My blog post for today http://ocham.blogspot.com/2011/10/repetiti...-wikipedia.html on whether there are statistically measurable properties that distinguish 'content contributors' from wiki-gnomes. Conclusion: the statistical difference is strongly indicative of a real difference, discussed in detail on the blog.

Remaining questions: why do content contributors remain on the project, given that they have a lower status than those who perform repetitive and tedious work?

Easily-learned repetitive labour is nearly always paid less in real life than labour which requires either specialised learning, or some innate but scarce skill. The simple reason for this is supply and demand. Rare or difficult-to-acquire skills are by definition in short supply, and will attract a higher price than common, easily acquired skills (at least, to my simple mind - I don't know any economics).

So why is the situation apparently reversed on Wikipedia? The statistics suggest that the majority of administrators use these low-value skills like vandal reversion, template adding, linking to the Estonian Wikipedia etc. Yet their status on Wikipedia is high, whereas that of 'content contributors' is low.

This post has been edited by Peter Damian: