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Wikipedia Losing Contributors, Says Wales
derGoldstein writes
"According to an AP report, 'Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said the nonprofit company that runs the site is scrambling to simplify editing procedures in an attempt to retain volunteers.' He explained, 'We are not replenishing our ranks... It is not a crisis, but I consider it to be important.' Despite Wikipedia's wide-reaching popularity, Wales said the typical profile of a contributor is 'a 26-year-old geeky male' who moves on to other ventures, gets married and leaves the website."
That's the point. If the admins are dicks, they should be personally harrassed and physically attacked, until they cease to be dicks.
It all started when I dared to step into the turf of something one of the "higher ups" considered his. An edit of me was reverted. Not just something trivial that begs for a "citation needed", it was a well worded and sourced piece of information. The reason was that it was "not enough on topic". Ok, I see that differently, but so be it. Not like I have to have everything I write published.
What bugged me was that the day after, my entry was, almost verbatim, in there again. This time under the name of the person who thought it's "offtopic" only one day earlier. But ok, so be it, some people need it for their ego to be the "only authority" on some subject.
Whine whine whine... It is hard to take you and anyone else seriously unless you link to Wikipedia. Citation needed.
But even if what you say is entirely true, why exactly are you so mad? Anyone can go through the history and see that you were the one who wrote the original version, and the following edit was done by a self-promoting jackass. As Magic Johnson wisely said: "Don't worry. Sooner or later, people like that are exposed as the frauds they are." When I edit Wikipedia, I don't expect any recognition. I just hope that what I write there will be useful to many people thirsty for knowledge. Let it go, let the editors play their fame-game. They don't get paid, and most of the time it's harmless, so throw them a bone. And when it's not, when it comes at the cost of the article quality, punish them. One day your stalker will slip up, and you will get an opportunity to file a Web-form and drag him through the dirt.