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Wikipedia:FAQ/Miscellaneous

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Miscellaneous FAQ
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)


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The purpose of this page of frequently asked questions is to answer questions that do not fit into any of the other categories.

Why does the Wikipedia logo look like that?

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See Wikipedia:Wikipedia logos.

What do the +/- numbers in red and green next to the edits mean?

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The numbers represent the number of bytes of information added or removed by the edit. Green means data added; red means data removed.

What is the longest article in Wikipedia?

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A dynamically updated and current list can be found at Special:Longpages, for a database snapshot at any given time. There is also a category of articles that may be too long.

Where can I get the Wikipedia icon used in favorites or shortcuts?

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Right here.

Is allowing everyone to edit pages safe? What if someone starts defaming people?

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Any sort of illegal material gets removed from active wikis quite quickly.
Wikipedia has received several threats of legal action, but none have yet been followed through. Under United States and international law, the Wikimedia Foundation is not responsible for defamation posted on Wikipedia.
If you feel there is anything defamatory about you on Wikipedia, please read our biographies of living persons policy page, then post on the BLP noticeboard for assistance from experienced editors. We are ready to help, so please be polite and do not make threats.
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To link to the multilingual Wikipedia home page, the URL is http://www.wikipedia.org. To link to the home page of the English Wikipedia, the URL is http://en.wikipedia.org.
If you want to link to a specific Wikipedia page, the URL is XX.wikipedia.org/wiki/<page_name>, where XX is the code for the language the article is written in. 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 at Special:SiteMatrix.

Are there any Wikipedia banners or graphics I can use for a link?

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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 and want them to be redistributed, simply upload them and link to them from the banners and buttons page.

Is there a place where people ask for new articles?

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On the Wikipedia:Requested articles page you can ask for a specific article to be created. However, the page is very backlogged, and you may have to wait for very long to see your article request be fulfilled, if ever. We recommend you try and create it yourself. Help:Your first article has helpful guidance on creating an article.

Is there any peer review process to validate your articles?

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We are all peers here and we all review each other's work. There is currently no formal approval process as standard procedure.
However, we do technically have a peer review system. This is a completely optional process where editors submit articles that they are developing for review by another editor.

How is Wikipedia backed up? Is it possible that an accident could destroy all of this?

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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.

Is it "the Wikipedia," or just plain "Wikipedia"?

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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, and that project has many languages: Wikipedia currently is in over 260 languages.
  • When referring to individual editions of the project, each of which is usually described by its language, the edition takes an article: "the Romanian-language Wikipedia", "a Romance-language Wikipedia".
  • 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).
  • 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
    "A recently-started Wikipedia" = a Wikipedia language edition started recently

Help! I found a website that's copying from Wikipedia!

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Chances are, they're allowed to do it, just as long as they comply with the CC BY-SA and GFDL, which all Wikipedia text is licensed under, which allows anyone to copy our material just as long as they cite Wikipedia and include a copy of the license.
However, if you find a site that does not comply with this, please by all means let us know on Wikipedia:Mirrors and forks based on the degree of compliance (see that page).

When does an article warrant having its stub template removed?

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Whenever you feel the article is no longer a Stub, or when there is consensus to remove the stub template. When removing a stub template, be sure to also change the status of article on its talk page. See Find or fix a stub for more info.

What was the very first article?

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Much of the earliest page history is lost due to quirks in the old software used to run Wikipedia. See Wikipedia:Wikipedia's oldest articles for an attempt to answer this question.

Where can I find Wikipedia tips?

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At Wikipedia:Tip of the day.

Where can I see a log or list of all the pages created by a specific user?

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For a list of articles that you have created, click on the tab at the top of the page that says "My contributions". Scroll to the bottom. There should be a link that says "Articles created".
For any other user, go to their User page and select the "contributions" option on the right hand Toolbox menu. This will take you to their Contributions page, which lists all of their contributions to that wiki. At the bottom of the page are links to the "Articles created" and the "Global contributions" (across all Wikimedia wikis) by this user name.

How do I move an image from English Wikipedia to Wikimedia Commons?

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See Wikipedia:Moving images to the Commons. Images on Commons can be used by all Wikimedia projects.


More FAQ topics

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
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