View source for Research:Modeling monthly active editors

{{nutshell|This page contains background analysis for the definition of [[:R:Metrics standardization|editor activity metrics]] in support of the [https://metrics.wmflabs.org/static/public/dash/ Vital Signs] project}}
{{Research_Project
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|title=Modeling monthly active editors
 
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{{Investigator|[[User:Halfak (WMF)|Aaron Halfaker]]|Wikimedia Foundation}}
{{Investigator|[[User:DarTar|Dario Taraborelli]]|Wikimedia Foundation}}
{{Investigator|Leila Zia|Wikimedia Foundation}}
 
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<center>
{{inline figure
 | filename = Monthly_active_editor_model.tree.svg
 | size = 600px
 | id = Monthly active editor model (concept)
 | caption = A conceptual tree view of the month active editors model is presented.
}}
</center>
== Terms ==
=== Editor Classes ===
<div style="float:right;">
{{inline figure
 | filename = Monthly_active_editor.model_proportions.svg
 | size = 350px
 | id = MAE proportions (enwiki)
 | caption = Proportions of active editor classes in Monthly Active Editors is plotted with an equation showing how they add up.  These values are based on averages between May 2013 and May 2014 in English Wikipedia.
}}
</div>
;Monthly Active Editors (MAE)
:Editors who save at least 5 revisions within one month.
;New Active Editors (NAE)
:[[R:Newly registered users|Newly registered users]] who save at least 5 revisions in the month that they registered.
;Surviving New Active Editors (SNAE)
:New Active Editors from the previous month who continued to make at least 5 edits in the current month.
;Recurring Old Active Editors (ROAE)
:Non-new Active Editors from the previous month who continued to make at least 5 edits in the current month.
;Reactivated Editors (RAE)
:All other active editors who (1) were not active in the previous month and (2) were not a [[R:Newly registered user|Newly registered user]] in the current month.

;Basic equation
:<math>
\text{MAE}_m = \text{NAE}_m + \text{SNAE}_m + \text{ROAE}_m + \text{RAE}_m
</math>

=== Rates === 
;New Editor Activation Rate (NEAR)
:The proportion of [[R:Newly registered users|Newly registered users]] who save at least 5 revisions in the current month
;New Active Survival Rate (NASR)
:The proportion of New Active Editors the previous month who save at least 5 revisions in the current month
;Old Active Survival Rate (OASR)
:The proportion of Active Editors from the previous month (who were not [[R:Newly registered users|Newly registered users]]) who save at least 5 revisions in the current month

;Expanded equation with rates
:<math>
\text{NAE}_m = \text{NRU}_{m} \times \text{NEAR}_{m}
</math>
:<math>
\text{SNAE}_m = \text{NAE}_{m-1} \times \text{NASR}_{m}
</math>
:<math>
\text{ROAE}_m = (\text{SNAE}_{m-1} + \text{ROAE}_{m-1} + \text{RAE}_{m-1}) \times \text{OASR}_{m}
</math>
:<math>
\text{MAE}_m = \text{NRU}_{m} \times \text{NEAR}_{m} + \text{NAE}_{m-1} \times \text{NASR}_{m} + (\text{SNAE}_{m-1} + \text{ROAE}_{m-1} + \text{RAE}_{m-1}) \times \text{OASR}_{m} + \text{RAE}
</math>

<br style="clear:both;"/>
== Analysis ==
=== English Wikipedia ===
<center>
{{inline figure
 | filename = Monthly_active_editors.facet_group.enwiki.svg
 | size = 325px
 | id = MAE over time
 | caption = The count of monthly active editors is plotted (stacked) for the four active editor classes for the English Wikipedia.  A loess curve is fit to the trend.
}}
{{inline figure
 | filename = Monthly_active_editor_rates.enwiki.svg
 | size = 450px
 | id = MAE rates over time
 | caption = Activation and retention rates are plotted for editor class thresholds for the English Wikipedia.
}}
</center>

=== Italian Wikipedia ===
<center>
{{inline figure
 | filename = Monthly_active_editors.facet_group.itwiki.svg
 | size = 325px
 | id = MAE over time
 | caption = The count of monthly active editors is plotted (stacked) for the four active editor classes for the Italian Wikipedia.  A loess curve is fit to the trend.
}}
{{inline figure
 | filename = Monthly_active_editor_rates.itwiki.svg
 | size = 450px
 | id = MAE rates over time
 | caption = Activation and retention rates are plotted for editor class thresholds for the Italian Wikipedia.
}}
</center>

=== Comparison with legacy definition ===
In order to explore the implications of the relatively simplistic definition of active editor used in this model (5 revisions to any page), we compare counts of active editors with those generated by the historical definition (5 revisions to [[R:countable pages|countable pages]]).

* dump ns=0 -- Legacy definition based on XML dump processing within wikistats.  Does not include edits to deleted pages and also filters by [[R:countable pages|countable pages]]
* archive ns=0 -- All edits to pages in the article namespace (ns=0) count.
* archive ns=all -- All edits to any page count.  This is the definition used in the analysis above.

; Raw counts
<center>
{{inline figure
 | filename = Monthly_active_editors.by_strategy.enwiki.svg
 | size = 450px
 | id = MAE comparison (enwiki)
}}
{{inline figure
 | filename = Monthly_active_editors.by_strategy.itwiki.svg
 | size = 450px
 | id = MAE comparison (itwiki)
}}
</center>

; Factor comparison
<center>
{{inline figure
 | filename = Monthly_active_editors.factor_of_dump_ns_0.by_strategy.svg
 | size = 350px
 | id = MAE comparison (dump ns=0)
}}
{{inline figure
 | filename = Monthly_active_editors.factor_of_archive_ns_0.by_strategy.svg
 | size = 350px
 | id = MAE comparison (archive ns=0)
}}
{{inline figure
 | filename = Monthly_active_editors.factor_of_archive_ns_all.by_strategy.svg
 | size = 350px
 | id = MAE comparison (archive ns=all)
}}
</center>

== See also == 
* Project repo: https://github.com/halfak/Monthly-Active-Editors-Model

[[Category:Italian Wikipedia|Research:Modeling monthly active editors]]