Happy Belated Winter

Hey, is this thing still on? I need to ask you all something very important:

What compels people to add “the subject of this entry was referenced in [obscure webcomic no one has heard of] on [date]” to the end of perfectly respectable Wikipedia entries about instant-noodle inventors or lagomorphs? Is it the same thing that compels goats to climb trees?

I had a nice vacation; I’m still having it, in a slightly more “working vacation” sense. There’ll be pictures once I’m back home with my camera cable.

Comments

  1. Andrew Ironwood wrote:

    What compels people? I dunno, but it’s probably the same thing that made me add the issue number and publication date for the ‘comic book death’ of the Green Arrow…

  2. yami wrote:

    But you added that to the Green Arrow entry, right? Or something else relevant?

    I understand why the Wikipedia entries about pop culture are bucketloads more comprehensive and reliable than Wikipedia entries about plate tectonics. I just don’t get why people confuse “webcomic reference” with “if you’re wanting to read about instant noodles you will totally give a shit”.

  3. gengar wrote:

    Should I be worried that I regularly read both of those webcomics?

    A running theme in Piled Higher and Deeper is that grad students live entirely on ramen noodles (except for the free food at departmental events).

    Besides, the sort of people who write Wikipedia entries about such things are bound to be a bit eccentric

  4. bret wrote:

    By “obscure webcomic no one has heard of]”, you mean “webcomic yami hasn’t heard of”, right?

    You really ought to give XKCD a try. It has a very narrow target audience, but you’re probably in it.

    As for the compelling, I like how the “Trivia” section accumulates backlinks of a sort. Think of them as trackbacks. What compels people to add “this post was referenced in [obscure blog no one has heard of] on [date]” to the end of perfectly respectable blog posts?”

  5. Andrew Ironwood wrote:

    But you added that to the Green Arrow entry, right? Or something else relevant?

    Well sure, I added it to the ‘Comic Book Death’ page (since I knew I owned the issue and could put my hands on it easily enough to cite) — I guess my point (such as it is) was that I had some barely pertinent information in my head and felt ‘compelled’ myself to put it out there before God and Man for really no particularly good reason [grin]…

  6. Lab Lemming wrote:

    Was the Wiki addendum added by the owners of the obscure comix? If so, then the compulsion is the same one that motivates people to send millions of emails a month shilling for p3n1s enhancement, mexican drugs, and Nigerian investments.

  7. yami wrote:

    Heh. I actually do read XKCD – seeing that strip is what prompted me to look up swamp rabbits on Wikipedia. I still don’t think it’s relevant, even in a trivia section. Wikipedia articles are not conversations in the way that blog entries are, so there’s no need to accumulate all the backlinks.

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