
AMA: Steven Pruitt, a Wikipedian with 3M edits - aboutruby
https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/au2rjb/i_am_steven_pruitt_the_wikipedian_with_over_3/
======
cooper12
One strange thing about the AMA is the reverent tone of some of the replies.
Some people are saying "thanks for this article" or "thanks for getting me
through school", etc. I think there's a misconception at play because people
are assuming since he has the most edits, he wrote most of the content. It
probably also doesn't help when there are blatantly false headlines like "Meet
the man behind a third of what's on Wikipedia". [0] In actuality, a majority
of the edits are semi-automated and minor fixes: think things like fixing
typos, categorization, or page formatting.

Not trying to diminish his work, but hoping to provide some perspective. It's
important that people understand the vast collaboration behind the project and
the numerous voices that have built it up to what it is today. If one person
was responsible for most of the content, it would be nowhere as diverse as it
is.

[0]: [https://www.cbsnews.com/news/meet-the-man-behind-a-third-
of-...](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/meet-the-man-behind-a-third-of-whats-on-
wikipedia/)

~~~
nothrabannosir
On the other hand, we can assume all of those small edits add value. This
gives Wikipedia more appeal (no typos, clean pages, etc), which, in turn,
invites others to edit. Are those his contributions? No. Does he deserve some
credit? Some.

It is always hard to measure these secondary and further effects. The best way
to determinte the value is a market with independent actors. Thought
experiment: imagine Wikipedia edits were paid in _some_ currency. Doesn't have
to be monetary; it could be e.g. karma. How much would he have gotten per
edit? Sum it all up: that's his contribution.

One thing is for sure: it's more than just a motley of typo fixes. He has,
indeed, added a lot of value to Wikipedia, albeit probably indirectly, and,
thus, helped people through school.

~~~
cooper12
Of course. Like I said, "not trying to diminish his work". But it also gives
the wrong impression of what editing Wikipedia entails. Anyone can edit, and
even a single edit adds utility. One doesn't need to devote as much time has
Pruitt has, or have reference books, or make as much edits. My point was that
the commenters seem to have a misconception about who writes Wikipedia. It's
not just Pruitt, it's people like you and me. It's also women, people from
every continent, laymen, scientists, college students, retirees, people
working alone, those at editathons, people who edit once, those who edit
regularly, those who edit anonymously, those who edit under a pseudonym, etc.
Wikipedia is a massive _collaborative_ project; it's great that they're
spotlighting his (commendable) efforts, but care should be taken to avoid
outrageous misinformation like saying he wrote a third of Wikipedia. Those
thousands of content creators deserve commensurate credit as well.

~~~
mjburgess
I'd imagine there's a pareto distribution of edits amongst users, and so it
might not be so unreasonable to think that a handful of people have written a
significant percentage of what's there.

~~~
snori74
Hmm, there's lots of ways you might go about measuring who has "written
significant portion of what's there" and this "number of edits" is a poor one
indeed.

But the nature of Wikipedia means that entropy/rust/rot is a very really thing
- and the wikignomes that tirelessly keep articles together in the face of
endless silly vandals and clueless people "just trying to set the record
straight" are big part of that. Internally there is some recognition in the
relatively new "Thanks" feature - and the "barnstar" business. However, just
as with Steveen Pruitt, I suspect that the main driver for editors is being
able each day to make the world a _slightly_ better place.

------
skilled
Apparently, higher-up, editors get tools that let them make modifications to
multiple threads simultaneously. [1]

 _And_ , Wikipedia happens to count those edits separately even if the editor
applies the fix to multiple articles at once as a single action. <\-- This is
my self-assessment though, I could be wrong!

[1]:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/au2rjb/i_am_steven_pr...](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/au2rjb/i_am_steven_pruitt_the_wikipedian_with_over_3/eh56ryj/)

~~~
mormegil
Wikipedia (or, rather, MediaWiki, the wiki engine powering it) has a
comprehensive API (see e. g.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:ApiSandbox](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:ApiSandbox)),
allowing all kinds of automated tasks. You do not need any special permission
to use it, however, you are rate-limited, unless you get an exemption. And,
there are many ready-made tools utilizing the API for common tasks. Either
local tools like Pywikibot or hosted online like many tools on
tools.wmflabs.org

~~~
shaklee3
He says in the AMA the tool he uses is invite-only after you have over 500ish
edits.

------
sn41
Sounds like a really humble and level-headed guy. Kudos for all the selfless
hours he has put in for the greater good.

~~~
boshomi
+1

User Aka[1] in the German Wikipedia follows Steven with only 30,000 edits
behind in the main namespace.

[1]
[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Aka](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Aka)

[2] some statistics:

English Wikipedia:
[https://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/TablesWikipediaEN.htm](https://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/TablesWikipediaEN.htm)

German Wikipedia:
[https://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/TablesWikipediaDE.htm](https://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/TablesWikipediaDE.htm)

------
dkns
Turns out the guy who wrote Baba Yetu (civilization 4 theme song which won
grammy) is in the comments too, thanking Steven
[https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/au2rjb/i_am_steven_pr...](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/au2rjb/i_am_steven_pruitt_the_wikipedian_with_over_3/eh59ajr).
What a small world we live in.

~~~
macawfish
Funny! I met Christopher Tin once, and got to sing his music, on a choir tour
in Turkey. It was during the mass protests in 2013.

------
curiousgal
It's a bit sad that this guy mainly came into the spotlight because of some
Twitter user making fun of his appearance and not because of his work.

~~~
aw3c2
For some humble self-reflection: _You_ just brought the spotlight on his
apparently-noteworthy appearance here. This was not discussed by anyone here
and at least for me, nothing that would have come to mind.

~~~
analognoise
I don't think GP is agreeing with it, or that it requires "humble self
reflection": the Twitter thing made Reddit's front page (which is seen by many
more people than the CBS and HN combined, and is incidentally where I first
heard about it as well).

You can step off that high horse now.

~~~
gotocake
Leave out that last sentence and you’re making a cogent, convincing argument;
the insult adds nothing and takes something away.

~~~
aerovistae
Agreed. Might have upvoted, instead downvoted.

------
faiz7412
I'm pretty sure Steven Pruitt read the Asimov trilogy cover to cover and loved
it!

~~~
DonaldPShimoda
> the Asimov trilogy

Just for clarity, I think you meant the _Foundation_ trilogy. Asimov wrote an
awful lot of books, and more than just the one trilogy. (Also, there are more
than three books in the _Foundation_ series, but that's a separate point.)

------
virgakwolfw
I want to see his library

------
denart2203
How did you learn about Wikipedia? P.S. Thank you for all of your edits on
Wikipedia, I’m sure you’ve helped countless people.

------
rampage101
Why?

------
agumonkey
Who else contributed to wikipedia since this AMA ?

------
taxidump
How many hours per week do you spend on edits, on average?

~~~
wodenokoto
You have to ask on reddit, this is just a meta discussion of the AMA.

~~~
bookofjoe
I like the term "meta discussion" to characterize this comment thread. It
describes and explains concisely what HN is about/does best.

