Wikipedia is VAST. I guess that’s a given, but in the same way it’s hard to picture how big the number 1,000,000,000 can be, it blew my mind how many little corners of Wikipedia had so much going on. It made finding an article to edit extremely intimidating; depending on the article, whatever I’d eventually choose to edit and publish has the potential to reach literally the entire world. It’s different than social media, in that when I post on Facebook and Instagram, it’s usually just my family and friends watching, maybe a couple of randoms here and there. Other than shooting my anxiety levels through the roof, this assignment (and this course in general, really) is teaching me that it’s not just important to be honest on the internet, it’s our RESPONSIBILITY, especially with a place as great as Wikipedia.
When I started looking for articles, I searched through things that I was already interested in; favorite video games, an online RPG that still gets lots of love almost 20 years later. Turns out those talk pages are LOUD and sometimes hostile and it immediately made me stress out a bit. The things I loved and am well versed on are things that a lot of a certain kind of people are into as well (gamer dudes are not the friendliest). How was I going to participate in such a loud conversation? I was listening to music when a new song by my favorite artist, Darren Criss, and Steve Aoki started playing: a cover of “Crash Into Me” by The Dave Matthews Band, but make it EDM. I’ve been recently obsessed with it so I checked out the Wikipedia page for the song. Stevie Nicks also recorded a cover of the song in 2009 in her “Soundstage Sessions” album, but her cover was given it’s own section. Their was no mention of the Darren Criss/Steve Aoki cover, so I got to work.
The first thing I did was head to the talk page, where literally nothing was happening. The last time someone had said something was in 2009 when they added the Stevie Nicks version of the song. So I quickly summarized what I planned to do in the talk page, which was create a “Covers” section, with Stevie Nicks and Darren Criss/Steve Aoki becoming subcategories for that section. Whoever added the Stevie Nicks section also added the track listing for her album, which I’m still not sure is necessary on this specific page, but the album itself doesn’t have a page and the Stevie Nicks page is obviously flooded with information, so I left it alone. I might change my mind and try and edit it later, but as of now, it’s there.
I spoke into the void, mostly. It’s an old song and no one’s updated it in years, so it wasn’t surprising, and after a day I posted the changes from my sandbox. I think they look good, and legitimate. The only thing I feel needs some work is the sources While I used a legitimate source (Billboard), it was still the only source that covered the song that I felt was legitimate enough to use in this article. I made sure to keep my snippet small, and cited my sources and added Wikilinks as needed.
This assignment, more than anything, taught me to be very careful and critical in choosing my words. Usually when writing papers, or blog posts like this one, it’s you and your professor, maybe a handful of TAs. And when I post on social media it’s more personal (not graded) and there’s no pressure. But with Wikipedia, where so many people come for information, literally the whole world is watching. “Think before you speak” takes on a whole new meaning.
