I was listening to a song parody called White and Nerdy (based off of Chamillionaire’s “Ridin’ Dirty”) when it struck me — I am majorly white and nerdy.
It was a specific lyric that caught my attention: “Shopping online for deals on some writable media, I edit Wikipedia…” Oh God, I thought. I do edit Wikipedia. And wasn’t my last guilty pleasure about online shopping? So this is it. I am definitely white and nerdy — and one of my guiltiest pleasures is editing Wikipedia.
I started editing about two years ago when I was a freshman. I could spend hours searching for a page that hadn’t been created yet or looking up the most absurd topics and researching them, then adding information to their Wikipedia page.
My latest endeavor has been a small addition to the Carob page, a food that most people don’t know of and looks kind of like brown locust tree pods. I added how it is eaten. I’ve tried eating the locust tree pods that fall in my backyard, thinking it may have been the same thing, only to find out that it’s definitely not.
Making even small additions to Wikipedia pages makes me feel accomplished, like I’ve contributed something good for the future of something, even if it sounds insignificant.
I’ve tried adding bogus and phony information before — just as a test — and surprisingly, Wikipedia is very diligent and quick to get rid of false information. Sometimes I go back and revisit the pages I’ve added to, just to make sure my additions are still there,  wondering how many people have seen it since.
Whenever I go on a Wikipedia page, I rate them, too. And after I submit a rating, it always asks, “Did you know you can edit this page?”  And every single time, I excitedly click the edit page and get to work. I would never tell anyone that I do such nerdy things, but today, I’m coming clean. I edit Wikipedia. For fun.
By Jude El Buri