Happy Belated Birthday to Wikipedia

The worlds 5th most popular site was 10 years old on the 15th January.

Wikipedia, billed as the ‘Free’ encyclopaedia that anyone can edit, was launched by Jimmy Wales in 2001.

Everybody is an Editor!

If you read the 'About' page on Wikipedia you will find that there are some 75,000 contributors to the site and around 1,500 administrators that manage it.

Scope

Wikipedia regularly gets criticised for the accuracy of it’s data but in the main if you want to find something out and want links to relevant additional information then Wikipedia is likely to be the place for you.

You can find out about Tom Cruise, Big Bird, Tower Bridge, Howler Monkeys and many, many more subjects!

What the Internet should be for!

I think sites like Wikipedia expand horizons. You can search Google, MSN or Yahoo for anything and will likely get the same knowledge no matter if you are Perth, New York or London.

Search engines are ‘fooled’ into showing information based on commercial desire or imperative where if you want to find something out or expand your thoughts Wikipedia could give you another’s thoughts or knowledge and in some cases many peoples thoughts and knowledge.

It’s not perfect but it’s a great tool! Happy Birthday Wikipedia!