Wikipedia Article Presentation - Key Points

Here are some of the key points discussed in the Wikipedia article:

-More people use Wikipedia than Amazon.com or Ebay
-Wikipedia ranks with programs like Facebook and MySpace with the amount of users
-It contains 2.2 million articles... and growing
-Wikipedia is the first site that comes up when using a Google search
-It started as a nonprofit purpose that took less than 8 years to create
-"Editors" are those who add or refine Wikipedia articles
-"Deletionists" are those who "guard" Wikipedia
-From the beginning, the Wikipedia project was supped to be like an encyclopedia
-The project absorbed articles from the 1911 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica (which is public domain). It also absorbed Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography, Nuttall's 1906 Encyclopedia, Chamber's Cyclopedia, Aiken's General Biography, Rose's Biographical Dictionary, Easton's Bible Dictionary, and various other celebrated works.
-The real reason that Wikipedia grows so rapidly is because "The main thing about Wikipedia is that it is fun and addictive," said Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia
-Brion Vibber (one of Wikipedia's 1st full time employees) explained the attraction to Wikipedia is because it's not only a place to research, it's also "more like an online game, in that it's a community where you hang out a bit, and so something that's a little bit fun."
-Articles can be adjusted, deleted, and revised at anytime and by anyone
-Example, on Jan. 11, 2008 the entire entry on the aardvark was replaces with "one ugly animal" and in Feb the aardvark was described as a "medium-sized inflatable banana."
-Example, in Dec. 2007 someone altered the article on bedbugs so it read like a horror movie
-Antivandalism software VoABot II reverts edits
-Vandalism on Wikipedia spiked in Aug 2006 after comedian Stephen Colbert invited his viewers to post made up facts about the increase in population of African elephants
-The University of Minnesota studied millions of Wiki edits and found that most were mad by a tiny percentage of contributors
-For those looking to be a continuous contributor to Wikipedia, John Brighton has a manual book called Wikipedi: The Missing Manual
-Broughton himself has made more than 15,000 Wiki edits which puts him in the rank of the elite top 1,200 of all editors. He promises that "the information you absolutely need to avoid running afoul of the rules" is in his handbook
-Broughton also has a rule he calls "Ignore all the Rules" which states: If rules make you nervous and depressed, and not desirous of participating in the wiki, then ignore them entirely and go about your business.
-Now, there are rules and policy banners that guard Wikipedia. There are strongly urged warnings and required tasks, as well as normal procedures, notability guidelines, and complex criteria for various decisions. This is called "instruction creep" which is defined by Wikipedia as something that happens "when instructions increase in number and size overtime until they are unmanageable."

Link to Wikipedia: www.wikipedia.org