Wikipedia

Wikipedia (pronounced /ˌwiːkiˈpiːdiə/ or /ˌwɪkəˈpiːdiə/) is a multilingual, Web-based, free content encyclopedia project. Wikipedia's articles provide links to guide the user to related pages with additional information.

Wikipedia is written collaboratively by volunteers from all around the world. Since its creation in 2001, Wikipedia has grown rapidly into one of the largest reference Web sites, attracting at least 684 million visitors yearly by 2008.

There are more than 75,000 active contributors working on more than 10,000,000 articles in more than 250 languages. As of today, there are 2,576,424 articles in English; every day hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world make tens of thousands of edits and create thousands of new articles to enhance the knowledge held by the Wikipedia encyclopedia.

Anyone with web access can edit Wikipedia, and this openness encourages inclusion of a tremendous amount of content. About 75,000 editors — from expert scholars to casual readers — regularly edit Wikipedia, and these experienced editors often help to create a consistent style throughout the encyclopedia, following our Manual of Style.

Several mechanisms are in place to help Wikipedia members carry out the important work of crafting a high-quality resource while maintaining civility. Editors are able to watch pages and techies can write editing programs to keep track of or rectify bad edits. Over 1,500 administrators with special powers ensure that behaviour conforms to Wikipedia guidelines and policies. Where there are disagreements on how to present facts editors work together to arrive at an article which fairly represents current expert opinion on the subject. Editors who fail to work with others in a civil manner can be temporarily or permanently banned from editing Wikipedia by the administrators.

Although the Wikimedia Foundation owns the site, it is largely uninvolved in writing and daily operations.