Wikipedia:Wikipedia is not a contest

This is an essay.

It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints.

Wikipedia is a collaborative project where all editors work together to create an encyclopedia and as such is not a contest as to who can get adminship or who can get the most edits or who can do this or that.

No matter how much or how little we contribute, we are all valued Wikipedians. Some Wikipedians might do nothing but correct one or two typos. Others may have dozens of barnstars and featured articles to their credit, plus tens of thousands of edits, an adminship and a bureaucratship. Of course, we should appreciate the efforts of our heaviest contributors. But let's not forget that all good-faith contributors help "make the Internet not suck", as Jimbo would say.

So don't feel bad if you don't have the time or inclination to be the greatest, most productive Wikipedian of all time. You don't need a jaw-dropping edit count, a huge portfolio of featured articles or 100% edit summary usage to contribute to our project in a productive way. We welcome all contributions, no matter how small. Wikipedia is not a contest.