Toxic comments are associated with reduced activity of volunteer editors on Wikipedia

Smirnov, I; Oprea, C; Strohmaier, M

Toxic comments are associated with reduced activity of volunteer editors on Wikipedia

Smirnov, I

Oprea, C Strohmaier, M

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Publisher:: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: PNAS Nexus, 2023, 2, (12), pp. pgad385
Issue Date:: 2023-12-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Smirnov, I https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8347-6703
dc.contributor.author	Oprea, C
dc.contributor.author	Strohmaier, M
dc.contributor.editor	Ognyanova, K
dc.date.accessioned	2023-12-10T23:46:49Z
dc.date.available	2023-12-10T23:46:49Z
dc.date.issued	2023-12-01
dc.identifier.citation	PNAS Nexus, 2023, 2, (12), pp. pgad385
dc.identifier.issn	2752-6542
dc.identifier.issn	2752-6542
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/173785
dc.description.abstract	<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Wikipedia is one of the most successful collaborative projects in history. It is the largest encyclopedia ever created, with millions of users worldwide relying on it as the first source of information as well as for fact-checking and in-depth research. As Wikipedia relies solely on the efforts of its volunteer editors, its success might be particularly affected by toxic speech. In this paper, we analyze all 57 million comments made on user talk pages of 8.5 million editors across the six most active language editions of Wikipedia to study the potential impact of toxicity on editors’ behavior. We find that toxic comments are consistently associated with reduced activity of editors, equivalent to 0.5–2 active days per user in the short term. This translates to multiple human-years of lost productivity, considering the number of active contributors to Wikipedia. The effects of toxic comments are potentially even greater in the long term, as they are associated with a significantly increased risk of editors leaving the project altogether. Using an agent-based model, we demonstrate that toxicity attacks on Wikipedia have the potential to impede the progress of the entire project. Our results underscore the importance of mitigating toxic speech on collaborative platforms such as Wikipedia to ensure their continued success.</jats:p>
dc.language	en
dc.publisher	Oxford University Press (OUP)
dc.relation.ispartof	PNAS Nexus
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad385
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.title	Toxic comments are associated with reduced activity of volunteer editors on Wikipedia
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	2
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/DVC (Research)
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
dc.date.updated	2023-12-10T23:46:47Z
pubs.issue	12
pubs.publication-status	Published
pubs.volume	2
utslib.citation.issue	12

Abstract:

Abstract Wikipedia is one of the most successful collaborative projects in history. It is the largest encyclopedia ever created, with millions of users worldwide relying on it as the first source of information as well as for fact-checking and in-depth research. As Wikipedia relies solely on the efforts of its volunteer editors, its success might be particularly affected by toxic speech. In this paper, we analyze all 57 million comments made on user talk pages of 8.5 million editors across the six most active language editions of Wikipedia to study the potential impact of toxicity on editors’ behavior. We find that toxic comments are consistently associated with reduced activity of editors, equivalent to 0.5–2 active days per user in the short term. This translates to multiple human-years of lost productivity, considering the number of active contributors to Wikipedia. The effects of toxic comments are potentially even greater in the long term, as they are associated with a significantly increased risk of editors leaving the project altogether. Using an agent-based model, we demonstrate that toxicity attacks on Wikipedia have the potential to impede the progress of the entire project. Our results underscore the importance of mitigating toxic speech on collaborative platforms such as Wikipedia to ensure their continued success.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/173785