Washington Post Magazine - #1 Wikipedia Editor by Stephen Harrison

Living that magazine life...

I wrote my first magazine article about Steven Pruitt, the most prolific contributor to the English version of Wikipedia. Of Wikipedia’s nearly 5.7 million English-language pages, Pruitt has edited a staggering one third. The story is out digitally today and will appear in Sunday's print edition!

The 34-year-old Virginian edits under the username Ser Amantio di Nicolao, a name he took from a minor character in a Puccini opera. Want to know about the United States Lighthouse Society, the biblical figure of Omar, the composer Margaret Bonds, the Nsukka group of Nigerian artists, the communes of French Martinique? Pruitt has an entry for each!

Pruitt is not only fascinating, but super friendly! When we spoke, he said lots of folks had tried to track him down, but few had gotten to know him personally. Here's a "making-of" photo when we met for our initial interview at Zorba's Cafe in Washington, D.C. back in June:



By the way, one measure The Washington Post uses to gauge reader engagement is based on comments to the article itself. So if you enjoyed the piece, please feel free to leave a comment on the version posted at washingtonpost.com.

Read about the "Super Wikipedian" over at The Washington Post or via my Twitter.