4 ms·
> wouldn't you go "out of your way" to fix these mistakes? On wikipedia? As someone who has not spent years building up a reputation? No, it would just be reve
by Nursie 6y ago
> wouldn't you go "out of your way" to fix these mistakes?
On wikipedia? As someone who has not spent years building up a reputation? No, it would just be reverted in ten seconds flat by whoever had nominated themselves as guardian of the truth about Nick Cage.
- Ancapistani 6y agoThat’s not at all been my experience. I’m not a regular contributor, but I correct errors when I come, add sources, and sometimes remove unsourced claims. The most that’s ever happened is that I’ve had my edits reverted until I added citations. Since then I include them by default and haven’t had it happen in years.
- the_af 6y agoThat's not true. I don't have any reputation on Wikipedia but I have made dozens of small corrections to it, and they seldom get reverted (though they are sometimes improved upon, which I'm fine with). Reputation on Wikipedia helps with edit wars and flamewars, on contested issues. But just fixing a spelling error or a link is not usually a contested issue.
- Nursie 6y agoI’m sorry but it’s very true. People on Wikipedia have their patch and will revert corrections on a whim. Just as others will remove contributions that meet the criteria purely out of their own ignorance. Wikipedia is a great resource, but at some point the knee-jerk deletionists won over the culture behind the scenes. It’s toxic for outsiders for the most part.
- the_af 6y agoI don't know what to tell you. Like I said, that hasn't been my experience for minor edits (I don't have time for larger edits, and the few times I argued on controversial topics it was of course a mess, but that's to be expected: it happens here on HN as well).
- Nursie 6y agoI mean, I've literally done this for the birth year of an actor I went to school with, and had the above insta-revert happen, and watched pages get deleted on notability because the person nominating for deletion hadn't heard of one of the most prestigious literary awards in the UK. I'm willing to accept that each person's experience is different, perhaps it's just unfortunate, but it seems to marry up with a lot of other self-reported wikipedia experiences I've seen on HN over the last several years.
- kaba0 6y agoI think it varies wildly based on topic. Under some (I’ve heard history is like this) there are quite large wars, but many others are not as preciously guarded.