The common wood frog may lay thousands of eggs at once.[1] Even if a majority of the offspring survive — and under the right conditions, they will[2] — the sheer number of births will necessitate a large number of deaths. Analogous situations may occur on Wikipedia. Many of the most prolific editors have been blocked or otherwise sanctioned. Some editors contribute an outsized amount of valuable work in one area of the project, but also stimulate an outsized amount of conflict. There are multiple reasons for this phenomenon.
- As in the case of the tadpoles, increased productivity increases the raw number of errors. If Bob makes 20 edits and one of them contains an error, that's hardly worth caring about. But if Alice makes 10,000 edits and 500 of them are wrong, there may be a problem. Some would say that this is unfair to Alice, since she doesn't make mistakes at a higher rate than Bob. But dealing with her mistakes will consume far more volunteer time than his.
- Exceptional editors are exceptional. Becoming an outlier — even in an entirely positive sense — requires traits that, by definition, are not shared by the majority of the editing community. These uncommon beliefs and behaviours may bring the user into conflict with others.
- Common practice in many topic areas tends to be defined, to some extent, by the practices of the most prolific editors. This is not desirable, but it is probably inevitable. However, such editors may feel empowered, consciously or not, to disregard policies and guidelines. They may even believe that this is necessary to help them shoulder such a large amount of the workload. This can lead to trouble.
- Editors who devote a great deal of time to one area of the project — particularly one that is understaffed, lacking in recognition, or prone to conflict — may be subject to burnout.
Potential strategies to manage these issues include taking wikibreaks from one's preferred area or the project as a whole, diversifying one's editing interests, and not pursuing productivity above all else.
- ^ "Rana sylvatica". Digital Atlas of Idaho. Idaho State University. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
- ^ Seigel, Richard A. (14 December 1983). "Natural Survival of Eggs and Tadpoles of the Wood Frog, Rana sylvatica". Copeia. 1983 (4): 1096. doi:10.2307/1445118.