Wikipedia:Miscellaneous FAQ
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The purpose of this page of frequently asked questions is to answer questions that don't fit into any of the other categories, including linking to Wikipedia and some general questions about how Wikipedia is run.
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Can you tell me anything about the Wikipedia logo?
- The current logo is described at Logo
- See International logo vote and Final logo variants for the selection process used.
- See Wikipedia:Logos and slogans for more details and Logo history for Wikipedia's past logos.
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What is the longest article in Wikipedia?
The longest article changes often. An updated list can be found at Special:Longpages.
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Where can I get the wikipedia icon used in favorites or shortcuts?
- Right here: favicon.ico
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Is allowing everyone to edit pages safe? I could start defaming people. Then the legal implications of this could become a problem to the provider of this service.
- Such a problem has not come up in the wiki world, so it's currently a theoretical matter. In practice, any sort of illegal material gets removed from active wikis quite quickly. See this discussion on Ward's Wiki for more thoughts.
- Wikipedia has received several threats of legal action, but none have yet been followed through.
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What is the best way to link into Wikipedia from another site?
- To link to the multilingual Wikipedia home page, the preferred URL is http://www.wikipedia.org. Our older URL, http://www.wikipedia.com, still works but is deprecated. To link to the home page of the English Wikipedia, the preferred URL is http://en.wikipedia.org.
- If you want to link to a specific Wikipedia page, simply use, where XX is the code for the language the article is written in, XX.wikipedia.org/wiki/, plus the page name, changing spaces to underscores. For example, this is a link to the English-language article Mohandas Gandhi:
- <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Gandhi">Mohandas Gandhi</a>
- The currently valid language codes are listed on the Recent Changes page. The only exception is s, which links to http://simple.wikipedia.org/.
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Are there any Wikipedia banners or graphics I can use for a link?
- A few of our contributors have made some. They can be found at Wikipedia:Banners and buttons. You can also use our logo. If you make your own Wikipedia graphics (please do!) and want them to be redistributed, simply upload them and link to them from the banner page.
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Where's the article-a-day list? Can I add to it?
- The article-a-day list was a feature to send out Wikipedia articles via email. This feature was discontinued and replaced with the "Brilliant Prose" feature, now called "Featured Articles".
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I'm worried about scalability. What happens if Wikipedia is invaded by hordes of new people who don't understand what's going on here, and mess it up?
- Wikipedia has a large number of dedicated volunteers who welcome newcomers, edit their contributions and point them to appropriate Wikipedia:Help pages to get them started. Our software maintains a complete history of page revisions, so Wikipedians can quickly undo any accidental (and intentional!) damage. Wikipedia has been Slashdotted several times, and we've handled the influx of newcomers with no problems.
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Is there a place where people ask for new entries?
- There are three places:
- * The Wikipedia:Reference desk aims to function like a real library's help desk: people are invited to ask questions on any subject. If you can answer something there, why not start an article on it?
- * On the Wikipedia:Requested articles page you can ask for a specific article to be created. See also Wikipedia:Requested pictures.
- * The Most Wanted page lists nonexistent articles that other articles have links to.
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Is there any peer review process to validate the data that is displayed?
- We are all peers here and we all review each other's work.
- Some people have plans for formal peer review or article certification systems to work on top of Wikipedia. We'll be sure to point them out if and when any get up and running. For more information, see Wikipedia:Wikipedia approval mechanism.
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How is Wikipedia backed up? Is it possible that an accident could destroy all this data?
- Database dumps are made weekly and a slave server is usually running a copy of the database. Contingency plans include backups of the site's configuration files. The database download is available for anyone wanting to keep off-site backups.
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Is it "the Wikipedia," or just plain "Wikipedia"?
Wikipedia, as a proper noun, does not take an article. When referring to the project as a whole, plain "Wikipedia" is standard usage. There is only one project known as Wikipedia without any further description or qualification. "Wikipedia currently has 534 319 articles in the English language edition."
- When referring to individual editions of the project, each of which is usually described by its language, the edition takes an article. The Spanish edition of Wikipedia, The Spanish language edition of Wikipedia, The Spanish language Wikipedia edition, The Spanish Wikipedia edition.
- : Often "edition" is elided in colloquial use, leaving "The Romanian language Wikipedia", "The Tagalog Wikipedia", "The Afrikaans Wikipedia", and so on. It is probably this casual usage that confuses the matter, as much as anything.
- When describing Wikipedia as one of many encyclopedias, reference works, or projects, an article is appropriate: "the Wikipedia encyclopedia", or "the Wikipedia project". In each case the article is attached to the common, not the proper noun (the encyclopedia, the project). (Similarly, note that we say "Britannica", but "the Encyclopedia Britannica" [the applying there to Encyclopedia] and "the OED" [the applying to Dictionary])
- When referring to one of these language editions, in comparison with other editions, an article is likewise used:
- : "The smallest Wikipedia" == the smallest language edition of Wikipedia
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Why are some pages blue, and others white?
- Normal encyclopedia pages are white. In the classic skin, other pages (talk pages, user pages) have a colored background to indicate that they don't contain encyclopedic content, but are about Wikipedia.
- Different skins use different colors, but in the current default skin, there is no background color difference between namespaces.
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Help! I found a website that's copying from Wikipedia!
- Chances are, they're allowed to do it, just as long as they comply with the GFDL, which all Wikipedia material is licensed under, which allows anyone to copy our material just as long as they provide a link back to Wikipedia.
- However, if you find a site that absolutely does not have the requisite link back, please by all means let us know on Wikipedia:Mirrors and forks based on the degree of compliance (see that page).
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When does an article warrant having its stub template removed?
- The short answer is whenever you feel the article is no longer a Stub. See Find or fix a stub for more info.
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What was the very first article?
- While the first edit ever made is believed to be a test edit by Jimbo, Wikipedia's founder, the oldest article still preserved is, as documented at Wikipedia:Wikipedia's oldest articles, the article UuU. It was created by the user User:Eiffel.demon.co.uk on 16 January 2001, at 21:08 UTC. This was on the second day after the start of Wikipedia.
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