Justin Knapp


Justin Anthony Knapp, known online as Koavf, is an American Wikipedia user who was the first person to contribute more than one million edits to Wikipedia., Knapp has made over 2 million edits on English Wikipedia., he has contributed to and nominated two articles recognized as "featured articles" which he described as "the highest quality of article on Wikipedia". He was ranked No. 1 among the of all time from April 18, 2012 to November 1, 2015 when he was surpassed by Steven Pruitt.

Education

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

Career

Wikipedia

Knapp announced his millionth edit to Wikipedia on April 19, 2012. 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." 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. In 2012, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales congratulated Knapp for his work and presented him with the site's highest award for his achievement by declaring that April 20 would be Justin Knapp Day. 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."
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. Knapp was a significant contributor to Wikipedia's bibliography on George Orwell, and he has also made many edits involving the categorization of albums through Wikipedia's category structure. In June 2012, the Indianapolis Star reported that Knapp sometimes edited Wikipedia for as many as 16 hours a day.

Activism

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

Other

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

List of publications