Wikipedia's first sentence called it “american short story writer”. Today it says “american short story author”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “American short story author and poet (1922–2007)”. It now reads “American author, poet, teacher, and activist (1922–2007)”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the October 6, 2023 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in October 6, 2023
Grace Paley (December 11, 1922 – August 22, 2007) was an American short story author, poet , teacher, and political activist . Paley wrote three critically acclaimed collections of short stories, which were compiled in the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist The Collected Stories in 1994. Her stories home in on the everyday conflicts and heartbreaks of city life, heavily informed by her childhood in the Bronx . Beyond her work as an author and university professor, Paley was a feminist and anti-war activist, describing herself as a "somewhat combative pacifist and cooperative anarchist." "The Collected Stories" .
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1175260439.
The opening as it stood in 2005
Grace Paley ( December 11 , 1922 - ) is an American short story writer, poet , and political activist whose work has won a number of awards.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 17966119.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Grace Paley (December 11 1922 – August 22 2007) was an American short story writer, poet , and political activist .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 359268793.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Grace Paley (December 11, 1922 – August 22, 2007) was an American short story writer, poet , teacher, and political activist .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 668702706.
The opening as it stood in 2020
( Learn how and when to remove this message ) Grace Paley (December 11, 1922 – August 22, 2007) was an American short story author, poet , teacher, and political activist .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 953111580.
The opening as it stood in 2025
American short story author and poet (1922–2007) Grace Paley (December 11, 1922 – August 22, 2007), née Goodside , was an American short story author, poet , teacher, and political activist . Paley wrote three critically acclaimed collections of short stories, which were compiled in the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist The Collected Stories in 1994. Her stories home in on the everyday conflicts and heartbreaks of city life, heavily informed by her childhood in the Bronx . Beyond her work as an author and university professor, Paley was a feminist and anti-war activist, describing herself as a "somewhat combative pacifist and cooperative anarchist." "The Collected Stories" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1297234120. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “american short story writer”. Today it says “american short story author”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “American short story author and poet (1922–2007)”. It now reads “American author, poet, teacher, and activist (1922–2007)”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
american short story writer
Now
american short story author
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
