Wikipedia marks 10th anniversary
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales celebrated the website’s 10th anniversary as the online encyclopedia mogul admits he commonly is mistaken for WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange.
Wikipedia provides a collaborative environment for users to provide free online information on a diverse range of topics. Since its launch it has become the fifth most popular website, in terms of traffic, in the world.
With some 17 million articles written in 270 languages, the website makes knowledge available for anyone with a web connection.
It is thought that more than 400 million internet surfers visit the page around the world every month. Mr Wales, who once worked as a futures and options trader in the US, said that although not all information on the site is accurate, the website’s volunteer administrators quickly catch most misinformation.
Mr Wales said that overall, Wikipedia’s accuracy compared with traditional encyclopedia formats proves solid. He adds that it is also common for him to get mistaken for WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange, which has made for some awkward travel moments at airport security.
Mr Wales said that he assumes Mr Assange named his website in homage to Wikipedia. But that Wiki in Wikipedia comes from the software used to allow users to collaborate on the site.