i think people underestimate the impact having access to wikipedia has had on the world. really an amazingly important part of the internet and the sharing of knowledge
Going down a Wikipedia rabbit hole is worse than going down a Street View rabbit hole. Ahh I can spend an entire day doing it!
Good old wiki walking, you never realize what you’re doing until a few hours in, and even then you can’t stop.
Or the high speed car chase equivalent of it, find hitler
I just love the fact that Jimmy Wales started Wikipedia using the money he made in softcore internet porn.
You’re right, although if you ever get the chance to browse a real physical encyclopedia, it’s a unique experience.
Not practical, but it’s a bit like playing a record or playing a game on a real NES. It’s a unique experience.
I have a full 2007 set of Encyclopedia Brittanica in the same room as my vintage computer collection. I browse it occasionally.
Oof, felt this right in the geriatric millennials.
Mfer I was doing assignments where I had to scroll through index cards to find the encyclopaedia, then hand write out the essay.
It’s weird when you go from being the disruptor demographic to realising that when your 5 yo kid jokes about the 80s it’s as far away in time to him as the 1940s we’re to me - for him it’s a 2d, pre-Alexa, analog dystopia.
And I’m only 42.
I bought several physical encyclopedias as a a result of my Wikipedia addiction. Having physical encyclopedias to fall back on is a plus, as their information can’t be taken down by deletionists. I also got the Encarta isos off archive.org running in 86box.
I got suckered by an encyclopedia salesman when I was younger. It was one of the biggest wastes of money of my young life. I had no need for it at that time and later, when I could have used it, I had the internet (or Internet with a capital I back then) and college libraries.
