Single Wikipedia User Made 1 Million Edits

Sites include Wikipedia.com . Published on May 1st, 2012. Written by Anthony West.

Former pizza delivery guy and self-confessed radical Christian Justin Knapp is no ordinary guy—at least not in the world of online editing. On April 18, Knapp became the very first person to surpass 1 million edits on Wikipedia.

The only thing is Jimmy Wales (founder and ever-present donation hog) didn’t do much beyond making a single entry on his Wikiepdia discussion page. Te extent of the mention went something like this: “Today Koavf became the first wikipedian with 1 Million edits,” wikpiedian TonyTheTiger posted on Wikipedia.

That was it. No accolades, no celebration, nothing. It was almost as if a single guy slaving away at his computer and poring over Wikipedia articles 1 million times was nothing write home about. Cheers Jimmy!

But by all accounts the 29 year old Knapp is not too bothered by the low-key mention of his achievement. For Knapp it seems, editing articles on Wikipedia is a labor of love—he did after all join the site all the way back in 2005. And this upbeat attitude is despite the fact that he recently lost his job. Poor thing.

There have been tacit appeals for Jimmy Wales or someone at Wikipedia to hire Knapp but it looks like helping to build a giant like Wikipedia is not enough to get hired there. Don’t you just love non-profits?

Should Wales and co give Knapp a job? Let us know in the comments below and perhaps share this post to drum up support for Knapp.