I would say I first learned about Wikipedia three years ago. Someone had mentioned it to me, so I took a look. Skimmed around—Bobby Brown, dog fighting, Lyman Bostock, etc. Then, out of curiosity more than anything else, I created my own entry.
In all honesty, I figured either it’d be deleted immediately, or completely ignored.
Yet it’s still there. And growing. Like crabgrass. When new information appears, it’s almost never flattering. Which is fair, because I made the page to begin with. Checked it the other day for the first time in eons. Here is a portion of my biography:
In 2002, Pearlman left Sports Illustrated, explaining to the New York Observer that he had grown tired of the monotony of sports. He spent the next two years at Newsday, but left to focus on writing books. He also keeps a unusually personal online blog, where he has written about such intimate issues as seeing a rival book get publicity in Sports Illustrated, where he worked,[5], or finding blood in his feces after using the toilet.[6].
I didn’t remember writing about bloody poop. But then I went back, and there it is—bloody poop blog post. Not sure what I was thinking. Am also not sure I want “blood in his feces” as part of my biography. However, it’s completely my fault for making my own Wikipedia page to begin with. Hell, what sort of tool does such a thing?
Ugh—me.
PS: A funny side note. I’ve done radio interviews where they’ve said, “Blah … blah … blah—and he even has his own Wikipedia page.” I’ve also done radio interviews where they’ve read Amazon reviews of my books that were written by friends and family members. It happens more than most people would ever know. 🙂
