Attributable Contributions

The ability to tie contributions to individual user profiles can help to:

• Support the work of reviewing submissions by relating Changesets to individual users
• Allow Escalating Blocking to be applied to individual contributors
• Deliver Individual Value by giving users tools or benefits from contributing data
• Gamify Contributions to encourage further contributions from individuals
• Enable you to Grant Privileges or allow users to Automatically Acquire Privileges so that they can take on additional responsibility
• Provide useful metrics on contribution patterns to help you Know Your Community
• Thank or provide feedback to contributors

Making it clear to users that their contributions are not anonymous might also encourage them to contribute in a more productive and considerate manner.

One downside of requiring users to register to contribute to a project is that it adds friction. But this might be lessened by providing a good Onboarding Process.

The other major downside of relating contributions to individual user accounts is that there are increased privacy risks. For example contributors might be incidentally giving away personal information, e.g. home or work location, as a side effect of contributing to the project or Submitting Evidence.

Ensure you are minimising the amount of data collected from contributors and that sensitive information is only shared as required. Ensure that you are complying with appropriate data protection laws and regulation, e.g the GDPR.

Your Onboarding Process should ensure that you have explained to a user why signing up is necessary and that you have clearly displayed your privacy policy.