Try making an entry on Wikipedia for yourself today. If you are famous enough to be on Wikipedia, you’d already be there. More likely, you entry will be immediately deleted for being not notable, etc. In fact, this happened to Wikinomics, the first time it was posted. Results of the trial is shown below.
At the time, the noble guardians at Wikipedia decided that Wikinomics was not yet a notable term and voted to delete the post. Since then, it has become a pretty good entry.
If you do try to add a questionable entry, you should hope that it doesn’t make the front page. If that happens, you will certainly raise the ire of Wikicritics. This has happened twice in the past two weeks. This guy (pictured below) basically posted his resume online and has feverishly defended it against critics. Many people don’t think the fact that Darren Heitner won a local video game contest as a child and played on his high school volleyball team is encyclopedic.
Update: Darren Heitner post now deleted.
From the discussion:
winning a nintendo contest and winning a few childhood contests now a poster now makes someone notable enough to get a wikipedia page? This page was SEVERELY changed from it’s original intent…first it was all about his “blog” and his agency, then when he realized he wasn’t notable enough for a wikipedia, he changed it to articles about his childhood? No I say! Delete this garbage! What makes this person more notable than anyone else? Everyone has some sort of childhood achievements, everyone placed or won something in their life, does that mean they deserve a wikipedia entry? I won bowling leagues when I was a little, do I deserve a wikipedia page too? Give me a break!
Another example is Ernest Emerson. He is a former Navy SEAL, martial arts expert, and knife manufacturer. Basically, you wouldn’t make fun of him in person, but you might on his discussion board. Wikipedians thought it should be removed, but were a little embarrassed that it even made the front page:
I do not think it prudent to have an AfD notice on a main page-featured article, so I removed the AfD notice and temporarily closed the AfD. Personally, I am not interested in arguing the merits of the article. My only issue right now is the fact that a main page article is going to have a deletion notice on it. Frankly, this looks terrible. This article has had featured status since March and I see no reason why we must discuss its possible deletion right now. However, Albatross feels strongly that the AfD should go forward immediately. If a third party agrees, I won’t have a problem with the AfD going back up. But nothing could be accomplished in the next 11 hours or so; this page is, in all likelihood, going to stay on the main page for the rest of the day, and the deletion discussion will continue for a few days. So I say please wait a few hours to start the debate, for the sake of the thousands of people who will view this page today.
Moral of the story…if you try a vanity site, keep that baby off the front page.
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[...] Check out the Wikipedia “Front Page Challenge“ [...]
Pingback by The Daily Stick » 10.29.07 - October 29, 2007 3:13 am
Hey,
I’ve been checking out Wikipedia “front page challenge”, or who wants to delete a Navy Seal that makes knives and I love the stuff you guys are putting up. I actually have a website that aggregates and promotes news content like yours. If my users vote your content popular then a link to your articles gets put on my front page and the users get redirected to your site.
The easiest way to get your content in our site is to put a small button at the bottom of your posts which allows your users to automatically add your stuff to our site. Would you be interested in doing something like that?
Anyways, the site is http://www.egallon.com
If you’re interested please let me know,
Aaron
Comment by Aaron - October 29, 2007 3:17 am
Interesting article. The problem with Wikipedia is that it has extremely right wing conservative moderators and there seems to be an agenda that prevents opposing views from being heard.
Comment by Wikipedia - October 29, 2007 11:22 am
If you don’t like wikipedia try http://wiqipedia.org. It is a fake encyclopedia.
Comment by Wikipedia Sucks - October 29, 2007 11:23 am
You’ll note that all the useless insignificant trivia manages to stay untouched in Wikipedia.
Comment by Matt - October 29, 2007 12:43 pm
[...] the wiki charts: Hudgens, Pavarotti, and 50-Cent (in that order) About a month ago Mike posted an interesting read titled Wikipedia “front page challenge”, or who wants to delete a [...]
Pingback by Wikinomics » Blog Archive » Off the wiki charts: Hudgens, Pavarotti, and 50-Cent (in that order) - November 22, 2007 9:05 am
Actually, Emerson was never a SEAL. He is a Martial Artist and has been making knives for SEALs, SPEC-Ops types, etc for 30+ years. None of those people would say that stuff to his face not only because he could kick their asses, but because he’s one of the nicest people you could ever meet.
Comment by Dan Dorrity - January 4, 2008 11:17 am
And yes. The Wikipedia has no shortage of articles based on cartoon characters who appeared in a single episode of Family Guy or Simpsons…not to mention videogame articles written by pimple faced 40-year-old Virgins.
Comment by Dan Dorrity - January 5, 2008 2:26 am
[...] It is this question that lies at the heart of a very interesting article in The Economist. The inclusionists argue that Wikipedia should feature as many articles as it’s contributors can produce, so long as even a few users find it interesting. Let’s just call it the “longest of the long tail” strategies. In contrast, deletionists believe the site would be more successful if it “maintains a certain relevance and quality for its enteries.” To read a humourous post about deletionists at their best, see Mike Dover’s post from October. [...]
Pingback by Wikinomics » Blog Archive » The Wikipedia battleground: inclusionists versus deletionists - March 10, 2008 6:26 am
[...] while back I posted about the debates that often occur when articles are featured on the front page of Wikipedia. Basically, each day there are a few dozen entries on the front page including one [...]
Pingback by Wikinomics » Blog Archive » You might remember me from such blog posts as Christmas Ape and Christmas Ape goes to Summer Camp - May 30, 2008 10:49 am
[...] before about trouble that Wikipedia gets in when in features lame posts on the front page. See here and [...]
Pingback by Wikinomics » Blog Archive » Wikipedia front page gets it right…and a shameless plug - June 27, 2008 8:27 pm