Wiki Ego Factor

The WikiEgoFactor measures the size of a Wiki ego. It is calculated by the empirical formula

wikiEgoFactor = numberOfSignedContributions / 256

numberOfSignedContributions is the number of pages with signed contributions of any single Wiki author.

Everyone may check her numberOfSignedContributions easily by clicking on the title of her homepage.

I may not like this formula, but it has the great virtue of measurability -- AnonymousDonor

Simply clicking on the title of one's homepage also picks up references that are not contributions -- AnotherAnonymousDonor?

Perhaps the formula should be tweaked to reflect RecentChanges presence, too? And why 256, by the way? -- OleAndersen (boosting his WikiEgoFactor). See below...

One would think that the proper denominator would be the number of unsigned contributions -- EgolessWikiDonor?

Which has the great virtue of never being measurable. Of course it's measurable, but only by the author. It's not measureable if all you have is the Wiki, though.

Signatures and ego are orthogonal. Perhaps this page should be re-titled WikiResponsibilityFactor? since only those who sign their posts can be held responsible for them. Or better yet, this page should be deleted since it represents a pejorative approach that is (or should be) beneath the dignity of Wiki. -- PhilGoodwin

According to the first lines in GoodStyle, the decision to sign or not depends on the content being added. Facts should not be signed, to encourage collaboration. Experience, and that not easily reducible to fact should be signed.

A quick sampling of 40 names yields the following results:

 BasisWikiEgoFactor
 Highest Number of Contributions671   2.621
 Lowest Number of Contributions  5   0.071
 Average of 40 Names            145.6 0.568
 Mean of 40 Names                70   0.273 
 JeffGrigg                      543   2.121 (There.  Beat that!  ;-)
 WardCunningham                 570   2.227
 AlistairCockburn?              671   2.621

What does this mean? If you have a WikiEgoFactor of less than 145.6, does that mean your ego is below average?

The #=570 for WardCunningham is way off, because his name is so often referenced and not only used by himself as a signature.

Numbers <1 have no significance. Someone may just have started writing... The limit 256 is generous... There are lots of important writers in the range 50-150.

Numbers >1 may start us thinking. There is no need to point at other people. Perhaps there are old discussions that need our refactoring. Perhaps there are signatures that might just as well be removed.

-- HelmutLeitner

Maybe it just means I've been around for a while, and have made valuable contributions (I hope). -- JeffGrigg

Why divide by 256?

Obviously, because can use right shifting, sigs >> 8, which takes one clock or less (on a DSP), instead of long division -- may cost ~100 cycles on a fixed-point CPU.

(Hmm, hour's getting late...)