Denied!

As I delve more into my inherit (and inherited) geekiness, I took a huge step today: I edited Wikipedia. Specifically, I changed the entry on Martin Heidegger's influence on cinema to include a reference to the fact that the movie "Being There" derives its name from the philosophical concept of Dasein, which was proposed by Heidegger. Damn, that was a long sentence. Anyway, it's a movie, it gets his name from Heidegger; I figured it was a little factoid that belonged there.

It turns out that Wikipedia has a very active community, to say nothing of efficient. I made the change this morning at 9:30; at around 4:00 this afternoon, my reference was deleted. Gone. Vanished into the ether. I cannot help but feel a little disappointed; my first contribution to a massive reference source, and it gets killed within a day.

On the other hand, I can see the point this unknown person may have been making; Heidegger's works have, on occasion, actually been translated into movie form (although I am probably the only person I've ever met who would enjoy such a film). "Being There" is not based on a book by Heidegger; it just gets its name from his idea. And several major themes. And Peter Sellers' first role outside of a comedy (though it is kind of a funny movie). I thought it belonged there, someone disagreed, and I'm willing to let that be the end of it. Maybe next time I'll be able to make a more lasting contribution, but for now I'm just pleased that I know something that, as of 4:00 this afternoon, Wikipedia does not. (By the by, I've checked the entries for the movie, the book it is based off of, and the author of said book. Nothing is said about Heidegger, though it is suggested that the author plagiarised another work in Polish.)

If you are curious, you can find my version of the Heidegger entry compared with the current version here.