QUOTE(Milton Roe @ Tue 31st March 2009, 10:05pm)
QUOTE(Shalom @ Tue 31st March 2009, 2:20pm)
From One's diff, Blnguyen says: "But then again, unfortunately many article writers are hapless and politically naive and think that people actually like them."
But you may find that people like what you write. For example a number of articles on WP I've contributed heavily to are #1 google page-ranked when you search on the term.
Now, am I under the impression that this is due solely or even mostly to the amazing quaility of my writing? No.
But, on the other hand, just because a WP article exists on a subject, even a detailed one, does not ensure that it will be the #1 Google hit. It actually has to be a "pretty good and pretty readable" summary article, too. So those of us who enjoy that sort of thing, do it for that reason. If Google gives us an artificial boost, so what? We write to be read. Screw the barnstars. They mean nothing and we all know it.
That's it exactly. Using the
stats meter shows how much "your" article is being read. If the article is taking several thousand hits each month, but doesn't get messed with too much, such as changes to the wording, in my opinion that means that you did a good job with your writing. Also, if the article's talk page doesn't contain many questions or comments about the article's content, that means that the majority of the article's readers are satisfied with what they see and can't find any major issues. In short, silence often means that you did a good job. That's who you're writing for, right? The general public, not other Wikipedians?
Still, like I said in the other thread, it's understandable that some writers might be dismayed at the lack of respect that article writers receive from the Wiki game-players. I can think of several names of former arbitrators and other influential admins right off the top of my head who really didn't even try to hide their indifference or ambivalence towards article writers. I think this may be what is bothering, at least in part, YellowMonkey.