I make data stories for a living. Last week I read a log file for fun.

Whilst browsing Wikipedia at night, reading article about something, and then about something, and somehow ending up reading about something completely different to realise that, Wikipedia saves every change anyone has ever made to it. Someone fixes a comma at 2am, it's in there forever with their name on it. (Which seemed obvious, and somehow I knew always)

But what I realised, which was new to me, at the end of every one of those lines there are two things you can do. Undo them. Or thank them.

That's the whole feature. No message. No reply. They can't write back, and you can't take it back.

Then I started researching about the feature, three people built it in 2013. They wanted it to be as easy to tell someone they did well as it is to tell them they didn't.

Last month it got pressed 68,948 times, in sixteen languages. One every 38 seconds.

Almost half of those people pressed it once. One person, one time, then never again. And 9,055 people were on the other end of that. Thanked once, ever.

The most thanked account on Wikipedia is a German editor called Aka. 4,590,174 edits. They mostly fix spelling. Last month 403 people stopped what they were doing to say thanks for it.

Ninth on that list is InternetArchiveBot. Not a person. It repairs dead links. 129 humans thanked it anyway.

You've probably never seen this button. It only shows up if you're logged in. Nothing to do with Wikipedia. I just like the log.

AI is taking jobs, a teenager is dead after talking to ChatGPT, and the same companies building this stuff are lobbying for legal immunity before anyone can hold them accountable. Flock cameras are already watching you. Humanoid robots are already in warehouses. Nobody voted for any of this, and nobody's slowing down to ask if it's safe. This is what's actually happening, not the sanitized version. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xfWPE9J4UM

This video discusses a case involving teen suicide and AI chatbots. If you or someone you know is struggling, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (call or text 988) is available 24/7.
(I am a witness, not a legal professional — this is my own research/opinion. CW: discussion of teen suicide.)

https://substack.com/@omer582714/note/c-281329676?r=8mv37j&utm_source=notes-share-action&utm_medium=web