# Do you wiki? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 4, 2004, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wiki/253524 "2004-07-04T19:15:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kitarak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kitarak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitarak)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wiki/253524/1 "2004-07-04T19:15:26Z")
Just out of idle curiousity, who else here is a contributer to [wikipedia](http://www.wikipedia.org)? I figure that given the high number of scarily intelligent people here, we must have a couple. A regular contributer, or just the occasional edit? Created any articles? I’m DRMacIver over there. I haven’t done a great deal - just added to the occasional maths article, and created an entry about the Cambridge Part III mathematics. I’m still more or less a newbie though. So, share your wiki experience. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wiki/253524/2 "2004-07-04T21:54:10Z")
I asked a similar question a couple weeks ago, I didn’t get much response. > **[Do you Wiki?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=261762)** > > http://c2.com/cgi/wiki How does it compare to SDMB? What do you like/dislike about Wiki? Good luck with your thread. ---
**Author:** ![kitarak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kitarak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitarak)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wiki/253524/3 "2004-07-04T22:01:55Z")
Oops. Same title even. Sorry to steal your thread idea. 🙂 I must have missed seeing the thread when it first came up. (Easy to do given how quickly threads drop in this forum) I’ve been meaning to ask for a while and last time I thought of it I did a search (but never got around to posting a thread). Guess that was prior to yours and I didn’t bother searching again this time. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2004, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wiki/253524/4 "2004-07-05T02:35:40Z")
I am (strangely enough) Paul in Saudi on Wikipedia and Wikisource. I have been less active of late, but that might change soon. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2004, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wiki/253524/5 "2004-07-05T20:05:53Z")
As I said in the previous thread, I am a regular contibutor to Wikipedia under the name MK. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2004, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wiki/253524/6 "2004-11-28T23:35:17Z")
Does anyone else find it addictive? I only recently started using it, and I’ve added to or changed articles on marine biology, whale watching, Project Nike, some places in California, and some others I can’t remember. It’s really strange, but I feel like I’m hooked. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2004, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wiki/253524/7 "2004-11-29T03:11:32Z")
A question to contributors: what is your level of expertise in the field you’ve contributed to? What sort of fact checking do you do before submiting an article or a change? ---
**Author:** ![Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9dc877/32.png) [@Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightwatch_Trailer)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2004, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wiki/253524/8 "2004-11-29T03:29:10Z")
I got into it this summer, but it didn’t last long. I actually went in today and edited an article to correct some grammar (since I’m not an expert in anything, grammar/spelling editing is the bulk of my Wikipedia contribution). That was my first edit in a few months… ---
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2004, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wiki/253524/9 "2004-11-29T03:30:07Z")
I contribute semi-regularly (mostly nitpicky stuff like grammar and fact-checking) under the name of (shockingly enough) yBeayf. ---
**Author:** ![Caiata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e56c9b/32.png) [@Caiata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caiata)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2004, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wiki/253524/10 "2004-11-29T03:40:48Z")
I’ve been intending to go fill out a few of the forensic science-related stubs for some time now, but I’ve never found enough free time to do so. Also, the wiki editing syntax confuses me - it’d be nice if it aligned more with standard HTML or even vB code. The “tutorial” they have on the site just doesn’t explain it well enough for me, and I’m worried that I’d mess up the formatting or be unable to insert photographs in my updates. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2004, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wiki/253524/11 "2004-11-29T09:17:12Z")
No, I mikimiki. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wiki/253524/12 "2004-12-01T00:16:57Z")
> [@jovan](#): > > A question to contributors: what is your level of expertise in the field you’ve contributed to? What sort of fact checking do you do before submiting an article or a change? I’ve got a master’s degree in marine biology, so I have some level of expertise. I have double-checked on things when my memory is unclear, but by and large the additions I’ve made have been the general knowledge sort of thing that don’t require much fact checking. A few of the parts I’ve added I double-checked with textbooks before adding just to make sure I get things right (taxonomy especially). ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wiki/253524/13 "2004-12-01T00:49:59Z")
I don’t Wiki, although I’ve been tempted at times but the blank entries I have some knowledge of all require some subjective analysis, so I skip them in case others have a severely different opinion. However, am I the only one who, every time I see “wiki” and especially “wikiwiki” am reminded of Jam On It? ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wiki/253524/14 "2004-12-01T01:09:53Z")
I couldn’t sleep once a few weeks ago, so I spent an hour or so working on one of those pages where one word means several things, so you help people find which of the things they’re looking for. I forget what that’s called. I’ll fix grammar errors if I see them, which is almost never. But it is fun. I should actually help there more often. ---
**Author:** ![friggae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/45deac/32.png) [@friggae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friggae)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wiki/253524/15 "2004-12-01T02:17:58Z")
> [@TJdude825](#): > > …one of those pages where one word means several things, so you help people find which of the things they’re looking for. A disambiguation page. I also pretty much only correct spelling and grammar. Sometimes when I’m bored, I like to hit the Random page button until I find something that needs attention. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wiki/253524/16 "2004-12-01T02:46:32Z")
I wrote the article on the Esquimalt, which I grew up in and which I was researching at the time. I contributed a chunk to Canadian history. I corrected a page on a Canadian author (it said he was dead when he’s not – he’s just a Canadian author). That’s it, actually. ---
**Author:** ![Hamish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Hamish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamish)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wiki/253524/17 "2004-12-01T02:47:51Z")
:smack: Drat, I thought I hit the stop button in time. I forgot to log out my roommate – the above post is mine, not his. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wiki/253524/18 "2004-12-01T03:28:39Z")
I’ve contributed a little, under this same name. Mostly grammar/spelling/formatting corrections, but also some information about my town and a few technical subjects. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wiki/253524/19 "2004-12-01T03:57:30Z")
Enlighten me? I’ve heard of wikipedia, but I have no idea what or where it is, or what one does with it. Some sort of online encyclopaedia? And you can contribute to it? How? ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wiki/253524/20 "2004-12-01T04:12:21Z")
> [@LifeOnWry](#): > > Enlighten me? > > I’ve heard of wikipedia, but I have no idea what or where it is, or what one does with it. Some sort of online encyclopaedia? And you can contribute to it? How? > **[Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia](https://www.wikipedia.org)** > > Save your favorite articles to read offline, sync your reading lists across devices and customize your reading experience with the official Wikipedia app. > > This page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License > Terms of Use > Privacy Policy It’s an online encyclopedia written by random internet people like us. Anyone can edit almost any page at any time, even without signing up for an account. While this means you can’t hold it to the same standard of accuracy as a professional encyclopedia, it also means that it covers more recent topics. For example, the free software movement is 20 years old, but you won’t find a word about it in Britannica. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wiki/253524.md?page=2)