Famous Wikipedian: Stephen Colbert

Pic by David Shankbone

Sometimes famous people edit Wikipedia. I'm guessing a fair amount of celebrities do this, bu probably not under their real name or any username, for that matter.

In July 2006, right before telling his viewers to edit the page on elephants to say that the population is tripling, Colbert edited an article on George Washington during the taping of his show. The edit, as seen here, is pretty funny, coming immediately after a long paragraph that contradicts its claim.

About a week after the posting, User:Stephencolbert was blocked indefinitely from editing, and the block stands to this day, seven years later. The notice on his talk page is pretty funny, saying the user was not blocked for his edit but instead for essentially impersonating Colbert. Furthermore, the notice states, the block would be lifted if only Comedy Central would confirm that account was that of Colbert himself. It has got to be the only personalized blocking notice on all of Wikipedia.

Colbert (or one of his staffers) never made another edit, though Colbert continues to rib Wikipedia on television.

User:Stephencolbert