Kinda getting jealous of people with wikipedia pages. I want my own, but I don’t want to be known for something bad (such as mass murderers). What’s the easiest method?
Excel at something good, beneficial to society somehow -
The easiest method would probably be one of the most immoral methods; commit a mass shooting.
make documentary movie where you want to be on wikipedia page and interview random people what they think of it, add it to some amateur documentary movie festival, hope it’s accepted, publish festival page from that year with movie list, add your movie to the list, add wikipedia page with your movie, add author page, the end
Much easier to self-publish some ahitty novella on Amazon, then make its Wikipedia page and your own author page.
Its more likely they’ll add the movie page but not the creator page. I mean look at some movies or tv shows and find the list of cast, some actor names doesn’t have a hyperlink on it.
Make your own and save it before it gets taken down lol. But they probably don’t let new users add new pages to the main site without a review.
The most obscure person I can think of on Wikipedia is a man called Edmund Trebus. He was a real person who was an (if not the) unwitting anti-hero in a British TV series about cleaning up a London borough. Trebus was a notorious hoarder whose lifestyle spilled out of his property, creating an eyesore and constant problems for the local council.
I’m not saying do that, but there may be ways to generalise from that. Also, that series was a while ago now and I fear Wikipedia might eventually remove his article for being insufficiently notable.
Alternatively, are you musical? A one hit wonder would ensure your fame (or infamy). Mathematical? Solve a famous theorem (What, like it’s hard?). Programmer? Invent a hugely popular programming language and you’re sure to get one. Artsy or extroverted? Become a “content creator” on TikTok or wherever the kids hang out these days.
Worst case, you end up a footnote in the page about your creation(s). But would that be so bad?
Or come at this from another angle entirely. Create an article. Or edit one. Not about you but about something else. No trolling. Be informative. Provide sources. Your work may last decades, and if you do it under your pseudonym, or - horrors - your real name, as a login, you’ll be recorded that way, at least for a while, in the page history.
And if you create one that doesn’t get deleted immediately, well then, no-one can take away you created that page even if your original work disappears over years of constant refinement by other people.
Lastly, there are other places for immortality. I frequently see the same (real!) names cropping up in entries in the OEIS, for example, most of whom don’t have their own Wikipedia entry. Be aware that their standards are pretty high these days though.
Do something stupid and entertaining that makes the news
Wikipedia requires you to be “notable” according to their definition. Here are some of the criterias that may be used depending on the category. Theoretically, only one is enough, but you also needs reliable and independent sources to prove it.
As others have said, making dumb records is probably the easiest ways. If you’re music people, starting an obscure/local variation of another genre could be a thing. Making a randomly specific movie can be another relatively easy way. Books can be a solution too, if you get a way to get people to talk about it.
- Research having an impact (demonstrated by independent reliable sources)
- Receiving an award/honor
- Member of some scholar society with exclusivity
- Having a major position in the university (like a named chair)
- Being in the top members of an academic journal
- Being studied in detail by notable written sources
- Widely distributed
- Historically important (important reviews, elected in some professional poll, commercial re-release, part of a documentary on history of cinema, at least 5 years later)
- Major award
- Present in a national archive
- Studied in details in university with film program
- Represents a unique achievement (like “only cel-animated feature film ever made in Thailand”)
- Has a notable person involved in
- Produced and distributed in a country that is not a major film producing country.
- Being studied in detail by notable written sources
- Have a single/album on a national music chart
- A record certified gold/higher or Win or be nominated for a major music award or win first, second, or third place in a major music competition.
- 2 or more release on major record label
- Ensemble/band with 2 or more notable musicians
- Be the most prominent representatives of a notable style, or of a local scene of a city
- Be placed in rotation on a national broadcasting
- Perform music for a notable work of media
- Being studied in detail by notable written sources
- Win a major literary award
- be considered by reliable sources as a significant contribution to sciences, humanities, art, political or religious movement.
- Has been subject of instruction in 2 or more schools/college/uni
- Being studied in detail by notable written sources AND not being notable only for a single event
- Have a well-known and significant award/honor
- Have an entry in a standard biographical dictionary
- Be widely cited by peers in your area of expertise
- Having originated a significant new concept, theory or technique
- Be a important criminal
- Have multiple roles/involvements in notable works of art (TV/music/theater/etc)
- Held international/national/province-wide offices or part of legislative bodies OR an important local political figure with significant press coverage
- Get rewards as a sport people
(edit : layout and spelling mistakes)
You can get a world record for something super niche in which only you or only few people compete.
This is probably not the kind of response you want, and it’s going to be a serious downer for everyone, but the first person I thought of was Kathy Change:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathy_Change
Thankfully, I was not a witness to it, but I was working for Penn at the time, and I remember passing her dancing at 34th and Walnut many times.
Like almost everyone else, I paid no attention to what the dances were protesting. When I found out about her concerns after her death, it seemed like such a tragically doomed effort even back in 1996.
Of course, now we’re all hopelessly burning the entire world down, and I still don’t really expect anything to change.
What a badass.
Be a part of something major. This doesn’t have to involve something with legal repercussions.
If legal repercussions aren’t off the table, though, get arrested for something cool, like protesting ICE. Bonus points: try to get somebody to take at least one reasonably clear photo of you for the Wikipedia page.
Start a YouTube channel where you go around trying to get people to sign your petition to give you a Wikipedia page. If you got big enough, eventually you would get a Wikipedia page. Wikipedia wouldn’t even have to accept the petition; it might be a bad precedent to set that people can get a page just by submitting a petition. Instead, they could give you a page simply because you became mildly famous for trying to brute force yourself onto Wikipedia.
You don’t want one. But George S. Kaufman, when he worked for the NYT, had a thought on a similar topic:
Kaufman took his editorial responsibilities seriously. According to legend, on one occasion a press agent asked: “How do I get our leading lady’s name in the Times?” Kaufman: “Shoot her.”[5]
Any hobbies? How about breaking a record?
I didn’t realize there were so many “largest collection of _______” records.
Some of these are clearly expensive collections but then some of them are like:
https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/419867-largest-collection-of-spatulas
I had to look up wine cans. Lol Learned something new today.
She looks so happy with her collection
Great thing about this is she actually uses the spatulas. Other collections are very often for show only
The one person I’ve met IRL to have a Wikipedia page (as far as I know anyway) got one from writing books and arguing with people (as in like formal debate type ones), so maybe becoming an author? It’s not exactly easy but it’s not unattainable for the typical person either I wouldn’t think.
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Reality TV. Being young and attractive are key factors. Being a contestant on Survivor or something.
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Combat sports, if your fights are on TV. Talent is not required, but being young and athletic are important (still not required). At the low end of the sport are regular people who drive cabs. If you can beat 5 of them, being 5-0 is probably enough to justify a page.
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Stand up comedy. A few news articles and maybe an acting credit, and you’re probably notorious enough for a page.
These are all things that are not typically full time jobs.
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