Wikipedia is said to be the largest encyclopedia that human beings have ever created. It has become the world’s quickest information source for a vast global audience in minimal time. The site was launched in the year 2001, which is almost two decades ago, and it has become a site that is visited by everyone who uses the internet and owns a gadget frequently. The website now holds a huge global community that voluntarily runs the site by editing the information on the site and creating new pages on it.
The volunteers are not allowed just to edit the information on the site, but they also can make changes in the policies of the site regarding its content. None another encyclopedia ever has given this kind of authority to its users in the history of the humanity, and due to this kind of authority to a global community, Wikipedia has a lot of attributes, and associated facts that are sometimes weird, impressive, and dumbfounding as well. This article is listing down some of the weirdest, funny, and the most astounding facts about Wikipedia for the readers.
1- Wikipedia’s No Angry Mastodons!
‘No Angry Mastodons’ is a policy of Wikipedia that is created to eliminate heated arguments and anger-influenced postings on the site. There are other similar policies that are created by the Wikipedia experts to address something weird or are given a weird name. For instance, No curses are the policy that requests the visitors of the site to avoid using magic spells, hexes, enchantments, or seals to target Wikipedia community.
2- List of DAFTs: Deleted Articles with Freaky Tittles
Wikipedia keeps a record of all of its deleted entries that had a freaky title. The data collected for this matter is called DAFTs or Deleted articles with freaky tittles. Visiting the DAFTs page can uplift your mood by throwing you into fits of laughter with the weirdly named articles. Some of the examples of the tittles are as follows: Diarrhea of a Genius, Notable People who have been Stung by Jellyfish, Beefstache, and Guide to Blowing your Nose and Getting Dressed! Great, right?
3- The only Multi-Lingual Encyclopedia!
Wikipedia is a globally popular and well-recognized site that people from a vast range of cultures use. One major reason for its popularity is that the site supports multiple languages and makes the information on it accessible for those who only know their mother tongue and are not much familiar with English. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia that is available in more than 285 languages that are actively spoken around the globe. Isn’t it amazing?
4- Wikiversity, the online University!
Wikiversity is the newest sister project of Wikipedia that is an educational site. The site offers learners with a number of different courses that are taught by different volunteering subject experts. Anyone can become a participant of Wikiversity either as a student or a teacher. The site, however, does not offer degrees yet. So, you cannot leave college, but you can definitely add more value to your portfolio by gathering more knowledge about new subjects.
5- Wikipedia’s Bot to Advice the Wikipedia Experts!
Wikipedia has a bot that keeps a check on the editing history of Wikipedia experts and based on their history; the bot suggests to them what articles should they work next. This makes it easier for the new editors and volunteers of the site to know where to head after editing the very first time on the site.
These are a few unusual and astounding facts about Wikipedia, the encyclopedia.
