One of my articles made the front page on Wikipedia
The Red Revenue postage stamp article was on the Wiki front page on 2015.10.09. Although it changes daily (?) but I’m still happy, that my small contribution makes an impact.
I wrote for Wiki for a while, then stopped.
Writing for it only because I use it a lot. Other than making donation during its annual or bi-annual fundraising, writing, perhaps is the second best way to support it.
How to write for wiki? It’s very simple: register an account and start writing what you know.
如何为维基写作? 非常简单: 注册一个帐户并开始写您所知道的内容.How to Create a Wikipedia Account
- Go to Wikipedia’s main page.
- In the top, right hand corner, click create account.
- Create a username and password. …
- Enter your email, if desired.
- Complete the CAPTCHA security check.
- Click create your account, and you are ready to edit!
At first, you’ll need to get approve from the editors, for orating and content. Then you’re on your own.
Actually I feel that I benefit from contribution to wiki a lot: many editors helped me along the way. I asked for their help longer than necessary because I learnt a lot from them. It made me to be more precise. For example, when I wrote ‘mine‘, they pressed me, was it gold mine, silver mind or diamond mine?
… sorry, it’s coal mind … but million thanks.
The contributors are from all walk of life, which makes Wiki, wiki. There are few questionable apples who write solely to promote themselves, or their organizations, or a band, those will be taken down. There are some contributors have bias / agendas.
For example, the version for Martina Hingis when I first saw, had her as the winner of 25 grand slams, which isn’t too wrong but it isn’t the conventional way. In tennis, we really only count the singles, separate doubles and mix doubles from it. So when I saw her the winner of 25 grand slams, I instantly knew what was going on and felt strongly that it cheapened her accomplishment. Winning 5 singles is NOT a small feast. When I changed it by listing 3 different events, it was soon reverted back to 25. Now it’s listing her wins in 3 categories which is correct way to go. This isn’t so important, just tennis stat. But it shows some people do have their biases.
Behind the scene: each article has a history page, every one with an account can access it: there, you’ll see every single change made to this article, and the discussions.
… Then, there is political correctness I saw in the discussion, which soured me.
Here are some stats and our weekends at wiki
The Red Revenue: the screenshot of the top paragraphs, in 2021 and 2024, look identical, guess no update has been made since. The story behind this is a long story, recording the early part of my genealogy research when I was very green.
Wiki in 2015, had 4,958,000 English articles 838,000 Chinese 中文; 2021 6,383,000 in English, 1,231,000 中文; 2024 6,792,000 in English, 1,407,000 in Chinese 中文.
维基在 2015年, 有4,958k 条英文, 838k 条中文; 2021年 6,383k条英, 1,231k 中; 2024年 6,792k 条英, 1,407k中文.
I was in China in 2019, couldn’t access Wiki, Google and Dropbox, feeling the pain.
How a few geeks spend their weekends 2017.9.24: we often get together, like a community, talk shop but mostly to write something new, or working on update of articles (either by self or others). It’s the camaraderie that draw us out from our desk or sofa at home.
There is a gent who’s in his 60s, constantly present at the gatherings. His focus? Taking photos of New York City. He’s a lifelong New Yorker. Be it a street, a shop, a monument or a landmark. “Sometimes I’ll just go, while other times when I see a request.” Yes, you can ask/request of a photo of a certain location anywhere. There are people who will photography it and upload on wiki. However, his endeavor, which is decades long running, is gradually diminishing, by the little Google Maps. “What’s the hick, I’ll continuously taking photos, till the day I die.” -:) … We teased him that he’s the kid brother of Bill Cunningham (1929-2016), the fashion photographer for The New York Times, who famously rode his bike around the City, taking candid photos.
… more about Wiki
群里有些人问我关于为维基写作的事: 非常简单: 注册一个帐户并开始写您所知道的内容.
‘Create account’ at the top right hand corner. 用中文写,请转到此处: 在右上角创建帐号.
有什么问题请吱声. 我刚刚更新了这个旧帖子, 希望大家都努力分享. 可以创新题目, 更新+- 已有文章的内容 也可以添加照片… 比如你们都爱旅游 可以查看具体地区/用品的文章: Torres del Paine Park, trekking_pole, tent …
另外食物 Fermented bean curd 豆腐乳; 人 Wang Xinyu…
上周在 2024 年迈阿密🎾公开赛上,我看到了很多中国女选手 – 当我谷歌她们时, 维基总是显示在顶部. (王欣瑜也许对你们来说很熟悉 我没有听说过)
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