BGerdemann (WMF)

Admin survey

Hi. I was a very active admin for 9 years. I did the survey but felt confused after answering Q2 and then answering the following questions that are focused on users who are still admins. I though perhaps for greater impact the conditional logic feature of LimeSurvey could have been used to ask questions about why one is no longer an active admin. However, I did make a point of stating that I would more than welcome being contacted (by email) to provide further information and feedback. Here's some more background which you might find useful:

You can see my page on en.Wiki. I rarely edit Wikipedia now. I launched and led the first, and only in-depth research into adminship in 2011. You can see that project at WP:RFA2011, not to be confused with later actual reform projects led by others which while they did not use any specific research of that kind as part of their ideas, a few minor changes to the RfA process ensued and some excellent suggestions, as you know, are being trialed right now.

I wrote Advice for RfA Candidates also in 2011 which to the present day is still one of the the most oft cited and visited RfA info pages, and in 2013 Advice for RfA voters.

In 2018 while I was Editor-in-Chief of The Signpost, the en.Wiki's newspaper, I wrote a trilogy of three articles based on more recent research during which I also elicited comments from admins about their experience of RfA and their work as admins. See:

• 1. Has the Wind Gone out of The Adminship's Sails?
• 2. What do Admins Actually Do?
• 3. The last leg of the Admin Ship's current cruise

Once you cut through the comic relief in the intro of episode 1 there's a wealth of background there. I hope it helps your research. Nothing has changed much for RfA, but we'll see how the new election format works out.
Enjoy.
Kudpung (talk) 14:22, 3 November 2024 (UTC)

Many thanks @Kudpung for your survey response and this followup message. These are great resources. BGerdemann (WMF) (talk) 01:29, 5 November 2024 (UTC)

Hi @BGerdemann (WMF)e.

You're welcome. Don't hesitate to contact me if you would like a video chat. Kudpung (talk) 02:10, 5 November 2024 (UTC)

Captcha

Hi, just wanted to let you know that many users (myself included) report that they can't start the survey because the "captcha" is not allowing them to.
https://i.imgur.com/6n0YjEE.png Le Loy (talk) 20:35, 8 November 2024 (UTC)

Thank you for alerting us, @Le Loy. We are investigating this. BGerdemann (WMF) (talk) 21:09, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

Research on adminship

Dear Ms Gerdeman, You have recently left an invitation to participate in a survey about experiences of being an Wikimedia Project admin.

In this questionnaire there is a section titled "Ta sekcja zawiera pytania dotyczące codziennego doświadczenia jako administrator polskiej Wikipedii." ie. "this section contains questions of experiences as Polish Wikipedia administrator". The questions are all about being ENGLISH Wikipedia administrator, eg:
"Thinking back on the past 6 months, on average, approximately how many hours per week do you spend on tasks directly related to your role as an English Wikipedia administrator?"
"Overall, thinking of your role as an English Wikipedia administrator over the past 6 months, how productive do you feel?"
"Thinking of your role as an English Wikipedia administrator, how much do you agree or disagree with each of the following statements?"
"In your role as an English Wikipedia administrator, how frequently have you experienced any of the following interpersonal conflicts:"
etc

I have never been an English Wikipedia administrator, so why waste my time asking such questions? My involvement is purely voluntarily, contrary to, I guess, to yours. How much, may I inquire, you are making a year designing such "research"? Do your supervisors are aware of quality of the data you collect?

Because if the questions were actually to be about being Polish Wikipedia admin, but you could not be bothered to ask proper questions, I believe most of the participants will not be bothered to answer them properly. In other words, the results of this "research" will not be worth even virtual paper they will be presented on.

Such "support" from WMF really pisses me off badly and makes me question my involvement in Wikimedia movement.

Yours, Felis domestica (talk) 23:13, 8 November 2024 (UTC)

Hello @Felis domestica. Thank you for alerting me to this problem. The incomplete translation of the survey for administrators was an oversight on our part. The translated survey text was verified multiple times, but an implementation error meant that the changes were not reflected when the survey was sent. I apologize for the error and the resulting inconvenience. We have verified the survey content again and the translation should now be correct. BGerdemann (WMF) (talk) 21:25, 15 November 2024 (UTC)