Defining the Role of an TechNet Wiki Editor

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We often ignore this point and often all the credits go to the author (and he deserves it), but in all most diverse books or articles of different technologies there is a common factor among them: we can always see a note of gratitude to the reviewers and editors from the author.

For those who are not used to writing, you may think it is a standard courtesy and cannot appreciate or understand the value that a good editor or reviewer can bring to the articles, but the truth is that they play a key role.

Of course the Editor role is even more important when we are writing books. Stephen King (American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy, his books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films) once said: “To write is human to edit is divine. ”

So what is and what’s the role of a TechNet Wiki Editor?

In my personal opinion, there are two types of TechNet Wiki Editors:

  • The ones that plays a similar role of an Technical Reviewer or Contributors;
  • And the ones that plays the role of an Editor.

The “Technical Reviewer or Contributors” improved the article with new content or corrects it in technical terms by eliminating or correcting false statements or also tagging them for better search, therefor often requires deep technical knowledge. With this, they are improving the overall quality of the article and putting it always updated with new content.

The “Editor” plays a different role, they normally are looking at the shape or condition of the writing itself like poor structure and clarity. Generally they will focuses on the structure and flow of the work as a whole will:

  • Correct syntax errors like: spelling, punctuation or grammar;
  • They read the content and checks it for sense or clarity;
  • They make layout designs changes like: determining or unifying headline size and font;
  • Tagging articles for better search;
  • Avoid inadequate material and so on…

This may seem less important than the first type of TechNet Wiki Editors but they also plays a key role and they probably are doing the most difficult part. By clarifying and putting some esthetic and structural consistency between all the articles, they are improving the article but also the general welfare of TechNet Wiki by providing the same experience in all the content.

TechNet Wiki Editor Achievements (aka "badges")

In the Wiki, you can earn an achievement gold, Silver or Bronze as a Wiki Community Editor:

  • New Wiki Editor: for making the first revision to a Wiki article.
  • Wiki Editor II: for making multiple edits which contributed to continued community engagement (25xEdits and 10x500 PageViews)
  • Wiki Editor III: for demonstrating an on-going commitment to providing meaningful revisions to the Wiki (100x Edits and 20x500 PageViews)

Acknowledgments/Credits

As a TechNet Wiki Contributor (writer) I would like to thank all the editors, for their contributions in my articles… for improving them constantly and put them day by day better.

It’s impossible to list everyone but here are some of these people who are making a magnificent job: Ed Price, Carsten Siemens, Richard Mueller, Tord G.Nordahl, Charlie Mott, Naomi N, Payman Biukaghazadeh, Maheshkumar S Tiwari, Fernando Lugão Veltem, Saravana Kumar, Horizon_Net and Steef-Jan Wiggers.

(and apologize to the others that aren't referenced)

 

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