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:
Basis WikiEgoFactor
Highest Number of Contributions 671 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.
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...)
See also TopTenHomePages, EgolessWiki.
CategoryWiki CategoryJoke surely?