Wiki Essentials
What is Wikipedia?
Wikipedia is an encyclopedia. Wikipedia is not a soapbox, an advertising platform or an indiscriminate collection of information. Wikipedia combines many features of generalized encyclopedias, and almanacs to combine all of that knowledge into one place.
What is the Wikipedia community?
The Wikipedia community refers to the community of creators who create and maintain Wikipedia. Individual editors are known as "Wikipedians".
Is there a correlation between the weather and the number of people editing Wikipedia?
Yes! Bad weather means that more people are editing Wikipedia.
Is Wikipedia written from a neutral or biased point of view?
Wikipedia strives for its articles to be written from a neutral point of view. Articles should be written in an impartial tone.
Is there a gender gap between people who edit Wikipedia?
Yes! According to Wikipedia there is a large gender gap between editors. Overall only 9% of people who edit Wikipedia are women.
Does Wikipedia have an official theme song?
Yes! Wikipedia's official theme song is "Hotel Wikipedia," a parody of The Eagles' "Hotel California." Some of the lyrics area as follows, "Welcome to the Hotel Wikipedia Such a lovely place So much empty space Plenty of work at the Hotel Wikipedia Any time of year You can find us here... "
Do you have to pay to use Wikipedia
No! Wikipedia is a free resource. People who edit articles do not own that content and it is free to create an account, edit articles, and use information on Wikipedia.
Roughly how many hours have Wikipedians spent creating content on Wikipedia?
In 2008 it was estimated that Wikipedians had spent around 100 million hours adding content to the site!
Does Wikipedia value respect?
Absolutely! Editors should not engage in personal attacks, edit wars should be avoided, and people should act in good faith.
Good faith, in human interactions, refers to a sincere intention to be fair, open, and honest regardless of the outcome of the situation. Assuming good faith is a fundamental principle on Wikipedia. It is the assumption that editors edits and comments are made in good faith and not intended to hurt the overall project of Wikipedia. Essentially, do not be a troll!
Who typically edits Wikipedia the most?
According to Wikipedia young, college-educated males are the most common contributes to Wikipedia.
Does Wikipedia have firm rules?
ikipedia has policies and guidelines but they are not firm. These rules also evolve and change over time.
Do people get paid to edit Wikipedia?
No! Wikipedia editors are volunteers! A 2014 study indicated that people edit Wikipedia both because they want to share their knowledge and because sharing that knowledge gives them a sense of personal fulfillment.