Have you heard of ArticleFeedback ?

On the English #Wikipedia, an extension runs that asks people to give feedback on articles. The idea is simple: you ask readers their opinion and thereby you engage them. At the same time we get a notion about how articles are received by our public.

Technically there are challenges. It needs to be set-up for all articles. This will take a big long running job on a project as big as the English Wikipedia and it requires dedicated servers to have it run in the first place.

When you look at the questions, they are quite basic.

They are basic and they reflect what is said to be important to us; the criteria are very intellectual. They do not ask if an article is understandable or well illustrated for instance. It will be really interesting to analyse the feedback when the user experience is asked when compared to the current pack of questions.

Another approach to asking questions would be from a more editorial point of view. The quest for completeness in an article for instance denies the value of the linked articles. It adds unnecessary ballast to articles and it reduces the value of the wiki format.

Finally, how about running ArticleFeedback on other Wikipedias. Some have editorial policies based on assumptions. It would be great when these assumptions are tested. This may help propel the growth in traffic for many or our Wikipedias.
Thanks,
       GerardM