Banned from Wikipedia: a story in pictures

Wikipedia could very well be the single greatest repository of knowledge that our species has ever created. It’s incredibly accessible, cross-referenced, fractally complex and fantastic in scope. What’s even more interesting is that it’s an utterly democratic source of information, in which edits can be carried out by and for the people.

While all of that sounds great, I still think it’s incredibly funny that there are pages-long articles on topics such as Wonder Woman’s character biography, or the plot synopsis of “The Simpsons Movie.” And what’s more, I like that there are administrators that debate the accuracy and objectivity of these entries in Wikipedia’s online forums; it must be a nice alternative from drafting incredibly wordy unintentionally ironic emails about crowding inboxes to annoy their coworkers.

I’d like to show you a few of the changes I submitted to Wikipedia; not to worry, they were all quickly rejected, and were shortly followed by a ban from editing Wikipedia entries ever again. This news was perhaps harder to deal with than the time I got asked not to participate in sorority rush, but less traumatizing than when I was told I was too big for the McDonald’s playplace.

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The greatest hits of my greatest weaknesses

I want to provide you with a mariner’s chart of my character: the contrasts and topography of my chipped, flawed personality. What the hell, you ask?

Well, this is based on that narcissism that all writers have – or ought to have. Maybe it also has something to do with the fact that I’m besieged by academic deadlines and need something to laugh about.

But the main reason? I’m sitting in a class that I am having trouble caring about (we’re watching a movie on bowel diseases. I just looked up, and was greeted by the sight of a very charming endoscopy).

Some of these tempt me severely, and some of these just make me cry: Continue reading