While it's an unpaid thrill, it can be a rush to publish an article or image on Wikipedia. But many editors are out there selflessly doing the most mundane editing and checking imaginable. Some of that work has been taken over by "bots," computer programs that scan Wikipedia for errors and vandalism, but those who use Wikipedia regularly owe a great debt to those Wikipedians keeping the encyclopedia up and running. Somehow, Spock's highly enriched statement of devotion to others' well-being comes to mind: The good of the many outweighs the good of the few, or the one.
One blogger points out that while 10% of registered Wikipedians (one hundred thousand out of a million) are frequent contributors (publish ten or more articles), the core membership consists of only 0.5% (5,000) of the membership. They are the ones correcting 'hte' to 'the' and reverting stupid remarks on the tuna fish sandwich article. (Yes, there is a tuna fish sandwich article. Leave the poor thing alone!)
So, join Wikipedia to write an article, but stay for a dose of grammar and police work and save the crew from oblivion.
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