Re:Wikipedia User Makes 1 Million Edits
by kijin on Saturday April 21, 2012 @02:56AM
(#3871166)
Satisfaction and the feeling that you helped other people are profound motivators for human action, either with or without recognition.
My HN karma just topped 1000 today. It's a meaningless number, and my comments may or may not have helped other people learn new things, but I feel good about it anyway. How much better would someone feel when their Wikipedia edit count reaches one million, even if it's just a number? Besides, this guy probably helped a lot of people learn new things, a lot more than most of us can even dream of. He probably even helped me on more than one occasion, since I do political philosophy, too. Simply knowing that he did so, for him, might be worth more than any gold-plated trophy. To Mother Teresa, the Nobel Peace Prize was just a $192K grant to help poor people even more. She even refused the ceremonial banquet.
Of course, devoting tens of thousands of hours with no pay and no recognition isn't for everyone. But I don't think it's sad that some people do it. Every one of us wants to feel satisfaction. Not all of us find satisfaction in the same kinds of things. It would be sad if this guy did it because he wanted to get famous and nobody noticed. But if he just did it for the sake of participating in one of humanity's most remarkable achievements, we should all be happy, not sad. The only thing that's sad about the situation is that this guy is unemployed. But I would be sad about that even if he never edited a single Wikipedia article.
In fact, according to some philosophies, lack of visible recognition might even enhance your satisfaction, since compensation cancels out some of the karma you've accrued. Not saying this is the right way to think about life, and this guy might not even think this way. (What do "Christian radicals" believe?) But some people actually do believe in this kind of thing, and at some level I deeply respect them.
My HN karma just topped 1000 today. It's a meaningless number, and my comments may or may not have helped other people learn new things, but I feel good about it anyway. How much better would someone feel when their Wikipedia edit count reaches one million, even if it's just a number? Besides, this guy probably helped a lot of people learn new things, a lot more than most of us can even dream of. He probably even helped me on more than one occasion, since I do political philosophy, too. Simply knowing that he did so, for him, might be worth more than any gold-plated trophy. To Mother Teresa, the Nobel Peace Prize was just a $192K grant to help poor people even more. She even refused the ceremonial banquet.
Of course, devoting tens of thousands of hours with no pay and no recognition isn't for everyone. But I don't think it's sad that some people do it. Every one of us wants to feel satisfaction. Not all of us find satisfaction in the same kinds of things. It would be sad if this guy did it because he wanted to get famous and nobody noticed. But if he just did it for the sake of participating in one of humanity's most remarkable achievements, we should all be happy, not sad. The only thing that's sad about the situation is that this guy is unemployed. But I would be sad about that even if he never edited a single Wikipedia article.
In fact, according to some philosophies, lack of visible recognition might even enhance your satisfaction, since compensation cancels out some of the karma you've accrued. Not saying this is the right way to think about life, and this guy might not even think this way. (What do "Christian radicals" believe?) But some people actually do believe in this kind of thing, and at some level I deeply respect them.