Wikipedians love to patrol “their” site. Some get notified when a page changes. If they don’t like your changes, or you’re new, the almighty Wikipedian will use their power to revert the page you edited back to it’s previous content.
A Case Study
A few months ago I was on a Wikipedia page and it specifically said NOT to add any dogs to a list UNLESS you had evidence AND could cite a source proving that a particular breed could have a particular health problem. Dalmatians were not on the list. I knew a Dalmatian with this health problem. On a dog website which I own I completely documented the Dalmatian with the health problem along with their history, wonderful adoptive parents, photographs, and a video clearly showing how the dog coped with this health problem. I spent hours building out this epic article. Once I was done, I published it and went over to Wikipedia and added “Dalmatian” to the list of dogs affected with this disease and cited my article as instructed.
I know Wikipedians are a strange people so I did it at 3AM hoping that nobody would notice.
The next morning when I got up I checked the Wikipedia page and a psycho Wikipedian had removed the link by 4AM. He ALSO removed the dog type!
This is a huge disservice to Dalmatian owners all over the world.
His reason: I had linked to one of my own “for profit” websites.
The problem: The site is NOT monetized in ANY way, shape, or form. It is a highly trafficked website.
So, this guy took the time to visit the site, look around, look at my name, who owned the site and put 2 and 2 together. Stalk much??? But, in his quest to find a problem, he neglected to discover the site was NOT for profit.
Wikipedians do not understand SEO
The “web” should be a web of links. If a link can enhance an article, you link out to it. Period. Even if the site is for profit. Who cares. Some people make money. Deal with it.
Of all people, I didn’t NEED a link. My dog site gets thousands of visitors every week. The content is unique and thorough, so people link to it from all over the US and Germany and the rest of the world. Plus, it has pictures of puppies. Puppies are SEO. If you’ve never heard of Puppy SEO, now you have. Puppy SEO FTW. If you have puppies, you don’t need to learn about titles, meta descriptions, breadcrumbs or any of that other sh*t, because puppies are an SEO gold mine.
Wikipedia links are not powerful. I have access to a LOT of sites, many of which have links from Wikipedia. A Wikipedia link isn’t going to magically make your site jump in the search engines. Sure, it is nice to have in your portfolio, and yes I understand there is probably a tremendous amount of spam issues over there, but it really isn’t going to make or break a site. I promise.
Of course, Wikipedians do not understand SEO. People who truly understand SEO are in extremely high demand and are making hundreds of dollars per hour, not sitting in their mother’s basement at 4AM keeping the world from learning about rare diseases in Dalmations!
Recap: Why Wikipedia won’t link to you
It is patrolled by some strange folks, just like CraigsList is. No, not all of them are weird, and yes, Wikipedia is full of amazing information which I browse daily. For free. But, I have personally sat down and created huge pages of information which have been deleted. It makes my blood boil. Some were VERY thorough and it makes me want to send Wikipedia an invoice for $800 each time it happens.
They hate newbies. There is a club and a ranking system there. 12yr olds love getting trophies on Snapchat. Housewives love getting trophies in their fitbit app. And Wikipedians love getting virtual Wiki awards as well. Some people edit Wikipedia all day, every day, like this guy, who has edited Wikipedia over 1.5 million freaking times.
Justin Anthony Knapp
(Dude, if you ever need a job, I will hire you immediately).
Loosen up, Wikipedia
If you won’t link to an informative page about Dalmatians which enhances a Wikipedia entry, there are problems. Links are actually extremely easy to get from the site. Don’t think so? Stay tuned for my next article, how to get links from Wikipedia. I’ll be nice and not write the “How to Spam Wikipedia” article. Yet. Because that is easy for people like me too.
Here’s the dog in question that has a rare medical condition that Wikipedia wouldn’t link to.
Wikipedia hates me.
Such an evil beast, isn’t he?
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