A bit of new media history and historiography

January 18, 2011 2:04 PM

The First 10,000 Edits in Wikipedia
posted by Weebot (30 comments total)

Looks like the Ayn Rand fans got in on the ground floor.
posted by eugenen at 2:07 PM on January 18, 2011 [7 favorites]

I was expecting it to just link to the history of the Scientology page.
posted by shakespeherian at 2:09 PM on January 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

You can see where the Ron Paul fans were before they were Ron Paul fans.
posted by Weebot at 2:09 PM on January 18, 2011

........
MetaEthics|NonCognitivism
MetaEthics|NonNaturalism
MetaPhilosophy
MetaPhysics
MetaWiki
MetallicA
MetallicA|AndJusticeForAll
MetallicA|Discography....

What, no Metafilter?
posted by lampshade at 2:10 PM on January 18, 2011

This is why I am such a fan of Wikipedia. I love that they cover every subject, including themselves.
posted by bearwife at 2:10 PM on January 18, 2011

And yeah, MetaFilter is in Wikipedia. I'm sure the entry has been edited, so the list is incomplete.
posted by bearwife at 2:13 PM on January 18, 2011

Sorry, to be more accurate, that's the first 10,000 edits that survived. I removed the first 1,000 for not being notable. If you would look at the rules you also shouldn't have posted many of those in the first place because they were about you and your love of Paul Sorvino. Take it to my talk page if you have a problem with it, but most of the editors have been around longer than you and they all agree with me anyway.
posted by cjorgensen at 2:13 PM on January 18, 2011 [7 favorites]

It would be interesting to see them chronologically, instead of alphabetically.

Also interesting: Hitler is listed three times within the first six weeks of Wikipedia being online; first as the original page (note the lack of space between Adolf and Hitler, second for the start of a discussion on Hitler being responsible for the Holocaust and WWII (comment: He was the driving force but for sure he wasn't the only one responsible), and third for a re-direct to the first. Godwin was all up in there (except he wasn't one of the first 10,000 edits), even though Godwin's Law first came about in 1989 (Wiki), some 12 years before Wikipedia was launched.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:13 PM on January 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

346 of them were about Atlas Shrugged. That's a lot of free labor in the name of capitalist absolutism.
posted by clarknova at 2:15 PM on January 18, 2011 [7 favorites]

clarknova: 346 of them were about Atlas Shrugged. That's a lot of free labor in the name of capitalist absolutism.

To be fair, it was one guy, and he was doing it on the weekends, when he was taking a breather from being a ruthless capitalist. Which was fitting, for someone to make a shrine to their deity on the days that even God was said to have relaxed a bit.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:18 PM on January 18, 2011

(You know, if he believed in some sort of God. As if. 'Cause everyone knows that Christianity was "the best kindergarten of communism possible. Rand, she really gets it, and this was his tribute to her. None of that religion hokum.)
posted by filthy light thief at 2:22 PM on January 18, 2011

I suddenly have an urge to finish Atlas Shrugged.
posted by biochemist at 2:24 PM on January 18, 2011

Also: The Top 20 Editors of the First 10K Edits. And a bit of background on this project.
posted by Weebot at 2:28 PM on January 18, 2011

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/~reagle/wp-redux/DeconstructionIsm/980422682.html

Human nature doesn't change so quickly, it seems.
posted by cromagnon at 2:29 PM on January 18, 2011

I suddenly have an urge to finish Atlas Shrugged.

Spoiler alert: Don't.
posted by shakespeherian at 2:29 PM on January 18, 2011 [11 favorites]

My first reaction was, "Don't these people know how to write a Wikipedia article?" I mean, the voice and tone of these things are all over the place, they're structured in weird ways, they're wikified strangely or not at all...

But, yeah, sure enough, before there was Wikipedia, nobody knew how to write a Wikipedia article. Funny, that.
posted by nebulawindphone at 2:31 PM on January 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Welcome to Nupedia's wiki! This might become the "WikiPedia" since some Nupedia members have reservations about associating a wiki with the Nupedia name.
...
This wiki is an experiment. But, for those who might be confused about this point, it is not Nupedia. Nupedia is a serious encyclopedia project found at http://www.nupedia.com . This wiki is a proposed "fun" supplement to Nupedia!


Well, there you go; I had no idea Wikipedia was anything but Wikipedia, and
posted by AzraelBrown at 2:36 PM on January 18, 2011

To be fair, it was one guy, and he was doing it on the weekends, when he was taking a breather from being a ruthless capitalist.

No, those first 346 edits were made by many people. Unless you're making some kind of joke about Jimmy Wales's objectivisim, in which case HAH HA!

I suddenly have an urge to finish Atlas Shrugged.

All the wealthy, deserving few live in a Utopian bubble whilst the unwashed commie masses die of intrinsic unworthiness. Mary Sue gets her man.

There, all done.

_{That edit was reverted.}
posted by clarknova at 2:41 PM on January 18, 2011

I suddenly have an urge to finish Atlas Shrugged.

You gonna use a gloss, semi-gloss or matte on the finish?
posted by rough ashlar at 2:47 PM on January 18, 2011

Such a different time. Wikipedia spamming was a lot more obvious:

"Andy_Jewell
Dancer, Developer, Doer and Dreamer.
ajewell at cinci dot rr dot com, if you need me"


posted by Hardcore Poser at 2:48 PM on January 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

clarknova: those first 346 edits were made by many people. Unless you're making some kind of joke about Jimmy Wales's objectivisim, in which case HAH HA!

No, it was a flopped joke that there was one very active Rand fan in 2001. This was only in 6 weeks of Wikipedia being active, before the history I saw in your link (datestamps cover 2006, five years after Wikipedia started, if I understand the Wiki edit layout). Either way, joke flopped.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:58 PM on January 18, 2011

There's also the "Nostalgia" archive, which is a relatively complete and functional copy from December 2001. It's too bad that copy of the Recent Changes page doesn't actually display anything — back at this time, any one person could reasonably keep a habit of reading through every day's worth of revisions if they felt like it.

And there's a partial list of early contributors here, with links for easy poking around to see if they're still contributing.
posted by dreamyshade at 3:46 PM on January 18, 2011

I would donate to both causes if Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales and Julian Assange would... - ok I'm lying. "Jimbo", should he and Assange perform a convincing humble dance wearing matching Burberry hair shirts as seen on "Dancing with the Dregs" wouldn't be enough to allow me to unpucker and loose my money in the direction of people who believe that they are The Cause incarnate.

It's like those guys think they are Oprah or something.
posted by vapidave at 3:47 PM on January 18, 2011

To be fair, it was one guy, and he was doing it on the weekends, when he was taking a breather from being a ruthless capitalist.

THE RATIONAL OBECTIVIST NEEDS NO BREATHER
posted by Flunkie at 4:06 PM on January 18, 2011

I suddenly have an urge to finish Atlas Shrugged.

You gonna use a gloss, semi-gloss or matte on the finish?

Some sort of brown stain would be fitting.
posted by Devils Rancher at 4:07 PM on January 18, 2011

"Nupedia (http://www.nupedia.com/) is soon to become the greatest EncycloPedia in HisTory, because of its essential features, viz., it is: OpenContent, free, freely-distributable, rigorously PeerReviewed, international, unbiased, and in the fullness of time, comprehensive."
posted by Paragon at 4:41 PM on January 18, 2011

I understand that Ayn Rand had some pretty vile, racist views, but I thought some of her writing was very important, especially in advancing the primacy of the individual. Maybe Krishnamurti did a better job for spiritual individualism, and Camus for societal individualism, but from an industrial standpoint, who is our advocate?
posted by esprit de l'escalier at 4:54 PM on January 18, 2011

Can we just call it Atlas Meh from now on?
posted by zippy at 5:04 PM on January 18, 2011

Jesus_Christ

Jesus Christ is a central figure in [[Christianity]].

I fear great controversy if this encyclopedia entry isn't written well, and so I think we should all plunge in and duke it out quickly.

posted by Rhaomi at 5:43 PM on January 18, 2011

The entry for Applied Ethics made me smile.
posted by yellowcandy at 6:17 PM on January 18, 2011