Problem
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In a [chat discussion][1] about the moderator elections on different Stack Exchange sites I've seen a couple of numbers that make me think.

Apparently we have a pretty low reputation per user ratio. I'm going to compare some numbers from [Programmers](http://programmers.stackexchange.com) and [Ask Ubuntu](http://askubuntu.com).

__Ask Ubuntu Numbers__

    Total users:              36065
    Users < 150 rep:      33911
    Users >= 150 rep:      2154
    Users >= 3000 rep:        82
    

__Programmers Numbers__

    Total users:              40708
    Users < 150 rep:      34888
    Users >= 150 rep:      5820
    Users >= 3000 rep:      256

_Note: All data is from 2nd February_

Now that leaves us with roughly __5.9%__ of the Ask Ubuntu community being eligible for a vote in the elections. Programmers had __14.3%__ of the community being eligible!

That is quite a lot but it gets even worse when comparing the users >= 3000 reputation.

Only ***0.22%*** of our community can cast close votes on questions! On Programmers it is *0.63%* which isn't a great figure either but still better than what we have.

Here are the results of last years Ask Ubuntu community moderator elections.

> _776_ voters were eligible, 211 visited the election, and __145__ voted

That means that we had a vote participation of 18,7% last year. We'll have to wait for the results of this year's election to find out if that number went up or down of course.

Suggestion
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The figures above mean that we have to get the rest of the community more involved in voting. The best option to do this is to organize an event especially for Ask Ubuntu beginners.

This event should be about the Stack Exchange concept, that is how Ask Ubuntu is supposed to work. Why it is important to vote on questions and answer, to flag posts, to edit and of course to participate in Meta and chat.

Of course such an event doesn't help without letting people know about it. Thus advertisement is going to be crucial.

Here are some ideas on how to address that problem:

- Write a Meta.AU question about the event.
- Create an ad for the sidebar that links to the Meta question.
- Have a site banner (like in the moderator elections) linking to the Meta question.
- Get some media coverage (OMG! Ubuntu! for example [Joey Sneddon is happy to help]).
- Blogging and micro-blogging.

I've already added a [card][2] to our [Ask Ubuntu Trello board][3].

Here are the tasks to make it happen:

- Preparing material for the event.

   That is, relevant Meta.SO and Meta.AU questions for example.

- Preparing the actual event.

    Write all the chat comments and proofread them.

- Writing the Meta.AU question (announcement)
- Creating a sidebar ad for the event
- Creating a site banner ad for the event
- Creating an article for OMG! Ubuntu!


What do you think about it?


  [1]: http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/201/conversation/reputation-problem-on-ask-ubuntu
  [2]: https://trello.com/card/ask-ubuntu-beginners-event/4ec557e6ea86c7153d127fc5/35
  [3]: https://trello.com/board/ask-ubuntu/4ec557e6ea86c7153d127fc5