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TheBestLinks.com:Overview FAQ
From TheBestLinks.com
What is Wiki?
- Wiki is a collection of interlinked web pages, any of which can be visited and edited by anyone at any time from any place (collaborative software). The concept and software was invented by Ward Cunningham. You could even edit this page by clicking the "edit" link on the third tab above, or edit a section by clicking on "[edit]" to the right, editing only that section. If you don't have anything to add or correct on this page and you just want to see how it works, try out the Wikipedia:Sandbox! See also Wikipedia:Editing FAQ and WikiWiki.
What is Wikipedia?
- Wikipedia is a project to produce a new kind of encyclopedia that is comprehensive and free. See Wikipedia:About and the Wikipedia article for more information!
Why is it called Wikipedia?
- The name 'Wikipedia' is a portmanteau (a word formed by combining two or more words) of "wikiwiki" and "encyclopedia".
What are the aims of Wikipedia?
- Wikipedia's goal is to create a free encyclopedia --- indeed, the largest encyclopedia in history, both in terms of breadth and depth and also to become a reliable resource. It's an ambitious goal, and will probably take many years to achieve.
Who owns Wikipedia?
- Wikipedia is managed by a non-profit parent organization, Wikimedia Foundation, which also manages the operation of similar projects like Wiktionary (a wiki dictionary), Nupedia, and others, and owns all of their domain names. Previously the owner of the site's servers was Bomis, Inc, a company mostly owned by Jimbo Wales, who is currently the funder of the site's operational costs. With the announcement of the Wikimedia Foundation on June 20, 2003 the ownership of all domain names as well as the technical equipment was transferred to the Foundation. Still in charge are the principles which Mr Wales has articulated to guide his management of the site and community. These are available at User:Jimbo_Wales/Statement_of_principles
- The articles hosted on this site are released by their authors under the GNU Free Documentation License, so the articles are open content and may be reproduced freely under the same license. See Wikipedia:Copyrights and Wikipedia:Readers' FAQ for information on how you can use Wikipedia content.
Who is responsible for the articles on Wikipedia?
- Wikipedians. This is a collaborative endeavor. Thousands of people have contributed to different parts of this project, and anyone can do so, including you. All you need is to know how to edit a page, and have some encyclopedic knowledge you want to share.
- You can learn who is responsible for the most recent versions of any given page by clicking on the "Page history" link. But if you spot an error in the latest revision of an article, you are highly encouraged to be bold and correct it. This practice is one of the basic review mechanisms that maintains the reliability of the encyclopedia.
- If you are uncertain or find the wording confusing, quote the material on the associated talk page and leave a question for the next person. This helps eliminate errors, inaccuracies or misleading wording more quickly and is highly appreciated by the community.
How can I contact the project by email?
- Given the massively collaborative nature of the project, there's no official email address. If you're looking for a project leader, it would be best to get in contact with Jimbo Wales (mailto:jwales@bomis.com). Otherwise, see the next question.
Where can I talk about Wikipedia with others?
- There are some mailing lists, and also the Meta-Wikipedia (http://meta.wikipedia.com/). If you want to communicate with a specific user, leave a message on his or her personal talk page; you can find a list of personal pages (and link to your own) at the Wikipedian list. Many Wikipedians have also registered their email addresses, which you can use by clicking the "Email this user" link from the personal pages. Also, each user and each article has a talk page. This gives you the opportunity to leave that user a message or to make comments about a particular article. Use the discuss this page link in any article to get to the talk page.
What is Nupedia?
- Nupedia was a more formal encyclopedia project that spawned Wikipedia. It is now defunct; see Wikipedia:Nupedia and Wikipedia.
Should I create an account? Can't I just edit articles anonymously?
- See Wikipedia:Accountability. Wikipedians with account names enjoy several benefits, among them is the positive reputation that goes with quality work. Wikipedians with an established history are respected especially with regard to neutralising article disputes. Also, Wikipedians sometimes find collaborating with anonymous users frustrating, because it is more difficult to contact them with questions, concerns, or suggestions. This is not to say there is a Wikipedia hierarchy per se - though there are editors with administrative abilities (see Wikipedia:Administrators), these are approved by the community, and the goal of most Wikipedians is to maintain that democracy, albeit with a little anarchy, remains the supreme power on Wikipedia.
- Wikipedians with user names are in a sense more anonymous than contributors that are not logged in: while anyone can see the IP address of a user who did not log in when he/she edited, only server administrators can find the IP of a logged-in user. So if you're concerned about privacy and anonymity, you may prefer to create a username for yourself in order to hide your IP.
- However, if you'd like to stay on the fringes, it's fine to edit without a login. Many valuable contributors have made this choice.
How do you know if the information is correct?
- As anyone can edit any article, it is of course possible for biased, out of date or incorrect information to be posted. However, because there are so many other people reading the articles and monitoring contributions using the Recent Changes page, incorrect information is usually corrected quickly. Thus the overall accuracy of the encyclopedia is improving all the time as it attracts more and more contributors. You are encouraged to help by correcting articles and passing on your own knowledge.
Site X seems to be violating Wikipedia's copyright. Do you guys know about this?
- It's most likely the answer is yes, and it's reasonably likely they're within their rights. Anybody may mirror or fork Wikipedia as long as they comply with the GNU Free Documentation License. Over 100 sites using Wikipedia for content have been identified and categorised by their degree of compliance, at Wikipedia:Mirrors and forks.
Which wiki software does Wikipedia run on?
- See: Wikipedia:MediaWiki
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