What is Wikipedia: Definition and 137 Discussions

Wikipedia ( (listen) wik-ih-PEE-dee-ə or (listen) wik-ee-) is a free, multilingual online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteer contributors through a model of open collaboration, using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read reference work in history, and is consistently one of the 15 most popular websites as ranked by Alexa; as of 2021, it was ranked as the 13th most popular site. The project carries no advertisements and is hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, an American non-profit organization funded mainly through user donations.Wikipedia was launched on January 15, 2001, by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger; Sanger coined its name as a blending of "wiki" and "encyclopedia". Initially available only in English, versions in other languages were quickly developed. The English Wikipedia, with 6.3 million articles as of June 2021, is the largest of the 321 language editions. Combined, Wikipedia's editions comprise more than 56 million articles, and attract more than 17 million edits and more than 1.7 billion unique devices per month.Wikipedia has received praise for its enablement of the democratization of knowledge, extent of coverage, unique structure, culture, and reduced amount of commercial bias, but has also been criticized for its perceived unreliability and for exhibiting systemic bias, namely geographical bias, racial bias, gender bias against women, and alleged ideological bias. Its coverage of American politics and of the COVID-19 pandemic have received substantial media attention. At various points, Wikipedia has been censored by world governments, ranging from the blocking of specific pages to bans on the entire site. Wikipedia has become an element of popular culture, with references in books, films and academic studies. In 2006, Time magazine stated that the policy of allowing anyone to edit had made Wikipedia the "biggest (and perhaps best) encyclopedia in the world", and is "a testament to the vision of one man, Jimmy Wales". In 2018, Facebook and YouTube announced that they would help users detect fake news by suggesting fact-checking links to related Wikipedia articles.

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  1. tiny-tim

    Gravitomagnetism … is wikipedia wrong?

    In http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frame-dragging: In http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitomagnetism: Are those right? Surely: i] gravitomagnetism is a "magnetic equivalent", and therefore, like magnetism itself, can only affect moving objects, and so is not responsible for stationary...
  2. G

    Understanding Proper Acceleration and Four-Acceleration in Special Relativity

    does anybody besides me find the following wikipedia articles confusing? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-acceleration a=du/dτ γu is the Lorentz factor for the speed (coordinate velocity) u In an instantaneously co-moving inertial reference frame u = 0, γu = 1 and dγu/dτ = 0, i.e. in such a...
  3. Bob3141592

    What do experts think of the proposed Wikipedia CD selection for Physics?

    Specifically in their mathematical topics, of course. It seems awfully good to me, but I don't know enough to be a proper judge. What's the general opinion of the people here?
  4. S

    Mistake regarding lamps on wikipedia

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamp_%28electrical_component%29 The wikipedia article on lamps says the following: "A lamp is a replaceable component such as an incandescent light bulb, which is designed to produce light from electricity." Some lamps are powered from gas, not electricity.
  5. Shahil

    Wikipedia is the differences in spelling

    Hey guys :) One thing that really gets me whilst reading sites like Wikipedia is the differences in spelling (US English vs. British English) that are o various Wikipedia sites. One of the main differences is the use of -ize in US English compared to -ise in British English. South African...
  6. E

    How much do you trust wikipedia?

    Some of my high school teachers and college professors have warned me to "Never use Wikipedia" because it is dangerously inaccurate. I think this view just reflects an inability of older generations to adapt to this new form of information sharing. In fact, I have come to trust Wikipedia more...
  7. T

    Studying Why maths textbooks when you can have Wikipedia?

    ? I seem to be able to do all my maths homework using Wikiepdia as a resource alone. It is so good for definitions and examples.
  8. N

    Unifying Theoretical Physics: Kant & Ritter

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physics#_note-16 Says the following: Theoretical physics has historically rested on philosophy and metaphysics; electromagnetism was unified this way.[20] Reference: 20 ^ See, for example, the influence of Kant and Ritter on Oersted. Does anyone know...
  9. P

    Photon, black hole, Wikipedia quote

    I found the following in Wikipedia on the page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plank_length: Question: what is the mechanism through which the interaction of a photon with an object could (even in principle) cause the object to become a "minuscule black hole"? I understand that this is a...
  10. robphy

    In the news: Wikipedia and the Pro Wrestler story

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,287194,00.html "Web Time Stamps Indicate Nancy Benoit's Death Reported on Web at Least 13 Hours Before Police Found Bodies in Her Home" en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chris_Benoit&oldid=141250251 near the bottom: "On June 28, FOXNews.com reported that...
  11. G01

    Play "The Wikipedia Game" - From Elvis to Queen Elizabeth II!

    Has anybody here ever played this game when you were bored? First you go on Wikipedia and select some random article. Then, you find a link on the page and go to the article it links to. Continue this process for long enough and you'll eventually end up at some article which you would never...
  12. R

    Wikipedia & Google: Free Schooling?

    Does anyone here think that wikipedia and google are some sort of free schooling?
  13. A

    Can a physicist learn his math tools from wikipedia alone?

    Now that we have established that physicists do not need to study math proofs or do rigorous math problems, but rather just understand the math tools well enough to use them, I was wondering if a physicist can just get by in learning the math tools in a qualitative, prosaic, way as in wikipedia...
  14. jtbell

    Fake Professor in Wikipedia Storm

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6423659.stm
  15. Fredrik

    Why is the Wikipedia article about Bell's spaceship paradox disputed at all?

    Why is the Wikipedia article about Bell's spaceship "paradox" disputed at all? Link to the article This problem is ridiculously simple. The condition that the spaceships experience the same acceleration implies that their world lines will have the same shape. (The acceleration doesn't have...
  16. ranger

    Wikipedia and credibility in physics/science

    It is known that some wikipedia articles are not credible. Hell, I've been hearing this a lot lately. I constantly use wiki as a refresher and for quick info, yet I never found any such article(s). Does anyone know any incorrectly written articles from wiki in the areas of physics, math, EE...
  17. S

    Collaborative Efforts to Enhance Physics Articles on Wikipedia

    Alright forumers, I've heard numerous complaints about the quality of http://en.wikipedia.org" physics articles - an opinion which I share. Far too often they're undetailed, far too technical, and just plain confusing. So who better to rectify the situation than us? I'm looking for...
  18. G

    Wikipedia makes me laugh sometimes.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_singularity#Effects
  19. Pythagorean

    I hear a lot of controversy about Wikipedia.

    I hear a lot of controversy about Wikipedia. I'm curious what kind of support people have for their arguments for or against it as a resource (for academia and career). I've found it useful several times, myself, and a lot of information I've never been able to find before is now available...
  20. L

    Help Improve Newton's Laws of Motion on Wikipedia

    Hi, You have most probably heard about the internet phenomenon Wikipedia, now the world's largest, an encyclopedia that anyone can edit. But currently, the article on Newton's laws of motion is in a poor state. It needs your help to get upto shape. You can edit the page by clicking the edit...
  21. S

    Import Wikipedia Dump into MySQL 5.0 w/o Heat Issues

    I am trying to import the a wikipedia 5.6 GB XML dump into MySQL 5.0 using mwdumper. The problem is that the temperature of my hard disk is reaching 50C (120F) after just 30000 pages. Is there any way to prevent this or to import the wikipedia dump into MySQL in parts? Speed is not an issue so...
  22. R

    Technical Difficulties: Wikimedia Foundation Server Issue

    It's the end of the world! http://en.wikipedia.org/
  23. W

    Is the Example for Series in Wikipedia Incorrect?

    Hey folks, I'm currently studying sequences and the like in Calc 2, and I went to Wikipedia for another explanation about them. The example given in the article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Series_%28mathematics%29" seems to be incorrect to me. The example is this: \sum _{n=0}^{\infty...
  24. M

    Assessing the Reliability of Scientific Information on Wikipedia

    I am aware that there are some errors in Wikipedia on the science side. My question is how much and how large of errors? Do you, the users of PF "trust" the information found at wikipedia?
  25. J

    Wikipedia as accurate as Encyclopedia Brittanica on science

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4530930.stm Great news, but I wish they could have published this last week when I was writing an analysis on the validity of my Wikipedia references for my coursework :grumpy:
  26. Pengwuino

    Wikipedia as accurate as Britannica

    http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusgen/ap12-14-184223.asp?t=apcom&vts=121420052049 *claps for wiki* that's pretty neat.
  27. N

    Proving 0.99999... = 1: A Wikipedia Insight

    0.99999... = 1? I found the following proof on Wikipedia. It looks fine, but I can hardly imagine it to be right... Another kind of proof adapts to any repeating decimal. When a fraction in decimal notation is multiplied by 10, the digits do not change but the decimal separator moves one...
  28. Mk

    Neutronium article @ Wikipedia in need of experts and knowledgeables

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutronium http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Neutronium#Disputed:_Periodic_table BAH! I'm tired of this, the disputes, the misinformation, incorrect equations and terms, and I am requesting that somebody(s) from here contribute a little, so I can sleep at night...
  29. S

    History Wikipedia Saves the Day - Quicker History Test Studying

    Thanks to Wikipedia, I can study for my history test quicker! Instead of utilizing the index, flipping pages, and scanning, I can just type and read!
  30. matthyaouw

    How reliable a source do you find Wikipedia to be?

    I've found that it's a very useful resource, but I've been having a look through their policies and guidelines etc, and it seems like no one strictly moderates content. Surely this system is prone to accumulating incorrect information, be it deliberate or accidental. How reliable a source do you...
  31. V

    Researching Online: Is Wikipedia Adequate?

    Do you think sources like wikipedia.org and similar websites are adequate for information and research?
  32. T

    What is the funniest parody of Wikipedia?

    A very funny parody of Wikipedia, check it out. :smile: Also, here is an http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia and Wikipedia article about Uncyclopedia. The subjects in Uncyclopedia can be really odd, I found the http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Orange_juice to be one of the funniest I...
  33. T

    News Is There a Deceptive Redirect on Wikipedia's Hague Invasion Act Page?

    Was Wikipedia Hijacked? Check this yourself ... I just attempted to go to the Hague Invasion Act following the link in Yahoo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hague_Invasion_Act On this page, sombody had imbedded a re-direct to: American Servicemembers' Protection Act Hmmm ...
  34. I

    Frivolous theorem of arithmetic on Wikipedia

    [SOLVED] Frivolous theorem of arithmetic on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frivolous_Theorem_of_Arithmetic There's a debate on whether we should delete this theorem from Wikipedia because some consider it "useless". Should it be deleted?
  35. Hans de Vries

    Afshar Wikipedia entry incl. views of Unruh and Lubos Motl

    The Wikipedia entry is here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afshar_experiment Afshar's blog is here: http://irims.org/blog/index.php/2004/09/25/questions_welcome So the idea seems to be that opening the second hole causes an interference pattern that...
  36. A

    Can Anyone Easily Destroy Wikipedia Articles?

    Hey guys I just discovered (lol) Wikipedia the other day.. What stops anyone from going in and just destroying all the articles?
  37. marcus

    Is Wikipedia good on the action principle? (Lagrangian etc.)

    Wikipedia is potentially like a supplemental textbook which is online and instantly available In another PF context someone was interested in getting an intuitive layman's idea of topics in these Wikipedia articles: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_principle...
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