Wikipedia:Squirrel!

This page contains material that is kept because it is considered humorous.
Such material is not meant to be taken seriously.

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WP:SQUIRREL

Wikipedians can be a strange breed. When they happen across an article that looks like it might need expanding or improving, they may discard all other priorities in life (including work, shopping, eating, visiting the bathroom, possibly all body movements barring those necessary to operate a computer terminal) in a desperate attempt to fix up the content in question. As MelanieN put it:

"Finding an article that is lacking something or needs work – well, that is like a dog seeing a squirrel, I am immediately distracted from whatever I was doing."

Demographics

Some Wikipedians set themselves a task or project to work on, and cannot be deflected from that task by anything less than the house catching on fire. They are like bloodhounds on a scent; nothing distracts them. Some Wikipedians can be distracted briefly, just long enough to add whatever they noticed to a to-do list. They are like a squirrel that sees a nut and saves it up for winter. What distinguishes squirrel-chasing Wikipedians is their infinite distractability; they may have a task in mind that they intend to work on, but the thing that suddenly becomes all-important to them is not something they set out to do. Rather, they stumble across some article content that is missing or less than ideal, and they cannot bear to leave it in its imperfect condition – regardless of what else they leave undone while repairing it. Like a dog seeing a squirrel – or rather a SQUIRREL! – they abandon all other interests and devote all their energy to chasing (fixing) whatever they saw. Unlike dogs chasing squirrels, such Wikipedians DO know what to do with the squirrel when they catch it.

If you find a sudden influx of nominations turning up at Did you know?, chances are that a Wikipedian has behaved like a dog spotting a squirrel, and is unable to contain their primal content-creating urges.

Editors known for behaving like dogs spotting squirrels

Editors who actually are squirrels

Editors who actually are dogs

Blaze Wolf

Do you behave like a dog spotting a squirrel?

Then add {{user squirrel}} to your userpage.

userbox

Code

Result

This user edits like a dog having just spotted a squirrel.

Usage

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