Namaskara,
This is the 20th anniversary of Wikipedia. Happy birthday to Wikipedia and
more importantly, to the collaborative effort of the volunteers in these 20
years. On this day perhaps we can make a bouquet of 20 randomly selected
facts/anecdotes related to Wikipedia.
* I am starting with 10 stories/anecdotes related to Wikipedia. If "you"
know an interesting Wikipedia story (fact, achievement, specific community
achievement/glory, specially India-related), why don't you share by
responding to this email on the "Wikipedia anniversary"?
* You can also comment on these stories. #3, #6, #8, and #9 below have open
questions where you can share your knowledge.
20 Amazing Facts or Anecdotes related to Wikipedia on its 20th birthday
(first 10 as of now. Please add stories from your side, which we all can
read.)
1. We have Wikipedias in 25 Indian languages. As of 14 January 2021,
there are 4,823 active editors on Wikipedias on these projects (it does not
include English Wikipedia). As of 14 January, 32.5 million edits have been
made on Indian-language Wikipedias. There are 173 admins on these projects.
2. The domains
wikipedia.com and
wikipedia.org were registered on 12 and
13 January 2001. Then it was a single-domain edition
www.wikipedia.org.
One of the very first policies on Wikipedia was "Neutral Point of View"
3. The first, second Wikipedians (and possibly the third also) to
complete #1000wikidays (thousand wikidays) are from India (personally
speaking: perhaps this achievement needed better documentation (blog post
or other mediums)?)
4. Magnus Manske has been an amazing developer Wikimedian to support
Wikipedia, Wikidata, and the Wikimedia movement in general. He developed
MediaWiki and MANY other tools we use today. Learn more about him in your
language:
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q13520818#identifiers There is a
day called Magnus Manske Day:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Magnus_Manske_Day
5. Wikipedia has been edited from space. An astronaut from space made
edits on Wikipedia:
https://diff.wikimedia.org/2017/11/29/astronaut-spoken-voice/
6. Wikipedia was proposed as a world heritage site. In 2011, when we
were celebrating the 10th anniversary it was in the news.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/wikipedia/8538333/Wikipedia-seeks-Wo…
I am not sure what happened to the attempt after that. Does anyone know the
recent updates? Did we apply to be a part of the intangible list?
7. There is an asteroid named after Wikipedia: Read in your language
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3913001#identifiers
8. A very large number of books, scholarly articles have been published
on Wikipedia. Wikidata queries all the items where the "main subject" is
Wikipedia:
https://w.wiki/uPn (feel free to share a better query)
9. Wikipedia has been widely used as a reference in popular culture (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_in_culture). In India also
several. In India also, we have seen references to Wikipedia in songs (song
in Chennai Express film). Has Wikipedia in mentioned in songs, films,
books, etc in your language? Could you mention it?
10. There is a Wikipedia Monument is Poland:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Monument There is an anthem/hymn
on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wikipedia_hymn_1.0.ogv
Please share any Wikipedia story you find interesting so that we can make
it a bouquet of 20.
(Congratulations and good wishes to Bangla Wikipedia for completing 100,000
articles, and Hindi Wikipedia for completing 5 millionth edits recently.
(Do you know more stories? Please share.))
Happy Birthday, Wikipedia. (Bengali: শুভ জন্মদিন উইকিপিডিয়া)।
Thanks
User:Titodutta
(As a Wikipedian/Wikimedian)