Journal Journal: How does a small wiki find contributors? 5
I launched the DocForge wiki for programmers almost two years ago. The intent is to grow a comprehensive reference for everyone who writes software. Unlike Wikipedia we accept original research and opinions.
We've had a few very helpful contributors, but most of the content has been posted by me. Some of the articles use Wikipedia content as a starting point, which helps. But I'm having a difficult time finding many others who are interested in making serious contributions. The irony of any wiki is it needs enough content to grow a community, but it needs a community to grow content. Ideally we'd eventually grow large enough to be able to hire some writers and editors as employees.
So how do we find people who are interested in contributing to DocForge? Paying for every contribution isn't a good idea because of politics, legalities, economics, and a low budget. I'd like to give occasional gifts to great contributors, but that doesn't bring in new writers. One promising way to go may be bounties, making donations to charities or open source projects when an article or section reaches a certain quality. On my low personal budget that could get expensive. What other options do I have? How could I attract those who are frustrated with Wikipedia's limitations and politics? How can I get the word out on this project to other programmers and academics (other than the obvious linking from dzone, etc.)?