In a message dated 3/15/2003 10:16:14 AM Eastern Standard Time, name12323@hotmail.com writes:

How could I tell people about wikipedia without sounding like a nerd? I'm
trying to replace people's Warcraft addictions with Wikipeida (after all,
which one is worse?) but everyone says, "That's so stupid! How are you
addicted to an encyclopedia? You're a nerd!". What do I do? Is it wrong to
try to get someone addicted to something?

Hey Little Dan,

First of all, I, and probably a lot of other people here think you are pretty cool. After all, you are the youngest sysop so far in Wikipedia, and that is already pretty cool.

Also, I think that when we say "addicted," we mean something very different from being addicted to drugs or cigarettes. Basically, we mean that we like it a lot--so much, in fact, that we spend a lot of time doing it.

Now let's look at what it is you like so much. Wikipedia is a chance to learn a lot and a chance to teach other people too. It is a chance for all of us to get smarter. That sounds like a pretty good thing to me--not a "stupid" thing. And you are having fun doing it--probably more fun than you have learning at school.

You may not be able to recruit all your friends to Wikipedia. What you can do is show them what it is, and show them how what you are doing is interesting and fun to you. Maybe then, some of them will want to try it. Some of them won't. That's okay too. When they see how you are having fun with it though, and doing some pretty cool things too, my guess is that they won't think you are a nerd. They'll think you're pretty cool, like I do.

Good luck,

Danny