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| − | '''Wikipedia''' is an [[online encyclopedia]] founded on January 15, 2001<ref>Morley Winograd, Michael D. Hais, ''Millennial Makeover'', pp 237, Rutgers University Press, 2008, ISBN 9780813543017</ref> with the money obtained through the Bomis<ref>[http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080328/BIZ/803280327 Wikipedia at a crossroads] ''Mail Tribune''</ref> pornography ring<ref>[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/12/17/jimmy_wales_shot_dead_says_wikipedia/ Wikipedia founder 'shot by friend of Siegenthaler'] ''The Register''</ref> by two [[United States|American]] citizens, Internet entrepreneur and bond trader [[Jimmy Wales]] and philosophy professor [[Larry Sanger]]. It is controlled by the [[United States]]-based [[Wikimedia Foundation]]. Although it has editions in 250 languages, only 130 have more than 1000 articles.<ref>[http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wikipedias List of Wikipedias - Wikimedia], accessed August 1, 2008.</ref> After about four years from the date of its foundation, Wikipedia had about 450,000 articles,<ref>Aaron Weiss, The Unassociated Press, N.Y. Times, Feb. 10, 2005, at G5.</ref> and after six years it had about 2 million entries.<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Statistics English Wikipedia statistics]</ref>
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| − | ==History==
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| − | In 1996 an American citizen named Jimmy Wales, who made money through bond trading, moved to San Diego, California, to found the Bomis pornography ring.<ref name=WFSDFS>[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/12/17/jimmy_wales_shot_dead_says_wikipedia/ Wikipedia founder 'shot by friend of Siegenthaler'] ''The Register''</ref><ref name=Britannica>[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1192818/Wikipedia Wikipedia] ''Britannica Online''</ref> In March 2000, Wales founded Nupedia, an English language free content online encyclopaedia, with Larry Sanger as editor-in-chief. Nupedia was organized in a manner so that articles were to be written by experts and to be reviewed under a formal process. By January 2001, less than twenty four articles were completed in that project, and Sanger proposed supplementing Nupedia with an open-source encyclopaedia. On January 15, 2001, Wikipedia was launched as a feature of Nupedia.com, but following objections from the advisory board, it was relaunched some days later as an independent website. In its first year, Wikipedia expanded to some 20,000 articles in 18 languages. In 2003, Nupedia was closed down and all its articles were moved into Wikipedia.<ref name=Britannica/>
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| − | ==Is wikipedia free?==
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| − | It receives support from Bomis Inc. in the form of free [[w:bandwidth|bandwidth]] and this connection with a [[for-profit]] [[corporation]] is seen as a burden affecting the functioning of Wikipedia as a free encyclopedia as it claims to be.
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| − | ==Criticisms==
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| − | [[criticism of Wikipedia]]
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| − | Wikipedia is criticized for exhibiting systemic bias and inconsistency.<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2004/oct/26/g2.onlinesupplement Who knows?]</ref> Many university lecturers prohibit students from citing Wikipedia.<ref>[http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/01/26/wiki A Stand Against Wikipedia]</ref>
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| − | ==References==
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| − | {{reflist}}
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| − | ==External links==
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| − | *[http://wikipediareview.com/ The Wikipedia Review] - forums hosting discussions about Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects (mainly criticism-oriented)
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| − | *[http://www.wikipedia-watch.org/ Wikipedia Watch .org]
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| − | *[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6947532.stm Wikipedia 'shows CIA page edits']
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| − | [[Category:Wikipedia| ]]
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| − | [[de:NPOV-pedia]]
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| − | [[fr:Wikipedia]]
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| − | [[it:Wikipedia]]
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