Wikipedia <3's Me

Sam Houston Wiki

Recently we had an assignment to make a significant edit to Wikipedia and see how long it would "stick" and what the implications would be. To be honest, I was extremely nervous about this assignment because I kinda figured that the wikipedia editors would be stuck up grammar nazi's with too much time on there hands. They might be, but if that is so they still can't check every article.

I edited Sam Houston since I just finished reading a biography about him and reading numerous texas history chapters that illustrated his importance. I figured that I knew enough about him to find missing information on his wiki and make a factual edit to his page. I noticed that a lot of the information was taken directly from the book that I had read so i decided to also take information from the book. What I added was "In 1809, at age 13, Sam Houston ran away from home, because he was unsatisfied working as a shop clerk." I didn't know how to add a sources so i didn't. It stuck and still there!

I was surprised that my edit stuck because looking through the discussion page I discovered that the editors of this page consider this article to be nearly perfect. It was a shock to me that they would allow an anonymous person come in and alter their perfect page. To say the least, I was pleasantly surprised and impressed with wikipedia. It seems that the "small guy" can make a mark.