Simon Says....

August 6, 2006 4:57 AM

Prolific Canadian Is King of WikipediaSimon Pulsifer, posting as SimonP, is reported to be "the world's most prolific author on...Wikipedia,with 78,000 entries edited and 2,000 to 3,000 new articles to his name." Although highly regarded by his fellow Wikipedians, Pulsifer describes his 3- to 4-hour-a-day efforts as "an addiction".
posted by NYCinephile (28 comments total)

What's with the massive amount of Wikipedia press coverage recently? It feels like there's a new article about it every day.
posted by reklaw at 5:02 AM on August 6, 2006

Could be because the Wikimania conference is taking place currently?
posted by PenDevil at 5:09 AM on August 6, 2006

Simon Pulsifer has never really blended in with the crowd. In kindergarten, he began building elaborate, fantastical buildings out of Lego, already bored by the construction plans on the back of the box.

Didn't everyone who had Lego do that?
posted by delmoi at 5:18 AM on August 6, 2006

That dude needs to get some netsex...
posted by Eekacat at 5:40 AM on August 6, 2006

In Grade 8, he, attired as Stalin, and other friends re-enacted the Yalta conference on the balcony of a friend's house.

Didn't everyone do *that*?
posted by Turtles all the way down at 5:45 AM on August 6, 2006

Pulsifer's own entry might be deleted.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 5:54 AM on August 6, 2006

According to the Globe and Mail Pulsifer, 24, lives at home and does not have a girlfriend.

Isn't everyone like that?
posted by greycap at 6:19 AM on August 6, 2006

According to the Globe and Mail Pulsifer, 24, lives at home and does not have a girlfriend.

Obviously they meant that he lives with his parents. Although, it is a rather tautological sentence.
posted by delmoi at 6:26 AM on August 6, 2006

Once again, the Wikipedia is at the head of the pack. I bet the Encylopaedia Britannica doesn't have 78,000 articles written by the same author!
posted by Jimbob at 6:38 AM on August 6, 2006

Wow, what an extraordinary story and person.

It is interesting about the addiction part. I've defined addiction in my own life as knowing something is bad for oneself and doing it anyway but the more I learn about addiction, the more I think of it as controlled by neurological/neurochemical loops that repeat themselves for any number of reasons. It's an intriguing topic.

Since Simon's mother is a librarian, it makes sense that he has a facility with research.

He's a handsome guy.

"It doesn't matter to me that I do it on a voluntary basis. I enjoy it. It's important that people around the world have access to free, accurate and unbiased information. Wikipedia tries to do that, and it's a very honourable and admirable goal."

Beautifully said. I'm grateful for his exceptional contributions.
posted by nickyskye at 6:42 AM on August 6, 2006

I'm pretty sure it's "Lego blocks" or "Lego bricks." It's not just that Lego doesn't want their name pluralized, they don't want it to be synonymous with bricks because it makes it hard to expand to other products (and harder to protect the trademark, I suppose).
posted by hyperizer at 6:51 AM on August 6, 2006

So they wouldn't like it if I photoshopped some legos, xeroxed that onto a kleenex, and threw it into a dumpster?
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 7:33 AM on August 6, 2006

I'm pretty sure it's "Lego blocks" or "Lego bricks." It's not just that Lego doesn't want their name pluralized, they don't want it to be synonymous with bricks because it makes it hard to expand to other products (and harder to protect the trademark, I suppose).

Um.
posted by obvious at 7:38 AM on August 6, 2006

I'm pretty sure it's "Lego blocks" or "Lego bricks." It's not just that Lego doesn't want their name pluralized, they don't want it to be synonymous with bricks because it makes it hard to expand to other products (and harder to protect the trademark, I suppose).

Hmm, I thought read somewhere that the term "Lego" was actually its own plural (like deer) but I can't find anything to back that up.
posted by delmoi at 7:58 AM on August 6, 2006

Once again, the Wikipedia is at the head of the pack. I bet the Encylopaedia Britannica doesn't have 78,000 articles written by the same author!

And neither does the wikipedia, if you read more closely. ;)
posted by artifarce at 7:58 AM on August 6, 2006

So they wouldn't like it if I photoshopped some legos, xeroxed that onto a kleenex, and threw it into a dumpster?

Only if you photoshoped it on your nintendo.
posted by delmoi at 7:59 AM on August 6, 2006

obvious backs me up. Notice how they use "Lego" as an adjective, not a noun.
posted by hyperizer at 8:11 AM on August 6, 2006

Good for him.
posted by ericb at 8:24 AM on August 6, 2006

That dude needs to get some netsex...

Shoot for the stars, whydoncha?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 8:59 AM on August 6, 2006

Not a good metareaction here....this guy does something he loves for the purpose of getting free information to as many people who need it. It's refreshing and should be applauded.

And, come on, he does not look or even seem like the comic-book guy from the Simpsons or something. He seems rather normal. If only more people had such hobbies of mutual benefit to them and society!
posted by skepticallypleased at 9:25 AM on August 6, 2006

No way. Fuck him.
posted by Flashman at 10:05 AM on August 6, 2006 [1 favorite]

It's lovely that such an educated, bright young man engages in a hobby so useful to the rest of the world...and a bit sad that he appears to have done it, for some time at least, on his mother's dime. At 24, with a degree and a job, isn't it time he allow mom to spend a few of her hard earned, underpaid-librarian bucks on herself? At the risk of sounding like my mother - get out already!
posted by onegreeneye at 11:20 AM on August 6, 2006

Some Wikipedians prefer to keep their identities hidden and do not use their real names on the site. Mr. Pulsifer, for example, goes by SimonP. This username is to protect his identity from the abuse that can come from editing the site.

Any "protection" that that username afforded him is surely gone now...
posted by Earl the Polliwog at 11:24 AM on August 6, 2006

metafilter: lives at home and does not have a girlfriend.
posted by hypocritical ross at 11:34 AM on August 6, 2006

Oh, come on. We all know that proper reference materials are the product of trained professionals working within their field for a respectable corporation, not this volunteer-dependent BS. Wikipedia entries could be written by any lunatic nut job.
posted by NortonDC at 6:05 PM on August 6, 2006

I've always called them Legos. My spouse, who is British, calls them (in the plural) Lego. I always figured that that was one of those trans-Atlantic variations.

I refuse to call them "Lego bricks or toys" however, because that's just stupid.
posted by Hal Mumkin at 7:15 AM on August 7, 2006

Have you noticed how wikipedia folks have their own language? You'll read a discussion page, and there will be an arcane discussion going something like:

User 1:{{subst:afd}} {{subst:afd2|pg=
User 2:WP:STUFF >[User]
User 1:[4] [5] Sysrpl
User 2:~~~~→{Link}

and it will go on like that for pages.

Isn't there a fictional character named Simon Pulsifer? I can't pull anything from google on account of all of the globe and mail gushing.
posted by Mr. Gunn at 4:12 PM on August 7, 2006

Fuzzy Monster writes "Pulsifer's own entry might be deleted."


I offer, without any comment beyond some added emphasis, the following from the discussion page of the article on Mr. Pulsifer:

As Wikipedia grows in importance and global reach, the most passionate participants in this collective editing experiment become important global intellectuals.

. . . .

Let's keep this article because Simon Pulsifer has already reached a greater number of people than many of the "historic" individuals described on Wikipedia.

Move over, "historic" Sir Isaiah Berlin, and hats off to Noam Chomsky, E.O. Wilson, and latest but by no means least public intellectual, Mr. Simon Pulsifer.

And they say wikipedia takes itself too seriously. Bah, Sir! Bah! They are doing the important and global world of important and global intellectuals!

And, yes! Being a public intellectual like Mr. Simon Pulsifer can be lucrative as well, as this message on the same discussion page attests!

Simon, My employer saw the Globe and Mail article and was very impressed. He has an item for a possible Wikipedia entry which he would like for you to author. I told him that I would try to contact you. I would like the opportunity to discuss with you if you are willing.

posted by orthogonality at 4:34 PM on August 7, 2006