Research:Rolling new active editor

Standard metric

Rolling new active editor

Specification

A ${\text{rolling new active editor}}(T,u,n)$ is a newly registered user who both registered and completed $n$ edits to pages in any namespace of a Wikimedia project between $T-u$ and $T$.

WMF Standard

• $n$ = 5 edits
• $u$ = 30 days

Measures

Editor activation

Related metrics

New editor • New active editor • New wikipedian

Status

SQL

SET @n = 5; /* edits threshold */
SET @u = 30; /* activity unit in days */
SET @T = "20140102"; /* February 1st, 2014 before midnight */
 
/* Results in a set of "new editors" */
SELECT
  user_id,
  user_name,
  user_registration
FROM
  (
    /* Get revisions to content pages that are still visible */
    SELECT
      user_id,
      user_name,
      user_registration,
      SUM(rev_id IS NOT NULL) AS revisions
    FROM user
    INNER JOIN logging ON /* Filter users not created manually */
      log_user = user_id AND
      log_type = "newusers" AND
      log_action = "create"
    LEFT JOIN revision ON
        rev_user = user_id
    WHERE 
        user_registration BETWEEN DATE_FORMAT(DATE_SUB(@T, INTERVAL @u DAY), "%Y%m%d%H%i%S") AND @T AND
        rev_timestamp BETWEEN DATE_FORMAT(DATE_SUB(@T, INTERVAL @u DAY), "%Y%m%d%H%i%S") AND @T
    GROUP BY 1,2,3
 
    UNION ALL
 
    /* Get revisions to content pages that have been archived */
    SELECT
      user_id,
      user_name,
      user_registration,
      SUM(ar_id IS NOT NULL) AS revisions /* Note that ar_rev_id is sometimes set to NULL :( */
    FROM user
    INNER JOIN logging ON /* Filter users not created manually */
      log_user = user_id AND
      log_type = "newusers" AND
      log_action = "create"
    LEFT JOIN archive ON 
      ar_user = user_id
    WHERE 
        user_registration BETWEEN DATE_FORMAT(DATE_SUB(@T, INTERVAL @u DAY), "%Y%m%d%H%i%S") AND @T AND
        ar_timestamp BETWEEN DATE_FORMAT(DATE_SUB(@T, INTERVAL @u DAY), "%Y%m%d%H%i%S") AND @T
    GROUP BY 1,2,3
  ) AS user_content_revision_count
WHERE user_id NOT IN (SELECT ug_user FROM user_groups WHERE ug_group = "bot")
GROUP BY 1,2,3
HAVING SUM(revisions) >= @n;

Rolling new active editors are non-bot editors who registered recently and saved a minimum threshold of edits. Specifically, editors who registered within $u$ days and saved at least $n$ edits are classified. Note that rolling new active editors have the potential to be counted as rolling surviving new active editors if they continue to be active more than $u$ days after their registration.

Discussion

The n edits threshold

The edits necessary to cross this threshold, the fewer editors will meet the criteria. Historically, "active editors" were considered to be editors who made 5 edits to specific types of pages over the course of a calendar month. So for historical purposes, we recommend $n=5$.

The u activity unit

The wider this unit is set, the more casually editors will be considered "active". Historically, "active editors" were considered during calendar months. So for historical purposes, we recommend $u=30$.

Time lag

This metric has a built-in time lag of $u$.

Bot filtering

Bots are filtered using the bot flag method.

Analysis