Editing Wikipedia
February 27th 2025
Is “Big Al” short for “Big Alabama”? (Big Al is the elephant shaped mascot for the University of Alabama’s various teams.)
So I go and try to determine what “Al” is actually short for. UA’s websites? Not helpful AT ALL.
So I go read the Wikipedia page about Big Al, and you know when you read stuff on Wikipedia and you’re like “something feels off”?
“Big Al was named by a student vote. At the time of the vote, there was a popular DJ on campus by the name of Al Brown, who DJ’d many of the largest campus parties, including those hosted by members of the football team. As a result of DJ Al’s popularity, a campaign was started on campus to name the mascot after him, and that campaign succeeded at the polls.”
I’m like, that sounds like PURE NONSENSE.
So I start digging. Want to find out when this piece of information was added to Wikipedia. I go to the history and start clicking each year to see when the info appears.
2006… 2007… 2008… 2009… 2010… OK it appears in 2009. Look at every month and…
SOME DUDE NAMED BIGALBROWN edited the Wikipedia to add information about how Big Al was named after “Alfred Lee ‘Big Al’ Brown” which is TOTAL GARBAGE.
So I’m like, OK I can play this game.
I go look at ol’ Al’s Wikipedia user page, and they’ve only made ONE EDIT EVER, immediately after making their account, which is to add in this nonsense!
So I’m like, alright Imma go read the archives. I get on the UA library website and start trawlin’ through yearbooks from the correct time etc.
Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.
I turn to Google, and there are a lot of articles written AFTER 2009. So all these real news outlets have been fooled by this stupid Wikipedia article! CBS Sports and whoever else, all writing about how Big Al is named after this DJ.
So I BE THE CHANGE and remove that info from Wikipedia. Sorry, MR. AL. Your ruse is up!
So I think Big Al is actually named for the elephant that UA used to have ☠️ named “Alamite.”
Anyway, fun day in editing Wikipedia.