8

alt text (more context)

And how does SO decide which username to put there?

|improve this question
  • 1
    Since the accepted answer appears to conflict with another answer that is as authoritative as possible (quoting Atwood), it may be best to switch which one is accepted. – LSpice Jan 1 '19 at 16:19
1

It means 40% of the text was written by Mike Duncan. The user name with the most % is placed there.

|improve this answer
  • 8
    This is wrong. The true answer is "sum the total size of all line contributions (insertions or deletions) from any given author in a revision, with a small bonus multiplier of 2x for the original author". – Shadow The Burning Wizard Jan 1 '19 at 13:04
13

Jeff describes it on his blog:

I simply sum the total size of all line contributions (insertions or deletions) from any given author in a revision, with a small bonus multiplier of 2x for the original author. We report the highest percentage of authorship in the final revision.

|improve this answer
  • 3
    Sadly enough, this is the only correct answer here. (Sad because accepted answer is wrong) – Shadow The Burning Wizard Jan 1 '19 at 13:05
2

After so many edits, the % starts to reflect who "owns" the most content on the post.

|improve this answer
1

The percentage is to show that certain a person have contributed the most to this post, and how much he contributed. That allows you to quickly tell who put the most effort into the post. Sort of a way to honor that person for writing/organizing information.

|improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .