User blog comment:Cosmicsilver/An Outside Assessment of This Wiki/@comment-1251315-20150330090906/@comment-4984687-20150402200605

The edit count is a requirement and a reasonable one. Most Patrollers have made over one or two thousand mainspace edits. It's a sign of activity, consistency, and attention to the subspace. Back when we didn't have the requirement, we use to have patrollers promoted within 3 days if they showed potential.

Users are expected to get 500 edits to become staff and 500 isn't that much. If a user can't get that much, how often would they patrol when they reach said rank?