Upvoting Etiquette on Collaborative Articles

Summary:

Something to put in the Guide to Newbies.

Upvoting Etiquette on Collaborative Articles

Zyn 09 May 2014 23:09

Someone in #site17 was asking about collab articles today, and mentioned that the current newbie guide doesn't say anything about how to vote on those.

I think the general etiquette is if you're a co-author of a piece, don't upvote, since that's essentially a self-upvote?

I'd just like some thoughts about this, since I think it would be helpful to add to the newbie guide. We don't get a lot of collabs, but I've found it to be a fun process, and newbies should be aware of it.

_{also I was thinking of writing a guide on collabs, but idk when I'd be able to start that or if I should since I've only done 3}

Re: Upvoting Etiquette on Collaborative Articles

CryogenChaos 09 May 2014 23:12

Agreed, so long as the criteria for "co-author" are well defined.

That is to say, if someone directly helped with the actual content of the article, then upvote is a no-go. However, if someone helped critique the idea heavily, they would still be allowed to upvote. :)

Re: Upvoting Etiquette on Collaborative Articles

marslifeform 10 May 2014 00:09

Basically agreeing here. If you actively wrote part of the article and are credited as a co-author, then you shouldn't upvote. If you just critiqued something and offered suggestions, then you didn't really have a part in the writing process and should be allowed to vote freely.

Re: Upvoting Etiquette on Collaborative Articles

Accelerando 10 May 2014 00:33

I agree that their should be a definite description for the term; probably having both users agree that one of them is a "co-author", making sure that they didn't just make minor edits and such.

Though it'll be rare, what if there was a collab like the one Zyn did (newbie + veteran) where the veteran works more as a mentor rather than someone who directly changes the draft? As in, they never edit the draft, and the aren't just a source of feedback? Would we let the users decide for themselves if that was a collab?

Re: Upvoting Etiquette on Collaborative Articles

Zyn 10 May 2014 01:42

like the one Zyn did (newbie + veteran) where the veteran works more as a mentor rather than someone who directly changes the draft?

Wait… Which collab are you talking about? None of my collabs are like this.

Re: Upvoting Etiquette on Collaborative Articles

Accelerando 10 May 2014 02:38

I was speaking of the type of people in the collab, not the way you did the collab, sorry. I was thinking of Sushi man, you and EdAWAC?

Re: Upvoting Etiquette on Collaborative Articles

Zyn 10 May 2014 06:56

Oh, gotcha. Yeah, at the time, Ed was still a pretty recent newbie.

And yeah, I feel like if there's ever some serious controversy over a collab, staff can handle it on a case-by-case basis. I can't really see a collaboration getting so convoluted that someone wouldn't be able to decide whether they contributed actual material themselves or not.