User:Ramesh Ramaiah/Service awards
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Service awards are a simple way of acknowledging an editor's level of contribution based on two specific benchmarks: the number of contributions the editor made to Wikipedia and the length of time they have been registered. Academic interlocutors have described Wikipedia's service award schema as a way to award the self.
This page in a nutshell: Some editors choose to acknowledge their service to Wikipedia by displaying a service award, which denotes time served and number of edits made. These awards are unofficial – displaying the wrong one carries no penalty, and displaying the right one does not indicate authority or competence. |
Unlike other awards given through a process or from one editor to another in a show of appreciation, this is one award that is intended to be given to yourself, although it can also be given by a second party. It is achieved strictly by a mechanical count of time registered and number of edits. There is no process for receiving these awards; you just judge for yourself which one you are eligible for and place the badge on your user page. These can be thought of as automatically assigned, much like (for example) badges that are affixed onto Scouts' uniforms for participation for a certain period of time.
The {{service awards}} template can automatically track your time of service up to the level of Grandmaster Editor (a.k.a. Most Imposing Togneme). It does not yet handle the top two awards – at the time of writing[update], no one is eligible for them anyway. For it to calculate how long you have been registered with Wikipedia, you must give it year, month and day parameters specifying when you registered. You must also give it your edit count using the edits parameter, and update this each time your edits pass one of the service award levels.
Please remember that time spent with and number of edits to Wikipedia are not indicative of the quality of an editor's contributions, or of their diplomatic ability. Service awards also do not indicate any level of authority; "veteran" editors have no more authority than "novice" editors.