Wikipedia:Announcements September 2001

Announcements for September 2001

September 29, 2001

Magnus Manske has just loaded some test software at [1] (http://wikipedia.sourceforge.net/fpw/wiki.phtml?) If you are the type that likes to see the things that are currently broken in the newest code revision then take a look. It is NOT ready for more that test articles, but with a few eyeballs...

September 28, 2001

In reaction to articles in the Danish press, we have set up a "Danish Wikipedia": both http://dk.wikipedia.com/ and http://da.wikipedia.com/ will reach the same website. We've also set up a Polish language Wikipedia at http://pl.wikipedia.com and http://polish.wikipedia.com .

Beginning next Tuesday (when Jason Richey returns from a weekend vacation), we are going to be taking the non-English Wikipedias more seriously:

1. We'll be setting up non-English Wikipedias for all the other major languages (including many we've omitted).
2. We'll be actively seeking out translations of the main text (e.g., the GNU license notice), and uploading the translations. I.e., we will going to Wikipedia-L, to the individual non-English Wikipedias, and perhaps also to specific individuals, requesting the text and promising to upload it immediately upon receipt.
3. We will soon (probably today) set up an International Wikipedia standards mailing list, which would explain set basic standards that we would like all Wikipedias to follow (think of it as the UN).

September 27, 2001

Wikipedia exceeds 12,000 articles. Since we passed the 11,000 mark on September 19, we have been adding an average of 125 articles per day, for a total of 1,000 articles in eight days. Of course, we can't realistically expect to maintain this rate beyond the next few days (since the effects of press coverage are generally short-lived), but if we did, we would have over 50,000 articles by next October.

September 26, 2001

Another huge-traffic day: over 8,000 unique visitors again (more than yesterday).

September 25, 2001

Today was one of our most active days, the most active day since our Slashdotting last July--over 8,000 unique visitors today, and over 64,000 pageviews. Some of this traffic was from Kuro5hin, but that story was picked up by a plethora of tech weblogs; moreover, Wikipedia was written up by a few different Spanish language and Portuguese websites.

As a result, it seems that another group of solid and enthusiastic hands has joined us. Welcome, folks!

September 24, 2001

Kuro5hin (http://www.kuro5hin.org) readers are visiting again--please, regulars, welcome them! The news about Stallman's endorsement (and other recent events) is the subject of a Kuro5hin article (http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2001/9/24/43858/2479).

The Times article of September 20 was re-published today in the International Herald Tribune, a newspaper available at every non-US airport and business hotel on the planet. It was the lead article in the Technology section.

September 23, 2001

The famous free software exponent Richard Stallman calls Wikipedia's success "really exciting news." He has directed his webmasters to install a link to Wikipedia from the GNU encyclopedia page (http://www.gnu.org/encyclopedia/), alongside the Nupedia link--which they have done.

September 20, 2001

A quite positive New York Times article on Wikipedia has appeared today (page D2, "Circuits" section). An online version (http://archives.nytimes.com/2001/09/20/technology/circuits/20ENCY) is available. Given the healthy but limited amount of traffic so far this morning and the fact that the story is buried pretty deep inside the nytimes.com website, the article probably won't bury us in traffic. Still, it's excellent publicity! If we're lucky, the NYT coverage will result in further coverage from other sources. In any case, if you can spare the time, please be on hand to help guide the new folks into the process!

An ongoing discussion of a possible Wikipedia approval mechanism was articulated, and further discussion started.

September 19, 2001

11,000 articles announced.

September 14, 2001

The word is now that the New York Times article about Wikipedia--for which Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger have been interviewed and photographed--will appear on Thursday the 20th. At that time we will probably receive greater-than-usual amount of traffic, and there's a fairly good chance we'll be completely inundated with traffic, not only from the NYT but from other websites that carry the same story. The assistance of Wikipedia old hands at that time will be greatly appreciated.

September 11, 2001

The most active page on Wikipedia was this one: September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack.

(In the succeeding days this became a very popular page, with several links to it.)

September 10, 2001

Update about the Technology Review article: it is now linked-to from the Wired (http://www.wired.com) main page, and thus we're receiving a fresh infusion of traffic.

September 7, 2001

An article count this morning just passed 10,000 articles! The rate of new article addition now seems to be a steady 2,000 articles a month; Larry's hope of 100,000 articles eventually looks more and more feasible as momentum builds up...

• how they were counted

September 6, 2001

Wikipedia now has an external links page. Have a look! If you have linked to Wikipedia, please add your page to that page. (Even personal home pages and weblogs are listed.)

September 4, 2001

I've been maintaining a Wiki dedicated to Charles Darwin for classes I teach at Arizona State University. It's very much a work in progress, but I'm inviting Wikipedians with an interest to pilfer from it as they wish, and (more importantly) to contribute if they wish! The address is http://darwin.home.dhs.org . I eventually intend to give a permanent home to all of Darwin's works and many, many graphic images - both of which may prove useful for the Wikipedia. John Lynch

Sounds great, John. I'm also glad to learn that your resource will be open content--this means that, with some effort, we will be able to keep the relevant parts of Wikipedia updated with your help. --Larry Sanger

New publicity for Wikipedia: the New York Times has been scooped by Judy Heim of MIT's Technology Review (http://www.techreview.com/web/heim/heim090401.asp). By the way, this the website's lead story (today, anyway)!

A Columbia U. physics professor thinks some Wikipedia math articles are worth linking to (http://nt3.phys.columbia.edu/people/gyulassy/Teaching/C1403/EulersFormula).