being a wiki admin is the modern age’s equivalent of being a monk
This reminds me of an old joke. As short as possible, here goes:
A new monk is accepted into the monastery. The head of the order leads him around, explaining his new duties. They finish in the room where they copy the old texts, and the new monk points at a heavily barred and locked door off to one side.
“What’s in there?”
“Those are the originals our ancient brethren copied from. We continue their tradition of keeping the copies fresh by re-copying them when the copies start to fade or there is a new translation.”
“Oh. Huh.”
“Yes?”
“I just… what if someone made a mistake somewhere? Like… copied down a word wrong or something? Do we just keep copying it wrong over and over again?”
The head of the order smiles benignly. “When you see how diligently we adhere to the texts, you’ll understand. It’s highly unlikely a major mistake was made. Rest assured, my son, we know what we’re doing.”
“Oh, of course, of course.”
However, much later that night, the entire monastery is awakened by a great howling from somewhere deep in the stones. They all, including the newest monk, run about, trying to find the source of the commotion. Eventually, they tumble into the copying room and see the formerly barred and locked door wide open. A flurry of crisp-edged papers have been flung about the room, several ancient texts swiped from their shelves. It’s a disaster.
“Master, are you all right?”
It’s a prudent question, as the head of the order is sitting at the small reading table inside the room, his head in his hands.
“…Master…?”
Then, quietly: “Celibrate. It says celiBRATE.”
the most historically accurate monk joke
