this culture, then perhaps we could look for a few to start with? I also wondered if you'd like others to join this idea...if so, all we need to do is add a YES after "more participants=" in the infobox markup. Seems like the more the merrier, for this idea :) Siko (talk) 19:19, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

Thanks Siko, I've opened the page for other participants and slow computer and real life concerns permitting, will be adding to it my ideas as well.

In short, I think though I haven't verified, our culture is generally not based on acknowledging when someone did something (well), but rather on skipping to the step of finding and suggesting improvements or offering criticism. There has been some small change ongoing in this area (the new "thank" button on wiki, the pilot of the shop and Wikilove) but the focus has not been on the more or "differently" engaged volunteers (certain functionaries, committee members, possibly developers and offline volunteers of affiliates).

I am hoping that we can identify some ways towards a culture that is more open in providing recognition and appreciation towards volunteers in a way that is consistent with our underlying values and the resources available. Typical suggestions that come to mind is to acknowledge and thank the volunteers involved every time they post a report of an activity they've conducted; to send out a thank you e-mail/card every year; organize some volunteer recognition days; or send T-shirts to outgoing volunteers.

Ultimately, once we figure out ways that this work and the resources this consumes, I would want all new programmes involving to be planned taking into account the recognition and appreciation of participants. E.g. if some form of physical recognition is chosen, then the postal addresses need to be collected; if the form of recognition is being featured in a prominent place on the project page or website then designer time and similar are needed, etc.

So that is the general idea, in the mean time, it would be fun to experiment with some of the ideas - I sure would be happy to receive a postcard this year in the mail, although I don't have an address at the moment... :) –Bence (talk) 21:42, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

Seems like a kind of empty idea for now? However I think it may be related to an idea that I've been trying to clarify, so I'm giving you the link here. I think the best way to describe it is to say that I'm trying to advocate for a concrete metric of contributions to help people see how other volunteers are contributing to the culture. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/Multidimensional_EPR_(Earned_Public_Reputation) Shanen (talk) 22:22, 29 July 2018 (UTC)