 | This page contains material that is kept because it is considered humorous. Such material is not meant to be taken seriously. |
Johnathan Secret | |
|---|---|
 Secret in 2009 | |
| Born | June 12, 1977 |
| Occupation | Inventor |
| Known for | The Secret handshake |
Johnathan Secret is an American inventor, best known for inventing the "Secret handshake" used by Wikipedia in order to purchase Wikipedia and its contents. He also helped co-found the buying Wikipedia process to an extent, with the help of Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger in 2002.
Early life edit
Johnathan Onassis Secret was born in Ogden, Utah, the oldest of two children. His father, Justin Secret was an airplane engineer, and his mother, Victoria Secret, was a beauty retailer. As a child Johnathan Secret was notably shy, and was frequently bullied by his peers for refusing to speak when spoken to. This traumatized him to never talk. Instead, starting in second grade he would work for several years to develop a language where no speaking is required. His work would not be recognized because he accidentally reinvented American Sign Language (ASL) with only minor differences. Frustrated that his work was discredited, he worked to create a unique language without speaking. This dream was later abandoned because he realized there was nothing wrong with ASL and it worked just fine as an alternative to speaking. Secret graduated from Weber State University in 1999 with a focus on financing.
Career edit
Buying Wikipedia establishment and the Secret handshake edit
In June 2001, Secret was approached by Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger. Sanger explained to Secret that he and Jimmy Wales are working on a system where buying Wikipedia is possible, per request of their lawyers. He had a suspicion that the lawyers wanted to buy Wikipedia from them, so they made the cost very expensive but also wanted to make the purchasing process very difficult to avoid its purchase.[citation needed] They worked together to develop a complicated purchase system.
Secret and Sanger became close friends and developed a handshake whenever they would work on the project. The handshake became more and more complicated the more they met. The secret handshake was dubbed the Secret handshake, named after Secret, who contributed the majority to its creation. The handshake would incorporate various inside jokes and preferences to Secret and Sanger. These include: retrieving a cup of black coffee, per Sanger's love of black coffee; the stick-shift fist bump, as Secret once crashed a borrowed vehicle for not knowing how to drive stick-shift; discussion of the show Full House, as they both enjoyed watching the show; and the force-field fist bump, as Secret accidentally created a scientific formula for a working invisible force-field. The handshake was fully completed on June 8, 2001, according to Sanger. When the two realized the complexity of the Secret handshake, they decided to make it an official part of the Wikipedia purchasing process. Sanger was laid off from Wikipedia in February 2002, and Secret continued to work on the Wikipedia purchasing and would consult Sanger for advice. The Secret handshake was first publicly mentioned alongside the announcement of being able to buy Wikipedia on November 12, 2002.
Retirement and secret handshake moderation edit
 | Parts of this help page (those related to section) need to be updated. Please help update this help page to reflect recent events or newly available information. |
Secret would step down from working with Wikipedia in 2005 to focus on other projects. After another failed attempt to reinvent ASL in 2008 among other projects, he retired from inventing in 2009 at the age of 32. The Secret handshake would be updated and made more complicated in the following years by a group of Wikipedia moderators, led by Preston Blunt.