10 Facts About Wikipedia You Didn’t Know

Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, was launched 20 years ago. Currently, Wikipedia is the second most visited website in the world with more than 1.7 billion people visiting the site per month. It has more than 55 million articles in 313 different languages.

However, from time to time, this site receives criticism for not covering all subjects, regions, or issues to the same depth. Wikipedia has also been blamed for being perceived as Western and biased. No wonder it has its own alternative Wikipedia article. Do you know that? If not, read on to learn more rare facts about Wikipedia.

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Here are 10 rare facts about Wikipedia

1. Wikipedia has a birthday committee

The first fact about Wikipedia is that there is a birthday committee on Wikipedia that wishes Wikipedian people happy birthdays who post their birthdays on this site. Many banners can be used to wish a Wikipedian a happy birthday.

2. Wikipedia stats

According to Wikipedia, the website has more than 55 million articles in 313 different languages. Of these, about 6.2 million articles are in English. Most articles in English, Cebuano, Swedish, German, French, and Dutch.

There are more than 280,000 editors and if we take the number of edits into account, there are currently over two billion edits on Wikipedia, with the number growing every day.

3. 274301 Wikipedia

Do you know? There is a Vestian asteroid named after Wikipedia, "274301 Wikipedia" orbiting inside the asteroid belt.

It was discovered by astronomers back in August 2008 and measures 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) in diameter.

4. Wikipedia has a policy titled “No Angry Mastodons”

Wikipedia has long been known for offering crazy and insane policy names. There’s “No climbing the Reichstag dressed as Spiderman,” “Jimbo’s prayer,” and “No curses,” which requests that users don’t target the Wikipedia community with any malevolent hex, seal, spell, or enchantment. The most famous one in recent times has been “No Angry Mastodons,” which deals with posting under the influence of anger, and offers recommendations on how to avoid other people stomping.

5. Google gives hit to Wikipedia

Even though Wikipedia has stacks of articles and millions of readers, about half of Wiki's total traffic comes from Google search engines.

6. No-Follow links

In the past, people used Wikipedia to get traffic to their website by including their website link in a Wikipedia article. So, Wikipedia made all 'No follow' links after changes in Google's search engine policies.

7. The US Conservatives started the Conservapedia to counter Wikipedia's Liberal View

Conservatives see Wikipedia as a source that rejects the perception of creation from a single natural force. So, if you support the scientific consensus on climate change, or you want to argue that the Universe was created by a supernatural being, then you might think US conservatives don't like you. So to adjust their level of preference and thinking, they have started something called Conservapedia.

Some of Conservapedia’s more notable pages include the entry on the link between atheism and obesity, listing some prominent overweight atheists including Christopher Hitchins and Kim Jong-il, the entry on “Hollywood values” which are “characterized by decadence, narcissism, rampant drug use, extramarital sex leading to the spread of sexually-transmitted disease, abortion, lawlessness, promotion of the homosexual agenda and death” — and best of all the list of “examples of bias in Wikipedia,” which encourages readers to email Jimmy Wales and tell him to sort it out.

8. What Will Be the Last Wikipedia Entry

There is still debate about what will be the final entry on Wikipedia. The idea is:

• Either Wikipedia will fold or shut down.
• The entire sum of human knowledge will be complete (unlikely, as discoveries are always being made, new celebrities arise, etc).
• Society and the Internet will collapse, and Wikipedia along with it (in which case, we’ll have bigger problems).
• The editing process will become automated and the robot overlords will remove/exterminate human editors as Wikipedia becomes self-aware… in which case, we’ll have even bigger problems.

9. Wikipedia Block Edits From Specific Sources

Wikipedia has blocked edits that sometimes come from .gov IP addresses. It's largely political interests trying to change their own entries, and politicians have been caught trying to cover up their own political and personal records on Wikipedia. Another similar high-profile source that Wikipedia has blocked entirely are edits that come from IP addresses known to belong to the Church of Scientology, again, mostly to try to rewrite its own history.

10. Wikipedia’s official theme song is “Hotel Wikipedia”

A version of the 1976 hit Hotel California from the Eagles has been chosen as the official theme song for Wikipedia. The site claims to have released it as a single in the spring of 2004, but there is no exact citation for the reference. Be aware of editing it, though. On the W.O.R. page the listing states: “If you edit it, you are proposing an official change! Much bureaucracy will be involved!”

Keywords: wikipedia, wikipedia facts, wikipedia rare facts, wikipedia fact