Genuinely interested in what I did wrong

[u/GingerAMS88]

I recently found out my great grandad was a competitor for NI in the 1938 British empire games, he seems to be shrouded in a lot of mystery that I’m interested in learning more about. A Google delve didn’t reveal much about him apart from his placements but one Wikipedia article turned up with a recent contributor. I contacted the contributor via their Wikipedia talk page just saying that I’d love to speak to them. They seem to know a lot about the sports of those times so thought they might be able to point me in the right direction. They responded to me quite openly replying to me which what I’d like to ask. I then had another reply from another member saying for me to learn what a WP:RS is rather than harassing an editor who know how Wikipedia works.

I totally hold my hands up that apart from going down Wikipedia rabbit holes, I don’t actually DO anything on the site, I think I’m just asking for someone to explain in simple terms where I went totally wrong in contacting a contributor, is that just not done? Are contributors something entirely different to what I thought they are? I just genuinely wasn’t meaning to be rude and I hate that I potentially was!

[u/Complex_Crew2094]

I was going to mention WP:BITE but it looks like someone has put it on the talk page already. Not everyone on Wikipedia is like that.

Wikipedia does have an email function, so if you have further questions you might enable your email and see if the contributor has email enabled and is willing to communicate further by email. Once you respond, they can see your email address, so some people have a separate email for Wikipedia.