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Inside Wikipedia: How It Works and How You Can Be an Editor
Wikipedia is one of the most visited websites on the Internet, regularly bringing in millions of readers a day. But how exactly does a huge site like this work? What are its strengths? What are its weaknesses? Who edits the site? And perhaps most importantly how can you, the reader, help make the site better?
In this book, Paul A. Thomas—a seasoned Wikipedia contributor who has accrued almost 60,000 edits since he started editing in 2007—breaks down the history of the free encyclopedia and explains the process of becoming an editor.
Chapters
The History of WikipediaThe What to Know Before You EditGetting Making Your First EditsGrowing as an To Wikitext and BeyondConcrete Ways to Make Wikipedia a Better ResourceBecoming a Critical Countering BiasA Short Glossary of Wiki-Slang
After reading Inside Wikipedia, you will be ready to contribute to the largest, most comprehensive knowledge base the world has ever seen. What will you write about?
In this book, Paul A. Thomas—a seasoned Wikipedia contributor who has accrued almost 60,000 edits since he started editing in 2007—breaks down the history of the free encyclopedia and explains the process of becoming an editor.
Chapters
The History of WikipediaThe What to Know Before You EditGetting Making Your First EditsGrowing as an To Wikitext and BeyondConcrete Ways to Make Wikipedia a Better ResourceBecoming a Critical Countering BiasA Short Glossary of Wiki-Slang
After reading Inside Wikipedia, you will be ready to contribute to the largest, most comprehensive knowledge base the world has ever seen. What will you write about?
179 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 15, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 13, 2026
This book is brief, and concise, involving two things if you already know you like it and want to use it - its philosophy, and a concise guide for use as an editor.
Wikipedia, along with Bandcamp and Internet Archive, is easily one of my top most useful and enjoyable sites on the internet, it is amazing to me and I wonder if they will allow it to exist with such powerful newly announced enemies of education out there. In fact, it's a dream come true from science fiction books I read as a kid, the Foundation series by Asimov has these scholars doing the best thing they think they can do facing an inevitable decline in the empire, which is to build the 'Encyclopedia Galactica' and that idea of a universal library was so deeply burned into my brain as tangible hope it still appears to me in dreams. See we really did trust technology in my generation to be progressive and we didn't ask enough question because it rolled out so clunky at first, dial up speed. It's snuck up on us all I think, and now there seem to be powerful people using that rapidity to keep our heads spinning, it looks like. I used to dream about a giant library hidden in deep space as a kid, yes I was that much of a nerd. Like yes, people are so unreliable, but this is something worth trying to do. And here it is, something very like it now for a few decades, and I hope it remains as it always is, and isn't gutted by the censors next. Fingers fully crossed on the best encyclopedia the world has ever seen.
So download your backup copy while you can (yes you can do that, I learned about it in this book!). Make sure if you write articles that it is not self promotion, but it is a great form of community service to store the knowledge of your area or corner of the world, just a great repository of citizen journalism and scholarship. In a world where the social contract seems to be breaking down a little more each day, here's a remaining campfire of community where volunteerism still lives. For now. I don't know if you heard but a similar public knowledge service used by early net nerds was the CIA Factbook, which like so many govt services has been quietly erased with a vicious pen stroke. Facts, figures, data, details, public broadcasting, and local journalism... so many threads of public information resources are suddenly disappearing, and these are staples of public service generations old, suddenly they're being tossed out the windows of a panicked, fast talking government. These are all things that school children have relied on since my grandma's time for their reports and homework. Being flushed without a hearing, and no replacements in sight. The privatization of knowledge? Tainting the betas in vitro? OR just plain demoralization of knowledge workers, to get them too confused to ask for public safety oversight on AI? This is above my paygrade, but I know for the current moment, I can still found answers I am fairly sure have been checked, on Wikipedia.
First section of the book is on the philosophy and the revolutionary seed of an idea (mostly a code of conduct) that has held together one of the most successful knowledge nonprofits in history, and it is a beautiful thing in an era where ethics are increasingly 'not sexy'. It's kind of a crown jewel of early 00's DIY information sharing spirit that a lot of people got into, and built the scaffolding of megatrons like the advertising company Youtube, and other sites that have repackaged public contribution as their business model. Peer review is at its heart, and also community editing, these are the secret sauce. The rest is a clear guide to the basics of editing. Perfect little how to, nothing extra, not bloated with excessive screenshots.
Wikipedia, along with Bandcamp and Internet Archive, is easily one of my top most useful and enjoyable sites on the internet, it is amazing to me and I wonder if they will allow it to exist with such powerful newly announced enemies of education out there. In fact, it's a dream come true from science fiction books I read as a kid, the Foundation series by Asimov has these scholars doing the best thing they think they can do facing an inevitable decline in the empire, which is to build the 'Encyclopedia Galactica' and that idea of a universal library was so deeply burned into my brain as tangible hope it still appears to me in dreams. See we really did trust technology in my generation to be progressive and we didn't ask enough question because it rolled out so clunky at first, dial up speed. It's snuck up on us all I think, and now there seem to be powerful people using that rapidity to keep our heads spinning, it looks like. I used to dream about a giant library hidden in deep space as a kid, yes I was that much of a nerd. Like yes, people are so unreliable, but this is something worth trying to do. And here it is, something very like it now for a few decades, and I hope it remains as it always is, and isn't gutted by the censors next. Fingers fully crossed on the best encyclopedia the world has ever seen.
So download your backup copy while you can (yes you can do that, I learned about it in this book!). Make sure if you write articles that it is not self promotion, but it is a great form of community service to store the knowledge of your area or corner of the world, just a great repository of citizen journalism and scholarship. In a world where the social contract seems to be breaking down a little more each day, here's a remaining campfire of community where volunteerism still lives. For now. I don't know if you heard but a similar public knowledge service used by early net nerds was the CIA Factbook, which like so many govt services has been quietly erased with a vicious pen stroke. Facts, figures, data, details, public broadcasting, and local journalism... so many threads of public information resources are suddenly disappearing, and these are staples of public service generations old, suddenly they're being tossed out the windows of a panicked, fast talking government. These are all things that school children have relied on since my grandma's time for their reports and homework. Being flushed without a hearing, and no replacements in sight. The privatization of knowledge? Tainting the betas in vitro? OR just plain demoralization of knowledge workers, to get them too confused to ask for public safety oversight on AI? This is above my paygrade, but I know for the current moment, I can still found answers I am fairly sure have been checked, on Wikipedia.
First section of the book is on the philosophy and the revolutionary seed of an idea (mostly a code of conduct) that has held together one of the most successful knowledge nonprofits in history, and it is a beautiful thing in an era where ethics are increasingly 'not sexy'. It's kind of a crown jewel of early 00's DIY information sharing spirit that a lot of people got into, and built the scaffolding of megatrons like the advertising company Youtube, and other sites that have repackaged public contribution as their business model. Peer review is at its heart, and also community editing, these are the secret sauce. The rest is a clear guide to the basics of editing. Perfect little how to, nothing extra, not bloated with excessive screenshots.
April 13, 2023
This book is interesting, clear, and came close to persuading me to be a Wikipedia editor. It explained how to set up an account and told me the anatomy of an article. The next time I went on Wikipedia, I clicked on the links that were suggested and saw the way the articles could be edited. The book also critiqued Wikipedia and made many suggestions on how you as an individual could help make it better. If you have an interest in Wikipedia, even if you will never edit it, you will find this book interesting. It will help you understand the strengths and weaknesses of Wikipedia and determine whether you can or should believe what is written there. I loved the section on its history and the philosophy that animates its pages. I understood why there are so many devoted volunteers. Read this book and write a review.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews