User talk:Eiffel

Hello! I don't edit much anymore, but I'm regularly here. Eiffel (talk) 19:13, 17 July 2018 (UTC)

Public Domain
Your user page mentioned that your changes are in the public domain, so I added the   template to allow us to track those users using public domain for their contributions. Hope this is ok! -- Ram-Man 02:18, Nov 17, 2004 (UTC)

Activity
Hi. It´s cool to have made the first surviving edit of the world´s biggest encyclopedia, isn´t it? But... are you still active here on the English Wikipedia? ♠  TomasBat   ( @ )  ( Contribs )  ( Sign! ) 14:26, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

He doesn't seem to be. Eiffel has only edited once since October 2006. Pyro spirit  Shiny! 15:25, 27 April 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the props, TomasBat. I continually dabble here, just minor stuff. But I gotta admit, I don't often log in. Eiffel 11:33, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

This is a user page/talk page
Hey. I updated your page with the usual talk/user stuff. Hope you dont mind. 10:49, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Hello historic editor...
, you were gone for awhile last time before checking in, so wondering if you can check in again. Do you have any more details on your edit, or can you please maybe write up a few hundred words of detail of what you recall about the early Wikipedia, your edit, and anything else for that old greedy tyrant/redeemer/educator named Posterity. The historian in me is asking on her behalf. This thing has really grown into something extraordinary, hasn't it. Thanks for your contributions here. Randy Kryn 21:08, 23 September 2016 (UTC)

Hello Randy Kryn, thanks for the shoutout. As you say, Wikipedia has really grown into something astonishing and extraordinary. The idea that (almost) everyone in the world can have access to (almost) all the knowledge of the world is earth-shaking, even though it may be another generation or so before we see the full effects of it.

My interest in collaborative encyclopedias goes back to the days of Gnupedia and Nupedia. When Nupedia was launched, I wanted to contribute some articles on specialized programming languages. But Nupedia required an editor with formal qualifications in the field ("preferably a PhD") and I was not that person. I emailed Larry Sanger asking about an exception, and his response was something along the lines of "That's our policy and we're sticking to it" (paraphrased).

As soon as Wikipedia was announced I thought it had a good chance to be successful, and I dived straight in. I was already familiar with Wiki editing from Ward Cunningham's C2 Wiki.

My memory is a little hazy now, but I recall seeing at least four pages. There was a hyperlinked list of pages, which was probably "RecentChanges". The Home page had a brief welcome message and some category names, one of which was "Countries" and was (I think) the only one that was hyperlinked. On the "Countries" page were the letters A to Z, arranged vertically. A page had been created for "UnitedStates" with little or nothing apart from the page title, and it was not yet linked from "Countries". Thinking back now, the "Countries" page must have had a different title, because only CamelCased titles were possible in the early days.

So I created a page for "U" (using the CamelCase hack "UuU" to make it linkable). I added a few country names to it (UnitedKingdom, UnitedStates and Uruguay), and of course the CamelCase entry for UnitedStates was linked automatically to the page of the same name.

On the home page was a logo consisting of the United States flag. I emailed Larry Sanger suggesting that this was inappropriate for a global encyclopedia. He replied that it was appropriate, and expressed surprise that anyone would have a problem with it. I might have this email in my archives somewhere, but I haven't been able to find it.

In the early days, I spoke enthusiastically about Wikipedia to many friends, acquaintances and colleagues. I was met with only howls of derision and patronizing explanations of how an encyclopedia that could be edited by anyone could never amount to anything. It was not easy to be a Wikipedia evangelist in those early days. But I knew that long-term success required simply that each edit, on average, was more likely to improve Wikipedia than to worsen it.

When it became apparent that Wikipedia had reached "critical mass", I found myself spending time on newer projects such as OpenStreetMap. Looking back over the decades, I see that my work and hobbies have mostly involved helping to get new technologies started - sometimes with success, and sometimes with failure.

I hope you find this little snippet of recollections interesting. I really can't add anything more, as these memories are not as clear as they once were. Eiffel (talk) 11:59, 24 September 2016 (UTC)
 * Thank you very much for your quite important remembrance from the "early days" of this global phenomena. The e-mail about the U.S. flag symbolizing the project shows you were in the right place/right time to possibly nudge one of the founders into more of an international mindset. The project, especially the English encyclopedia, seems to have almost reached a point where the longevity and accuracy of the tens-of-thousands of extremely major pages can be presented as evidence to the members of worldwide academic communities that they not only can become editors, but contributing to their field's coverage on Wikipedia should become a regularly accepted component of one's academic career. That might be the next step in the project's timeline, a timeline which you were one of the first to walk. Good to meet you, and again thanks for the detailed and interesting reply. Randy Kryn 16:52, 24 September 2016 (UTC)

Just a question...
How do you feel there are actual people using Wikipedia that wasn't even born at the time of when you made that edit? VibeScepter (talk) (contributions) 17:08, 7 March 2018 (UTC)

It's a strange concept, VibeScepter. For people born after that time, Wikipedia has always existed. In the future, the time will come when no-one is alive from the time Before Wikipedia. Wikipedia will have become something that was invented by people from the past. Eiffel (talk) 00:34, 9 March 2018 (UTC)

I'm your fan !
Hello to you ! Please, let me know : do you remember how you got to Wikipedia? How did you decide to contribute this time? First time for you and for Wikipedia... Normally it should have been Larry Sanger or Jimmy Wales no ? Are you a friend of them ? Sorry, i'm so curious and sorry i'm french. Sg7438 (talk) 11:32, 9 June 2019 (UTC)

Hello Sg7438, Thanks for your kind words. I tried to contribute to Larry Sanger's earlier project, Nupedia. However, Nupedia only wanted writers with formal qualifications in their subject area. I wanted to contribute to a subject for which I was a specialist, but for which no formal qualification existed. Not surprisingly, Nupedia didn't make much progress. As soon as Wikipedia was announced, I knew it was going to be successful, and I got started immediately. Note that I didn't make the oldest edit, just the oldest surviving edit. I do not know Jimmy or Larry, although I had a few email discussions with Larry in the early days of Nupedia. Eiffel (talk) 11:59, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

You're very likely the second person to ever edit Wikipedia
I know you get quite a bit of attention for the UuU edit, but I was looking through Tim Starling's archives and noticed that an edit you had made to SportS earlier that day (which regrettably does not survive) was the first ever edit in the project not by office.bomis.com. While I'm not sure whether that account was a proto-role account I have reason to believe that it was mainly used by Jimmy Wales. Even if those edits were all by different people you're at the very least the second ever account to edit Wikipedia and almost certainly the first non-American. That I think is rather incredible. (Also for the record, you beat Larry Sanger by about 5 hours.) I hope you've had a good experience with the site since then and wish you a good day! – John M Wolfson (talk • contribs) 03:52, 21 June 2019 (UTC)

Thanks for the historical analysis, John. It's interesting stuff! I don't remember the edit I made to SportS, but it would have been minor. Also, that reminds me that the "Countries" page referred to elsewhere here would have been "CountrieS" back in the day. Back then, the requirement to CamelCase all links was an awkward hack, but on the other hand it meant that anyone could easily create links without knowing any other syntax.

Yeah, it's weird how much has changed. – John M Wolfson (talk • contribs) 17:53, 21 June 2019 (UTC)

20 years
20 years ago, you made an edit. 20 years. It seems so weird. congrats--164.52.225.30 (talk) 17:45, 15 January 2021 (UTC)

Thanks! It's hard to imagine life before Wikipedia! -- Eiffel (talk) 17:56, 15 January 2021 (UTC)