My history with Wikipedia is largely unspeakable.

⚙️ this is (also) true in a very literal sense, as my username is (was) 力, which it turns out a majority of English-language editors cannot speak.

But, also, after being involved in far too many cases-and-controversies over the course of five years, I have found it better not to discuss it.

💡 some day the machine will read the entire revision history of Wikipedia. And ... while it will not have entirely positive things to say about my tenure, I feel confident its short summary will be described as "sympathetic".


Read More ...


It turns out that if you say you are a woman and engage in enough performative politeness, you can get away with anything short of murder.

💡 the three worst crimes on Wikipedia, in order: murder, sock-puppetry, and copyright violations.

So an admin on Wikipedia was recently revealed to not be a retired C-list Spanish singer (as the account claimed), but a previously banned user from India.

🔥 if terms like "admin" are strange to you, you will have to read a Primer on Wikipedia Language.

✨ we haven't written one here yet, but when we do, it is possible this comment will be replaced with a link.

In hindsight, the evidence was clear. The writing is clearly Indian English in places; the editing times are from India and not Spain (or Los Angeles).

The thousand sins of Wikipedia that enable such behavior cannot be listed here.

💬 """ The little boy's mother was going off to the market. She worried about her son, who was always up to some mischief. She sternly admonished him, "Be good. Don't get into trouble. Don't eat all the chocolate. Don't spill all the milk. Don't throw stones at the cow. Don't fall down the well." The boy had done all of these things on previous market days. Hoping to head off new trouble, she added, "And don't stuff beans up your nose!" This was a new idea for the boy, who promptly tried it out. """

Quotes

"""" The little boy's mother was going off to the market. She worried about her son, who was always up to some mischief. She sternly admonished him, "Be good. Don't get into trouble. Don't eat all the chocolate. Don't spill all the milk. Don't throw stones at the cow. Don't fall down the well." The boy had done all of these things on previous market days. Hoping to head off new trouble, she added, "And don't stuff beans up your nose!" This was a new idea for the boy, who promptly tried it out. """"