Justin Knapp

Justin Anthony Knapp (born November 18, 1982),[1] also known by his online moniker Koavf, is an American Wikipedia user who was the first person to contribute more than one million edits to Wikipedia.[2] As of March 2020, Knapp has made over 2 million edits on English Wikipedia.[3][4][5] He was ranked No. 1 among the most active Wikipedia contributors of all time from April 18, 2012 to November 1, 2015 when he was surpassed by Steven Pruitt.

Justin Knapp
Knapp in 2012
Born
Justin Anthony Knapp

(1982-11-18) November 18, 1982
Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Other namesKoavf
CitizenshipUnited States
EducationPhilosophy and Political Science, Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis

Education

Knapp attended Covenant Christian High School, where he enrolled in 1997.[1] He holds degrees in philosophy and political science from Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis.[6][7] As of 2013, he was pursuing a nursing degree at Indiana University.[8]

Career

Wikipedia
Knapp (third from left) at a Wikipedia training session in 2011

Knapp announced his millionth edit to Wikipedia on April 19, 2012.[6] At the time, he had been submitting on average 385 edits a day since signing up in March 2005; about his performance he said: "Being suddenly and involuntarily unemployed will do that to you."[6] Margaret Ferguson, an associate professor of political science at Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis and one of Knapp's professors, said she was not surprised by his dedication to editing Wikipedia.[9] In 2012, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales congratulated Knapp for his work and presented him with the site's highest award for his achievement[10] by declaring that April 20 would be Justin Knapp Day.[11][12] In a 2014 interview with Business Insider, Knapp said that "there is no typical day" with regard to his Wikipedia editing, and that his "go-to edits are small style and typo fixes." He also argued that the declining number of Wikipedia editors is "not necessarily a problem."[13]

His Wikipedia username, Koavf, was chosen as an acronym for "King of all Vext Fans", a reference to a contest Knapp entered for the comic book Vext in the 1990s.[7] Knapp was a significant contributor to Wikipedia's bibliography on George Orwell,[8][14] and he has also made many edits involving the categorization of albums through Wikipedia's category structure.[15] In 2012, the Indianapolis Star reported that Knapp sometimes edited Wikipedia for as many as 16 hours a day.[16]

Activism

In 2005, at the United Nations Sixtieth General Assembly, Knapp advocated for the Sahrawi people and spoke about the situation in Western Sahara.[17] He has also been involved in community organizing for a Restore the Fourth rally in 2013.[18]

Other

Knapp has had several jobs, including delivering pizzas for the Indianapolis pizzeria Just Pizza,[19] working at a grocery store, and a crisis hotline.[20][13]

List of publications
  • "The Grant Shapps Affair Is a Testament to Wikipedia's Integrity and Transparency", published by Guardian Media Group for The Guardian online, April 23, 2015
  • "Engaging the Public in Ethical Reasoning About Big Data" in Ethical Reasoning in Big Data: An Exploratory Analysis (ed. Jeff Collman and Sorin Adam Matei), published by Springer Publishing, April 2016, pp. 43–52, ISBN 978-3-319-28422-4 and ISBN 978-3-319-28420-0 doi:10.1007/978-319-28422-4_4

See also

References
  1. Comisky, Daniel S. (July 26, 2012). "King of Corrections". Indianapolis Monthly.
  2. "The hardest working man on Wikipedia". Daily Dot. April 19, 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2012.
  3. "Koavf - Simple Counter". XTools. Archived from the original on March 20, 2020. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  4. Morris, Kevin (April 19, 2012). "The hardest working man on Wikipedia". The Daily Dot. Retrieved October 15, 2016.
  5. Wikipedia:List of Wikipedians by featured article nominations
  6. Titcomb, James (April 20, 2012). "First man to make 1 million Wikipedia edits". The Telegraph. Retrieved September 3, 2012.
  7. Pogue, Paul F.P. (May 23, 2012). "Wiki's Million Edit Man is lifelong Hoosier". Nuvo. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
  8. Hansen, Lauren (January 30, 2013). "6 super-dedicated employees". The Week. Retrieved January 30, 2015.
  9. Vinci, Angela (July 5, 2012). "In the News - June 2012". Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis News. Archived from the original on February 3, 2017. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  10. "Hardest working man on the internet passes one million Wikipedia edits". Engadget.com. Retrieved September 3, 2012.
  11. "Wikipedia:Justin Knapp Day", Wikipedia, August 30, 2016, retrieved October 5, 2020
  12. Alissa Skelton (April 23, 2012). "Wikipedia Volunteer Editor Reaches 1 Million Edits". Mashable. Retrieved October 24, 2012.
  13. Lubin, Gus (September 19, 2014). "This Guy Has Edited Wikipedia More Than 1.3 Million Times — And He Doesn't Believe In The Decline Of The Free Encyclopedia". Business Insider. Retrieved September 21, 2014.
  14. Horn, Leslie (April 20, 2012). "Seven Years, One Million Edits, Zero Dollars: Wikipedia's Flat Broke Superstar". Gizmodo. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
  15. "Wikipedia: Meet the men and women who write the articles". BBC News. July 14, 2012. Retrieved February 18, 2015.
  16. Guerra, Kristine (June 18, 2012). "Week in Wiki out: Hoosier is top contributor to online encyclopedia". Indianapolis Star. Archived from the original on June 18, 2012. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
  17. "Representatives of member states, non-self governing territories, petitioners address Fourth Committee, as it continues general debate on decolonization: Statements Focus on Questions of Gibraltar, Western Sahara, Guam". United Nations. October 6, 2005. Retrieved February 14, 2013.
  18. Ritger, Carla (July 3, 2013). "Protesters to March Against Government Surveillance in Nationwide Rally". Indianapolis Star. Gannett.
  19. Disis, Jill (January 20, 2014). "Co-workers scrambled to find missing pizza delivery man until the worst became clear". Indianapolis Star. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  20. Dewey, Caitlin (July 22, 2015). "You don't know it, but you're working for Facebook. For free". Washington Post. Retrieved August 16, 2015.
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