Finding and interviewing ex-editors
I think you raise a good point about making Wikipedia a healthier (friendlier, more productive) place for all editors. I think that reducing the turnover of ex-editors (both veteran editors and newbies who don't like their first few weeks) is important, but hopefully we can find some recommendations that will also make Wikipedia better for the people who have stuck around as is.
Not sure if this is a already known but: Ubuntu is a linux distribution, started afaik partially because of the harsh nature of the Debian project. One of the tools they use is: http://www.ubuntu.com/community/conduct
Maybe we can look at what other (open source) projects did as well who where dealing with these issues?
That's very interesting! I would like to learn more about the people who founded that spin-off. What prompted them to start Ubuntu, and whether it's improved things. Is there anyone influential in that community that we can interview?
Benjamin Mako Hill is a Wikimedia advisor and is a long-time Debian contributor. He also helped Ubuntu design its community process. Bridgespan interviewed him, but I don't see his notes under Interviews. John, can you provide some insight?
I think I now some slightly less influential people, I'll ask around Henna 00:07, 17 November 2009 (UTC)
Unfortunately, Benjamin Mako Hill hasn't gotten back to us just yet with approval to post up his notes publicly! But I'll start reaching out to Ubunut to set up time to chat. Do we have any key questions that we would like to hit on?
I guess I'd like to know why they did it in the first place. What problems they were noticing. And yes, we definitely want to know if it worked. It might also be helpful to have some numbers about the size of the different communities. (Even better would be the growth curves of each community! We obviously know that a young community will grow quickly. But did one do a better job of resisting a stagnation in growth?)