Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2012 May 17

= May 17 =

Opinion of girlfriends of wikipedians
(Sorry my English) I'm assuming some wikipedians have girlfriends/wifes/significant others/whatever. Since traditionally women doesn't like geeks and wikipedians are commonly believed to be that, Do you keep it secret to your girlfriends? If so, what do yo say are doing so many time on the Internet? watch porn? :-P

If you don't keep it secret, what´s her opinion (if any) about it? Did she see that as a hobby just like others like to watch soccer? Has she read any of the articles you write? Thank you. 88.2.8.193 (talk) 13:34, 17 May 2012 (UTC)


 * It is my experience that quite a lot of wikipedians are women. Some of those who are not, are gay men, or otherwise do not have female partners. Your question is unlikely to have a helpful answer, because the question itself contains too many assumptions. AlexTiefling (talk) 13:52, 17 May 2012 (UTC)


 * My husband knows I contribute to Wikipedia. He used to contribute but left due to a disagreement with another editor. --TammyMoet (talk) 14:56, 17 May 2012 (UTC)


 * I am a man with a male spouse. He knows that I contribute to Wikipedia and has looked at a few of my contributions.  He does not contribute to Wikipedia.  He considers me a geek and sees that as a positive quality.  Marco polo (talk) 15:29, 17 May 2012 (UTC)


 * My girlfriend knows I contribute. I'm far from what you are stereotyping as a geek too. (I've got peircings, tattoo's guitars and a motorbike.) You should not assume that every person on here is a geek or a single person sitting in their bedrooms alone. Many, if not all of us have a life outside the project (I would hope). As for my girlfriend opinion, she thinks it makes me a really mature guy, because I explained to her how things work behind the main article space, consensus and what not, and being only 19, it shows that I can actually pass for an adult (sometimes). As for reading through my contributions, she's been doing research on something recently and I watched her reading an article, and I told her that I had made at least on change on it, and she got all exited. Mr Little Irish  (talk) 申 16:09, 17 May 2012 (UTC)
 * who is tattoo, and why do you have his guitars? -- LarryMac | Talk  17:08, 17 May 2012 (UTC)
 * Here he is. Deor (talk) 19:02, 17 May 2012 (UTC)


 * My wife knows that I contribute, and thinks it's a bid weird. But we've been married for 12 years now, so it just gets put into the muddle of general weirdness she's come to accept of me.  -- Jayron  32  17:16, 17 May 2012 (UTC)
 * My wife knows I contribute...it's not really the sort of thing I talk about much in the real world though, but because of academic embarrassment, not geeky embarrassment! And she knows if I am sitting in front of the computer and I look annoyed, it's probably because I'm having a ridiculous argument here. Adam Bishop (talk) 19:04, 17 May 2012 (UTC)
 * My wife also knows I contribute, but pretty much ignores it unless I am editing Wikipedia at an inappropriate moment e.g. when she wants to talk to me about curtains or holidays. I suspect it falls under the heading of "slightly weird things my husband does that I haven't got round to fixing yet". That's a long list, so I hope to be here for a while longer. Gandalf61 (talk) 14:37, 18 May 2012 (UTC)


 * If my wife didn't like geeks, she wouldn't have married me. It's quite silly to say that women "traditionally don't like geeks" — there are a lot of women in the world, they like lots of different types of people. --Mr.98 (talk) 14:37, 18 May 2012 (UTC)


 * My Lady knows about me contributing to Ref Desk. She classifies it as entertainment/fun not involving or requiring her, and therefore is something to be suppressed.  It being geeky has nothing to do with it.  Wickwack124.178.40.217 (talk) 15:17, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

My girlfriend knows I contribute (though hardly a lot!) and thinks it slightly funny that people ask questions online and that I randomly spend time trying to track down the answer even though I might not know it. ny156uk (talk) 21:54, 18 May 2012 (UTC)
 * My girlfriend knows I contribute, and has watched over my shoulder as I did new-user patrol while watching a baseball game. Her general opinion is that contributing to Wikipedia is an interest, no odder than any other hobby or interest.  She is aware that I am a nerd, and considers it one of my positive qualities, as she is also a nerd.  I am not male. -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 16:03, 20 May 2012 (UTC)