The Wikipedia Blackout game

I think this is a great opportunity to work out exactly how useful Wikipedia is in your (work/personal) life. So, over the course of today, let’s make this into a game:

  • 1 point every time you catch yourself instinctively thinking about looking something up on wiki and then stop because you remember there’s a blackout
  • 2 points every time you unthinkingly end up in the black-out landing page and struggle for a second to remember what’s going on
  • 5 points every time you’re stumped, because you actually need to research something but you have no idea where to go apart from wiki
  • 10 pointsevery time you get angry at Wikipedia for going on strike and leaving you high and dry
    • Add 1 point for every audible but wordless expression of irritation or discomfort (sighing, puffing, growling, head-banging, face-slapping, etc.)
    • Add 2 points for every vocal expression of irritation or discomfort
    • Add 1 point for every person who can potentially hear said expressions
  • 10 points for every discussion with coworkers/friends/random people on the street/tube/bus/train (5 points for online discussions)
  • 25 points if you made this far, but were never bothered to check what exactly SOPA is and how it will affect the internet before.
  • If you are actually damaged in economic/financial terms by this blackout, and you can quantify it pounds, add 1 point for every 10 £ (or equivalent in other currencies).

Tally up the result at the end of today, and you’ll get a (very rough) measure of how much Wikipedia is a (mostly invisible, I’d bet) part of your life.

My suggestion is that, if you haven’t already done so in the past few months, tomorrow you also donate to the Wikimedia foundation a sum in your currency that is equivalent to the sum of points above.

…crap. I’m already at 45 and it’s barely midday…

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