Wikipedia:Service awards

This is an information page. It is not a Wikipedia policy or guideline; rather, its purpose is to explain certain aspects of Wikipedia's norms or practices. It may reflect varying levels of consensus.

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This page in a nutshell: Some editors choose to acknowledge their service to Wikipedia by displaying a service award which denotes time served and number of edits made. These awards are unofficial – displaying the wrong one carries no penalty (except possible disapproval from other editors) and displaying the right one does not indicate authority or competence.

Service awards are a simple way of acknowledging an editor's level of contribution based on two specific benchmarks: the number of contributions that the editor has made to Wikipedia and the length of time registered. One academic has described Wikipedia's service award schema as a way to award the self.^[1] One may also think of them as auto-attained milestones.

This award is unlike other awards given from one editor to another in a show of appreciation; it is intended to be given to yourself, although it can also be given by a second party. It is achieved by a strictly mechanical count of time registered and number of edits. There is no process for receiving these awards; Wikipedians determine the grade to which they are entitled, then display it on their user page.

Please remember that neither the number of edits nor the length of time from when an account was created is a good indicator of the quality of an editor's contributions or diplomatic ability. Hence, service awards do not indicate any level of authority whatsoever; "master" editors are not bestowed with more authority through this award than "novice" editors.