[WikiEN-l] Steven Walling: Why Wikipedians Are Weird

[Charles Matthews]

Martijn Hoekstra wrote:
> To an extent this is true, but no more (or less) than saying "all
> volunteers are weird". And they are. There are bound to be exceptions,
> but I find that with almost every single volunteer there is either
> something mentally wrong, or there is something seriously lacking in
> their social life.
>
>   
Even worse, some are actually librarians. You wouldn't be promoting the 
fallacy of normalcy, would you? Wiki-editing has a fraction of the 
popularity of video games, and is negligible compared to couch-potato TV 
watching, both of which might be considered normal; but are not to be 
considered as a "social life". (Actually, I've often wondered about 
cinema-going, sitting in the dark not talking to anyone - participatory 
but not actually that social.) I can remember when "doing your own 
thing" was rather more valued.

To pick up on Gerard's point: I have discovered that I'm no good at pub 
quizzes, at least those mainly based around TV presenters of programmes 
I don't watch. I did once use a fact from WP to impress a friend in a 
quiz (the Scoville scale).

Charles