Benefits

Demerits

What is going on here?

Gratitude vs thanks?

• thanks signals the completion of reciprocated exchange

Definitions

reciprocity

“people should help those who have helped them, and people should not injure those who have helped them” (Gouldner 1960).

indebtedness

“a state of tension having motivational properties such that the greater its magnitude, the greater will be the efforts to reduce it” (Greenberg and Shapiro 1971)

Can you do better??

Types of Exchange

1. Direct/negotiated: terms are specified beforehand
2. Indirect/generalized: sometimes repaid without explicit terms; giving is not contingent on receiving earlier exchange
   1. Generalized: indirect reciprocity benefits many, often via indirect gifts where the providers rarely receive benefits from the same recipients
   2. Network-generalized: indirect reciprocity within a defined community, creating stronger feelings of solidarity than direct exchange for both givers and receivers

egs of …??

Direct/negotiated

• ebay, craiglist

Indirect/reciprocal

• Kassi, freecycle.org

Generalized

• stranded motorists helping another on the highway

Network-generalized

• helping another student furthers class solidarity

Effects of gratitude

• increase the recipient’s pro-social behavior
• doubled likelihood of someone helping a second time, increased time by 15%, and rate of work by 50%
• but “not a magic ingredient” for getting favors on Weibo (Liu and Janson 2013) (Matias 2014)

“Dark sides”?

• paternalism (“you’ll thank me later”)
• supporting favoritism (you have to kiss up)
• papering over structural injustices (service tips)

The challenge at Kassi

The key for designers is to redirect feelings of indebtedness towards positive, participatory outcomes rather than frustration, hesitation, and non-participation. (Lampinen et al. 2013, p. 10)

(Kassi is defunct)

Thoughts on what participants did?

1. offering small tokens of appreciation (e.g., “a little cash for coffee”)
   • might extrinsic crowd out intrinsic motivations?
2. “pay it forward to the community” (e.g., can borrow an item because they’re willing to lend a hammer)
   • lack of formal norms a problem?
3. framing offers and requests carefully (e.g., offering to split gas cost)
4. minimizing the efforts needed in exchange processes (e.g., simplifying schedule of exchange)
5. bartering and exchanging for a third party (e.g., “keep an eye out for skates of his size”)

How to implement??

1. Match similarity & status: “make individuals aware of who is in a similar situation.”
2. Highlight “both the unique value of a contribution and one’s role as a recipient of others’ efforts.”
3. Highlight exchange processes and outcomes (successful and less so)

StackOverflow discourages thanks?

Please do not add a comment on your question or on an answer to say “Thank you”. Comments are meant for requesting clarification, leaving constructive criticism, or adding relevant but minor additional information – not for socializing. If you want to say “thank you,” vote on or accept that person’s answer, or simply pay it forward by providing a great answer to someone else’s question. (Overflow 2013)

Thanks vs. WikiLove

On average, communities give 43 times more thanks than love. Why might that be?

. . .

Wikipedians have explained that it’s much easier to click a single link to send Thanks than to choose a picture and write someone a personal message (WikiLove). (Matias et al. 2019)

Who Gives and Receives Appreciation?

in the year leading up to June 1, 2018. People in three languages sent more than 10% of all Thanks and WikiLove to newcomers in that period. In contrast, five other languages sent less than 3% of their appreciation to newcomers. (Matias et al. 2019)

WikiLove defined

a general spirit of collegiality and mutual understanding…

If we keep this … love of knowledge, in mind, if we concentrate on achieving a [NPOV] even when it is difficult, and if we try to actually understand what the other side has to say, then we can reach the state of “WikiLove”.

If we fail to achieve WikiLove, this will only mean that the encyclopedia and its mission as a whole will suffer. Constant flamewars will scare contributors off, biased articles will drive readers away, and both will harm our reputation in the long term. (Wikipedia 2009)

Barnstars

Sappy?

This touchy-feely stuff cannot possibly be for real. Is this story from The Onion?

Praising other’s edits by clicking on a button and dropping a template is indeed about as deep as clicking “like” on Facebook–a hollow act producing a formulaic compliment (even if they can be tweaked whimsically) that requires no investment and is therefore meaningless. (Wikipedians 2021)

No WikiLove

What WikiLove did you share?

What did you think of it?

Antisocial?

It is your responsibility to foster and maintain a positive online community in Wikipedia. Conveying terms of endearment toward any user – regardless of his/her past behavior – is contrary to this spirit. Comment not on the contributor, rather on the content. Don’t do it!—Wikipedia:No terms of endearment—Humorous

ex. Wikipedia critique

1. in groups of ~3-4
2. enumerate design principles (positive and negative) for expressing gratitude (making use of all readings)
3. recommend improvements to the WikiLove system

Questions?

Match: exchanges?

Designing for gratitude??

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