User blog comment:MisterWoodhouse/The future of Chat/@comment-7180588-20200805215336/@comment-3218221-20200805223820


 * Different features serve different purposes on different wikis, and on some, it's chat that is the foundation of the community, on some its editing. If chat is removed, wouldn't that emphasize the other areas that had low traffic?

Communities? Editing is the foundation of all wikis. Without editors, there are no wikis. Certainly not up-to-date, well-written wikis with encompassing content. Your argument is (or should be) entirely moot, yet I suppose the fact you've made it is an unfortunate consequence of the Wikia to FANDOM rebranding--when FANDOM began extolling the vague, enticing idea of social communities and fandoms at the expense of wikis.

I absolutely agree with the idea wikis need communities--but wikis thrive when they have communities of editors, not socialites. Perhaps I'm biased or even bitter from an editor standpoint (as someone who does not have a community of active regular editors to rely upon for any of the wikis she administrates), but where do the wikis themselves factor in to the communities you've cited? How many of the regular users in chats actively contribute to the wikis they are on?

If the loss of Chat on a Wiki will see the loss of a majority of its active editors, then I would absolutely empathize with and support being up in arms. In other words, if you can prove the chat is the foundation of the wiki itself, that it attracts editors who contribute content and improvements to existing content (and allows those editors an immediate platform to discuss edits), then you'll have a case.

Of course, the argument can be extended to all social features; how many of the people who actually use Discussions or enter Discord servers or use Chat are people who actually edit? This blog post has nearly 700 comments in the span of three hours, which is unusual, and I suspect non-editors comprise a fair number of the people who have commented so far.

I'll certainly be interested to know if any wikis with active chats see an overt decrease in weekly edits post-removal/migration.

To be clear, I do have compassion for wikis that have active chats right now. I just take umbrage with the suggestion editing is somehow not the foundation of all wikis, and the implication it is 'optional' or 'less important' to some wikis than the ability to instant message other users.

When you say "emphasiz[ing] the other areas that had low traffic" I assume you mean activity, and frankly, exposing the dearth of edits on a wiki would probably be a necessary wake-up call. If a wiki turns into a ghost town following the removal of chat, but the amount of edits before and after remains minimal, then the conclusion there is the 'community' was more 'social platform' than 'wiki' in the first place--and that Chat wasn't attracting or facilitating editors anyway.

To be fair, I find myself often nursing the same thoughts about Discussions or Article Comments or even both styles of Forums. This past year / these past couple years, Staff has attempted to address the problem of retaining 'users' on wikis, and social features have been a part of that experiment. Attracting people who stick around to chat is all well and good, but attracting visitors who stick around to edit is the eternal problem.

I fervently hope that the wikis with active chats do not see a consequent loss in editors / regular contributions post-migration. Is this what the majority of the others fear when they say the loss of chat will 'kill off' the 'wikis' as if to conflate a wiki with a social platform? As if to suggest a wiki lives or dies by one social feature and not the editors?

A wiki with a flatline edit rate before and after Chat has the same exact fundamental problem before and after chat, a problem that should always be priority number one. Again, I say this as someone that administrates four wikis with no significant community of active editors... Which is certainly why your comment rankled me, I'm afraid. Apologies for letting it get under my skin so thoroughly; if you administrate one such wiki with an active chat, I wish your wiki the best in light of the announcement.

(As for my thoughts about the announcement itself, disregarding your comparison, well. I'm still ruminating on it. Suffice it to say I'm not surprised...)