Wikipedia Hits Million-Entry Mark

Sir Homer writes "The Wikimedia Foundation announced today the creation of the one millionth article in Wikipedia. Started in January 2001, Wikipedia is currently both the world's largest encyclopedia and fastest-growing, with articles under active development in over 100 languages. Nearly 2,500 new articles are added to Wikipedia each day, along with ten times that number of updates to existing articles. Wikipedia now ranks as one of the ten most popular reference sites on the Internet, according to Alexa.com. It is increasingly used as a resource by students, journalists, and anyone who needs a starting point for research. Wikipedia's rate of growth has continued to increase in recent months, and at its current pace Wikipedia will double in size again by next spring." stevejobsjr writes "Wikipedia needs our help. The Wikipedia project has no ads, and is run completely by volunteers. Still, it takes money to run such an amazing resource, and so they are running a fundraiser. The goal is to raise $50,000."

Comments

So what?

[Estanislao Mart�nez]

I think the quality of the articles matter more than the mass. A smaller number of good, well-edited articles on topics that people actually care about would be better.

The worst part of the whole thing is how Wikipedia is gradually making so many Google searches useless. More and more i find myself typing some term into Google, and getting back a number of "reference" sites that simply grab all the content from Wikipedia and slap advertisements on. Sometimes the whole first page of Google results is like this recently. Aaargh.

Re:So what?

[gowen]

how Wikipedia is gradually making so many Google searches useless... a number of "reference" sites that simply grab all the content from Wikipedia and slap advertisements on.

And for this you blame wikipedia? That's like blaming Led Zeppelin for the existence of Motley Crue and hair metal.

Re:Yes

[makomk]

But how much do we REALLY need to know about Klingon or memetics?

Actually, I find it useful to have a reference work for all those things that are too geeky, obscure, or recent to be in proper encyclopedias. For the things I'm interested in, Wikipedia tends to be the best thing to use.

Re:Wikipedia is NOT an encyclopedia.

[mind21_98]

There are no authorative sources, really. You should be consulting multiple sources, and if differences can't be reconciled, consider not using the sources that have problems. Trusting a source just because it's from a large company isn't a good idea.

Re:Yes

[hai.uchida]

Still a great resource though, but one best used in conjunction with more traditional ones than as a replacement to them, IMO

I don't think Wikipedia was ever meant to replace the traditional library. Its strength has always been in tracking popular culture and trends, cultures, pop artifacts and events that are recent and/or developing. The fact that Wikipedia is ever-changing is a good thing in that regard, because the topics it covers best are in the process of change too.

Re:Yes

[Xetrov]

And what makes you trust the research of, say, Encyclopedia Britannica?

Back when I used to use encyclopedias on CD-ROM, often the topics I wanted to find out about had nothing, or maybe just a single paragraph.

With Wikipedia, if that was the case, after I had found some other resources, I could share my new found knowledge with the rest of humanity by submitting it to Wikipedia.

Re:Yes

[gowen]

But how much do we REALLY need to know about Klingon or memetics?

Or Carlsbad Caverns National Park, or Miles Davis or the Heavy metal umlaut or Buddhism or Elizabeth I or Horatio Nelson or....

Its far from perfect, but Wikipedia has come a long way from being the Encyclopedia That Slashdot Built...

Re:Yes

[mAsterdam]

My point was simply that Wikipedia, by it's very nature, tends to lend itself to being extremely detailed in specific areas of interest that appeal to it's readership and contributor-ship.

s/Wikipedia/Slashdot/
s/Wikipedia/Telephone directory/
s/Wikipedia/the bible/

s/Wikipedia/any document/