The test before Eliteness and other "ridiculous" stuff.
If you're not sure whether you are wikipediholic, you should do this test. The point value of answering 'yes' to each question is listed in brackets at the end of the question. The higher the result, the more likely it is that you are a wikipediholic. New questions and modifications are of course welcomed—good questions are those that measure current addiction (e.g., "have you edited a page in the last week", not "have you ever edited a page"), on the hypothesis that Wikipediholicism can be cured, or at least controlled to some degree.
NOTE: GIVE YOURSELF AT LEAST 15-20 MINUTES!
- Do you typically use Wikipedia at least once a week? (1)
- Do you typically use Wikipedia at least once a day ? (2)
- Do you typically use Wikipedia for more than an hour a day? (4)
- Is more than 60% of your time online spent at Wikipedia? (10)
- Did you stop using your expensive CD-ROM encyclopedia and used this one instead? (2)
- Did you throw away that encyclopedia? (2)
- Do you edit articles? (1)
- Do you start new articles? (2)
- Do you hook up to Wikipedia over a wireless Internet connection? (2)
- Do you edit Wikipedia articles while over such a connection? (4)
- Is that connection in a restaurant? (6)
- ...Do you edit Wikipedia while waiting for your meal? (8)
- ...During your meal? (20)
- ...While eating? (25)
- ...One hand on the keyboard, and one on your food? (100 -- that's it, we're driving you down to the next Wikiclinic for treatment.)
- ...One foot on the food and two hands on the keyboard? (infinity -- you're so insane!!!)
- Do you stop eating to edit Wikipedia and then throw your meal away, because it is spoiled? (another 50 - you're a junkie)
- Did you pick that restaurant because of that? (another 5)
- Are you on Lufthansa flight 411D which just added wireless access to the internet during flight? (25)
- Are you eating your meal on said flight while taking this test or writteing an article? (50)
- Did you choose this flight over another because of the access to wikipedia? (100 plus a point for every ten $ more you paid for this flight than the one you would have taken)
- Do you comment on articles or engage in discussions ? (2)
- Do you talk in Wikipedia markup code? (2)
- Do you request that articles be created, improved, expanded, deleted, etc.? (1)
- Do you fulfill such requests? (2)
- Have you requested a new software feature, or reported a bug, in the last few weeks? (2)
- Do you make redirect pages ? (1)
- Do you think you're using a significant portion of Wikipedia's bandwidth? (5)
- Do you click on "Random Page" at least once a day (or just because you're bored)? (2)
- When you click 'Random Page' do you, more often than not, find an article you have Edited? (3)
- ...Written? (10)
- Have you ever gotten the same random page twice in a row? (3)
- ...Three times in a row? (10)
- Do you check Recent Changes almost every day? (2)
- Do you check Recent Changes more than ten times a day? (5)
- Do you have Recent Changes bookmarked? (1)
- Do you have Recent Changes set as your start page? (12)
- Do you check your Watchlist almost every day? (1)
- Do you check your Watchlist more than ten times a day? (4)
- Do you have your Watchlist bookmarked (favorite)? (1)
- Do you have your Watchlist set as your start page (home)? (8)
- Do you have more than 50 items in your watchlist? (1)
- ...More than 100? (2)
- ...More than 500? (3)
- ...More than 1000? (4)
- Do you have several start pages (examples galeon, mozilla) with Recent Changes in at least three idioms? (3 points more)
- Do you have a user account on Wikipedia? (2)
- Do you have a user account on Wikipedia on several wikipedias? (4)
- Have you learned a new language or improved in one you already knew for the primary purpose of being able to read the Wikipedia in that language? (6)
- ...Or for some other reason, such as picking it up where you left it x-many years ago? (2)
- Do you have your own Wikipedian page on Wikipedia? (2)
- Do you promote Wikipedia, in person or by mentioning it on Usenet, IRC, forums or message boards, web pages, mail signatures etc.? (2 if occasional, 5 for practically every day, 10 if so often that others are fed up hearing about it)
- Do you have a Wikipedia T-shirt? (10 points; T-Shirts are available at CafePress or the Wikimedia shop)
- Do you find yourself writing regular text using Wikipedia link and layout conventions? (3)
- Is something you have thought was important, such as social life, career or studies, suffering because you spend so much time on Wikipedia? (10)
- Are you not getting enough sleep because of time on Wikipedia? (9)
- Are you sleeping during the day (as of 8 AM) because you edited Wikipedia overnight? (5 points, plus overslept time in hours)
- Do you forget to think twice before you say something to real people but re-check a hundred times what you have typed in before posting your comment in a talk page? (5)
- Do you judge people you know in "real life" partly on the basis of their Wikipedia contributions? (6)
- Do you think quality of contributions to Wikipedia is an important criterion in choosing a partner for a close relationship? (17 and a crash course in dating)
- Are you impressed by Wikipedia's growth? (2)
- Do you subscribe to Wikipedia-L or any other Wikipedia mailing list? (2)
- Do you actually read that mailing list? (2)
- Do you find yourself refreshing the mailing list, hoping that something new has arrived? (5)
- Or do you have an automatic notifier, and laugh because you only have to refresh whenever the notifier tells you to? (7)
- If you have one, did you make it yourself specifically for the Wikipedia mailing lists? (10)
- Do you think it will be better than every other Encyclopedia soon? (3)
- Do you think it is already better than every other Encyclopedia? (2)
- Do you argue that contributions to Wikipedia are "productive" or "useful" - unlike "wasting time" playing games or watching football? (5)
- Did you donate money to Wikipedia? (3)
- Have you ever dreamed about Wikipedia? (3)
- Have you ever dreamed about other Wikipedians? (5)
- Do you wake up in the night in a cold sweat wondering whether your latest submission was truly written from the NPOV? (6)
- Have you ever phoned another Wikipedian? (1)
- Have you ever met another Wikipedian in "real life"? (2)
- Have you ever had sex with another Wikipedian? Sock puppet accounts don't count. (10)
- If you use a dial-up modem, is your phone bill larger than before you discovered Wikipedia? (2)
- Did you buy a second monitor so you could have Wiki on one and Google on the other? (10% of the cost of the second monitor)
- Did you immediately think of ways to improve this test, or adjust the scores so that they neatly add up to 100 ? (3.14)
- Have you edited this test to get a better score? (5)
- Do you think your score is too high and maybe you'll do something about it after "a few more edits"? (6)
- Or are you so proud of it that you retake the test every month to see how more addicted you've become? (10)
- If you have a web page, do you proudly display your score from this test on it? (5)
- Have you ever looked for the Edit this page link on an ordinary Web page? (3)
- Have you ever instinctively reached for the edit link to correct an unfortunate wording while reading a newspaper or book? (4)
- Have you ever edited an article on Wikipedia while paying long distance charges to connect to the Internet? (5)
- Have you ever noticed that someone has added a new question to the test, and immediately checked to see if the total still adds up to 476? (4)
- Do you make edits while drunk or under the influence of other intoxicating substances and find that nobody reverts your changes? (1)
- Have you ever edited Wikipedia while taking a bath because you found it made the experience even more relaxing? (5)
- Have you not answered an email ontime because you were addicted to Wikipedia? (5)
- Have you ever publicly declared that you've quit wikipedia but found yourself lingering about anyway? (7)
- Is this page on your watchlist? (2)
- Are you an ambassador for Wikipedia? (2)
- Are you an ambassador for more than one Wikipedia? (2 points more)
- Have you ever requested to be a sysop? (2)
- Are you a sysop? (2)
- Do you actually have sysop powers on more than one wikipedia? (2 points more)
- Have you ever requested to be a bureaucrat? (3)
- Are you a bureaucrat? (3 points more)
- Are you a steward? (5 points)
- Did you translate the Wikipedia software? (3)
- Did you program part of it? (20)
- Did you invent it? (1000 bonus points :)
- Do you edit articles in your sleep? (17)
- Do you curse out loud upon waking and realizing that you have to make all those edits over again? (2 points more)
- Or are the edits actually still there...? (200 bonus points, plus the Randi prize)
- Do you edit Wikipedia on a laptop? (1)
- Did your laptop's fan go on by itself while you were at Wikipedia? (2)
- Did your laptop melt (or show serious signs of melting) while you were editing Wikipedia? (100 bonus points and a new computer fan)
- Have you edited before 6.30 am? (6)
- ...until 4 am? (2)
- ...until 6 am? (4)
- ...until 8 am or later? (7)
- After reading the last question, did you give yourself 13 points b/c it is always 4, 6, or 8 AM somewhere? (3 points for cleverness :)
- Do you edit Wikipedia at night (i.e. after midnight) consuming drinks to keep you up? (2)
- Do you hold Wikipedia Nights, that is, nights when you intentionally go to bed late, after spending n hours editing Wikipedia? (5)
- Do you get people to join you in such an event? (10)
- Do you have an urge to edit this nonexistent article? (1)
- Did you immediately try to edit the above nonexistent article? (10)
- Did you get mad to find out that the above nonexistent article was not a wiki link? (3)
- Did you not get mad because you read the source of this page first? (4)
- ...or because you've seen this question before? (1)
- Did you edit this page to make the nonexistent article link fit the scheme you are using? (5)
- Do you classify links as internal and external on other sites (of course wrongly!) based on the color in your Wikipedia skin? (2)
- From how many locations or PCs did you visit wikipedia the past 30 days? (1 per machine)
- Have you "Wikified" the Wikipediholic test? (2 points)
- Have you made "Wikipedia" the name of a MUD character? (5 points)
- When people ask you questions, is your answer invariably a wiki link? (3)
- Do you use terms like "dab", "lk", "sp", "revert", "blanking", "content", "NPOV", "vanity page", or other terms in their Wikipedia sense in unrelated contexts? (2 points)
- Have you ever wanted to edit someone else's Summary notes? (1)
- Did you notice that there is a different number of questions in the automated version? (2)
- Did you take both tests and compare the scores and see which one gives you more points? (4)
- Have you added questions to this test just so that you could get an extra two points next time you take it? (2 points)
- Have you ever edited the point value on a question so you could remain in denial about your affliction? (8 points)
- Conversely, have you ever edited the point value on a question so you could claim bragging rights among a group of people you will never see, never mind meet, in your entire life, you pathetic loser? (12)
- Have you ever thought about the social impact of Wikipedia? (15)
- Have you ever browsed Wikipedia while on the phone with your significant other? (5)
- Have you told your significant other something on Wikipedia while on the phone? (10)
- Was he or she impressed? (5)
- ...Or bored? (-2)
- Do you have NPOV issues with the negative score attributed to the previous question? (5)
- Are you surprised when you click on a normal link and it doesn't take you to a Wikipedia article? (1)
- Have you ever cheered out loud when you look at the updates on the Wikipedia Awareness Statistics? (5)
- Have you ever gone and done something new on this list, deliberately to raise your score? (1)
- Have you ever added yet another "Have you ever edited this list" question so you could raise your score? (1)
- Consequently, have you ever edited this list so that you could state how many "Have you ever edited this list" questions there are? (2)
- Have you ever clicked back in order to score a question because you forgot it? (1)
- Are you tired of the previous three questions introspecting each other? (3)
- Have you broken some sort of rule just to visit Wikipedia? (6)
- Do you use the shortcut keys when using Wikipedia? (2)
- Do you hit alt-x (or its equivalent on your keyboard) more than any other shortcut key? (3)
- When you wake up in the night and can't get back to sleep due to some nagging worry do you get up and start working on Wikipedia so that you will get tired and have something relaxing to fill your mind when you go back to bed? (2)
- ...add an additional (4) if it works.
- Is Wikipedia your browser home page? (4)
- ...on more than one browser? (6)
- Have you ever created a new article with over five internal links to articles that you have edited at some point or another? (2)
- Were all these articles ones that you not only edited, but created? (2)
- Have you in your impatience for others to edit an article, brought an article all the way from a substub or stub to featured article status? (10)
- Have you installed the Wikipedia Firefox Extension? (5)
- Have you installed the extension but found you never ever use it because you know all the details of Wikimarkup by heart anyway? (10)
- Have you installed it, realized it doesn't work as intended, and fixed it on your computer? (3)
- ...did you submit the fix back to the mycroft project? (10)
- ...are you upset that they still haven't posted your fix? (2)
- do you believe that nearly all of your success in your workplace/school comes from information gained on wikipedia? (4)
- Have you ever signed a real email with ~~~~? (1)
- Did you realize you've just read with an academical interest a list of 100+ questions taking notes about your score on one of your system's text editors wasting roughly 300 seconds of your life? (If so, you might want to use the automated version next time... :) (2)
- Did you create an automated version of this test so you wouldn't have to add up your score? (Bonus score of 100)
- Were you annoyed to find out you didn't have to be adding up your score manually? (2)
- Were you then relieved to find that the automated version isn't currently working? (2)
- ...and then annoyed to find there is a working mirror? (1)
- Did you read through all of these question without keeping total and find relief that there was an automated page? (1)
- ... did you go through it all over again? (2)
- Do you ignore the fact that the open nature of this quiz prevents your score from ever being objective? (2)
- Have you ever taken this quiz more than once simply to correspond with the most recent version? (2)
- Have you ever visited a Wikipediholics Anonymous meeting? (1)
- Do you actually have a home, or do you just live on Wikipedia? (infinity)
- Have you ever bought a CD, movie, video game, book or other media product so you can write the article, scan the cover and upload it to Wikipedia ? (5)
- ... and have you paid full price or even bought it costlier from a second-hand retailer for it? (5 for full price, 10 for more expensive)
- Have you joined a wikipedia(ns) community on a non-Wikipedia website? (3)
Interpreting your score
edit0 - 79 | A well-balanced attitude that may benefit by spending more time on WP. |
80 - 140 | This is the optimal, most productive range. |
141 - 224 | You are addicted to Wikipedia. |
225+ | Scores in this range are commonly fatal. |
400+ | You played a part in creating Wikipedia or are a ghost. Good job... |
Bonus questions
editYou don't get any points for these questions, since they may be redundant or not provide a good measure of current addiction. However the answers may provide useful information for your health worker:
- Do you vigorously complain that articles are not from the NPOV?
- Have you ever requested an image of a chemical compound?
- Do you know what Larry Sanger did?
- Have you ever argued with Larry Sanger?
- Do you use your own name or some obscure nick (ScrofulousToad, Airigance 99, etc.)?
- Have you edited/created pages in three or more different language wikipedias?
- Have you edited/created pages in FIVE or more different language wikipedias?
- Have you ever removed outdated questions from this test?
- Have you ever neglected to maintain personal hygiene in favor of Wikipedia?
- Have you ever broken up with a significant other, because they didn't think the Wiki was "all that"?
- Have you ever had an edit conflict -- with yourself?
- Do you read non-Wikipedia webpages using red hyperlinks by default and click on them, thinking "I could write an article on that!"?
- Do you create your own Wikipedia words? (like "Wikidicted?")
- Are you upset that
- ... you wrote the article Wikipediaddiction and someone said it sounded "like the grammar and speech patterns of a wikipedian"?
- ... it got deleted by VfD?
- Have you created a page full of red links, and then made a decision to put everything else on hold until you could (a) either fill in all the (red) blanks or (b) until your body could take it no further or (c) your computer couldn't?
- Have you added RAM to your machine so you could do any of the following?:
- copy more text to the clipboard
- Edit long pages
- Load pages faster
- Open multiple pages at the same time
- while transwikiing content
- to read talk and article at the same time
- to copy content to or from other articles?
- to keep an eye out for vandalism while writing new articles
- Do you have other pages open right now editing them?
- Do you use tabbed browsing to open multiple wiki pages at the same time?
- More than 3?
- Seven or more?
- are those other tabs saving edits and/or loading pages, right now?
- all of them are either loading or saving a page?
- Seven or more?
- More than 3?
- Have you edited wikipedia pages during intermittent power outages?
- Are you considering the purchase of an uninterruptible power supply solely because you 'lost a good edit' while doing so? Did you actually buy it? The best one you could afford?
- Are you eager to add questions to this list?
- Are you proud to be a Wikipediholic?
- HAVE YOU LOST ALL TRACES OF SANITY BECAUSE OF OVEREXPOSURE TO WIKIPEDIA?