Just Call Me Wikan

We've been doing some clean-up editing out on the internets the past few weeks, particularly fixing some small errors and adding some key people to Wikipedia. I'd highly recommend anyone in the business taking a moment to check their coaches and teams to make sure that A) they exist and B) they're accurately portrayed.

We made a very transparent login -- ArkRazorbacks, of course -- because we didn't want the Wikipedia folks confused at all. As I always recommend, post as who you are; they'll find out eventually anyway.

That didn't sit well as we got an email back saying, you appear to be an institution or organization, and we frown upon that. Excuse me? Who is going to be the most accurate source on the exact date Bobby Petrino arrived.

Now, I understand they don't want to have us in there making editorial changes to opinion -- and just like any message board or other public commentary space -- that's not our place.

The other thing Wikipedia asked was "are you sure these persons are noteworthy?"

What? Willy Robinson and Garrick McGee not noteworthy? Are these Wikans wearing Gator hats while they type that response? Do they understand what wrath that could invoke?

So, it made me think -- what other notable individuals are missing from the pages of the world's largest encyclopedia? And I found one -- Otus the Head Cat.

Before you laugh, if Opus the Penguin can have an entry, Michael Storey of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's weekly fiction and satire column nom de plume deserves one. So I made it.

Outing myself as the Wikian, Wikan, Wikipedist -- what is the correct form there -- might get the entry whacked, but let me point out -- it's been edited twice by other fans who cleaned up a couple of mistakes I made. After all, isn't that the point of the whole business?

I'll also confess this -- I've been a highly skeptical user of Wikipedia, what with having that PhD in history and all. But I am seeing less and less of what I would call partisan error or inexperienced mistakes. As a result, I use it more and more myself for a quick look-up. Yes, I would not let a student use it as a primary source on a report, but as a Cliff Notes guide, sure. Just make sure you verify facts with other sources. After all, that is the heart of good research.

If you haven't read Otus, you're really missing out on some really cleaver stuff. Some of it may be lost in the translation to my colleagues who are not of this region -- it is very Arkansas-based stuff -- it's still a really humorous weekly read. Here's this week's column (pay site warning) about the discovery of Otus' enshrinement into Wikipedia.

As a PS: This would be the 911 post of the blog. Once upon a time, that simply meant the automobile I most wanted to own -- a turbo Porsche 911 targa, preferably with the whale tail. These days, little more ominous.