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## Wikipedia
# Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a non-commercial, [free/open](free_culture.md) [online](www.md) encyclopedia written mostly by volunteers, running on [free software](free_software.md), allowing almost anyone to edit its content (i.e. being a [wiki](wiki.md)); it is the largest and perhaps most famous encyclopedia created to date. It is licensed under [CC-BY-SA](cc_by_sa.md) and is run by the nonprofit organization Wikimedia Foundation. It is accessible at https://wikipedia.org.
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There are also many sister projects of Wikipedia such as [Wikimedia Commons](wm_commons.md) that gathers [free as in freedom](free_culture.md) media for use on Wikipedia, [WikiData](wikidata.md), Wikinews or Wikisources.
Information about hardware and software used by Wikimedia Foundation can be found at https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_servers. As of 2022 Wikipedia runs of the traditional [LAMP](lamp.md) framework and its website doesn't require [JavaScript](javascript.md). [Debian](debian.md) [GNU](gnu.md)/[Linux](linux.md) is used on web servers (switched from [Ubunatu](ubuntu.md) in 2019). The foundation uses its own [wiki](wiki.md) engine called [MediaWiki](mediawiki.md) that's written mainly in [PHP](php.md). Database used is [MariaDB](mariadb.md). The servers run on server clusters in 6 different data centers around the world which are rented: 3 in the [US](usa.md), 3 in [Europe](europe.md) and 1 in [Asia](asia.md).
Information about hardware and software used by Wikimedia Foundation can be found at https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_servers. As of 2022 Wikipedia runs of the traditional [LAMP](lamp.md) framework and its website doesn't require [JavaScript](javascript.md) (amazing!). [Debian](debian.md) [GNU](gnu.md)/[Linux](linux.md) is used on web servers (switched from [Ubunatu](ubuntu.md) in 2019). The foundation uses its own [wiki](wiki.md) engine called [MediaWiki](mediawiki.md) that's written mainly in [PHP](php.md). Database used is [MariaDB](mariadb.md). The servers run on server clusters in 6 different data centers around the world which are rented: 3 in the [US](usa.md), 3 in [Europe](europe.md) and 1 in [Asia](asia.md).
Wikipedia was created by [Jimmy Wales](jimmy_wales.md) and [Larry Sanger](larry_sanger.md) and was launched on 15 January 2001. It was made as a complementary project alongside [Nupedia](nupedia.md), an earlier encyclopedia by Wales and Sanger to which only verified experts could contribute. Wikipedia of course has shown to be a much more successful project.
There exist [forks](fork.md) and alternatives to Wikipedia. Simple English Wikipedia can offer a simpler alternative to sometimes overly complicated articles on the main English Wikipedia. [Citizendium](citizendium.md) is a similar, free online encyclopedia co-founded by [Larry Sanger](larry_sanger.md), a co-founder of Wikipedia itself. Citizendium's goal is to improve on some weak point of Wikipedia such as its reliability or quality of writing. [Metapedia](metapedia.md) is a Wikipedia fork that's written from a [rightist](left_right.md) point of view. Encyclopedia Britannica can also be used as a nice resource: its older versions are already [public domain](public_domain.md) and can be found e.g. at [Project Gutenberg](gutenberg.md), and there is also a modern online version of Britannica which is [proprietary](proprietary.md) but has pretty good articles even on modern topics (of course facts are always in the public domain). Practically for any specialized topic it is nowadays possible to find its own wiki on the Internet.
There exist [forks](fork.md) and alternatives to Wikipedia. Simple English Wikipedia can offer a simpler alternative to sometimes overly complicated articles on the main English Wikipedia. [Citizendium](citizendium.md) is a similar, free online encyclopedia co-founded by [Larry Sanger](larry_sanger.md), a co-founder of Wikipedia itself. Citizendium's goal is to improve on some weak point of Wikipedia such as its reliability or quality of writing. [Metapedia](metapedia.md) is a Wikipedia fork that's written from a [rightist](left_right.md) point of view. Encyclopedia Britannica can also be used as a nice resource: its older versions are already [public domain](public_domain.md) and can be found e.g. at [Project Gutenberg](gutenberg.md), and there is also a modern online version of Britannica which is [proprietary](proprietary.md) (and littered with ads) but has pretty good articles even on modern topics (of course facts you find there are in the public domain). Practically for any specialized topic it is nowadays possible to find its own wiki on the Internet.
## Good And Bad Things About Wikipedia