CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html> <html class="client-nojs vector-feature-language-in-header-enabled vector-feature-language-in-main-page-header-disabled vector-feature-sticky-header-disabled vector-feature-page-tools-pinned-disabled vector-feature-toc-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-main-menu-pinned-disabled vector-feature-limited-width-clientpref-1 vector-feature-limited-width-content-enabled vector-feature-custom-font-size-clientpref-1 vector-feature-appearance-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-night-mode-enabled skin-theme-clientpref-day vector-toc-available" lang="en" dir="ltr"> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8"> <title>Wikipedia:Purpose - Wikipedia</title> <script>(function(){var className="client-js vector-feature-language-in-header-enabled vector-feature-language-in-main-page-header-disabled vector-feature-sticky-header-disabled vector-feature-page-tools-pinned-disabled vector-feature-toc-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-main-menu-pinned-disabled vector-feature-limited-width-clientpref-1 vector-feature-limited-width-content-enabled vector-feature-custom-font-size-clientpref-1 vector-feature-appearance-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-night-mode-enabled skin-theme-clientpref-day vector-toc-available";var cookie=document.cookie.match(/(?:^|; )enwikimwclientpreferences=([^;]+)/);if(cookie){cookie[1].split('%2C').forEach(function(pref){className=className.replace(new RegExp('(^| )'+pref.replace(/-clientpref-\w+$|[^\w-]+/g,'')+'-clientpref-\\w+( |$)'),'$1'+pref+'$2');});}document.documentElement.className=className;}());RLCONF={"wgBreakFrames":false,"wgSeparatorTransformTable":["",""],"wgDigitTransformTable":["",""],"wgDefaultDateFormat":"dmy", "wgMonthNames":["","January","February","March","April","May","June","July","August","September","October","November","December"],"wgRequestId":"b3050611-a167-4ad8-966d-ee69d1c42d5f","wgCanonicalNamespace":"Project","wgCanonicalSpecialPageName":false,"wgNamespaceNumber":4,"wgPageName":"Wikipedia:Purpose","wgTitle":"Purpose","wgCurRevisionId":1257376646,"wgRevisionId":1257376646,"wgArticleId":14554029,"wgIsArticle":true,"wgIsRedirect":false,"wgAction":"view","wgUserName":null,"wgUserGroups":["*"],"wgCategories":["Wikipedia information pages"],"wgPageViewLanguage":"en","wgPageContentLanguage":"en","wgPageContentModel":"wikitext","wgRelevantPageName":"Wikipedia:Purpose","wgRelevantArticleId":14554029,"wgIsProbablyEditable":true,"wgRelevantPageIsProbablyEditable":true,"wgRestrictionEdit":[],"wgRestrictionMove":[],"wgNoticeProject":"wikipedia","wgCiteReferencePreviewsActive":false,"wgFlaggedRevsParams":{"tags":{"status":{"levels":1}}},"wgMediaViewerOnClick":true, "wgMediaViewerEnabledByDefault":true,"wgPopupsFlags":0,"wgVisualEditor":{"pageLanguageCode":"en","pageLanguageDir":"ltr","pageVariantFallbacks":"en"},"wgMFDisplayWikibaseDescriptions":{"search":true,"watchlist":true,"tagline":false,"nearby":true},"wgWMESchemaEditAttemptStepOversample":false,"wgWMEPageLength":7000,"wgRelatedArticlesCompat":[],"wgCentralAuthMobileDomain":false,"wgEditSubmitButtonLabelPublish":true,"wgDiscussionToolsFeaturesEnabled":{"replytool":true,"newtopictool":true,"sourcemodetoolbar":true,"topicsubscription":false,"autotopicsub":false,"visualenhancements":false,"visualenhancements_reply":false,"visualenhancements_pageframe":false},"wgDiscussionToolsFallbackEditMode":"source","wgULSPosition":"interlanguage","wgULSisCompactLinksEnabled":false,"wgVector2022LanguageInHeader":true,"wgULSisLanguageSelectorEmpty":false,"wgWikibaseItemId":"Q12203421","wgCheckUserClientHintsHeadersJsApi":["architecture","bitness","brands","fullVersionList","mobile","model","platform", "platformVersion"],"GEHomepageSuggestedEditsEnableTopics":true,"wgGETopicsMatchModeEnabled":false,"wgGEStructuredTaskRejectionReasonTextInputEnabled":false,"wgGELevelingUpEnabledForUser":false};RLSTATE={"ext.globalCssJs.user.styles":"ready","site.styles":"ready","user.styles":"ready","ext.globalCssJs.user":"ready","user":"ready","user.options":"loading","ext.cite.styles":"ready","ext.discussionTools.init.styles":"ready","oojs-ui-core.styles":"ready","oojs-ui.styles.indicators":"ready","mediawiki.widgets.styles":"ready","oojs-ui-core.icons":"ready","skins.vector.search.codex.styles":"ready","skins.vector.styles":"ready","skins.vector.icons":"ready","jquery.makeCollapsible.styles":"ready","ext.wikimediamessages.styles":"ready","ext.visualEditor.desktopArticleTarget.noscript":"ready","ext.uls.interlanguage":"ready","wikibase.client.init":"ready","ext.wikimediaBadges":"ready"};RLPAGEMODULES=["ext.cite.ux-enhancements","mediawiki.page.media","site","mediawiki.page.ready", "jquery.makeCollapsible","mediawiki.toc","skins.vector.js","ext.centralNotice.geoIP","ext.centralNotice.startUp","ext.gadget.ReferenceTooltips","ext.gadget.switcher","ext.urlShortener.toolbar","ext.centralauth.centralautologin","mmv.bootstrap","ext.popups","ext.visualEditor.desktopArticleTarget.init","ext.visualEditor.targetLoader","ext.echo.centralauth","ext.discussionTools.init","ext.eventLogging","ext.wikimediaEvents","ext.navigationTiming","ext.uls.interface","ext.cx.eventlogging.campaigns","wikibase.client.vector-2022","ext.checkUser.clientHints","wikibase.sidebar.tracking"];</script> <script>(RLQ=window.RLQ||[]).push(function(){mw.loader.impl(function(){return["user.options@12s5i",function($,jQuery,require,module){mw.user.tokens.set({"patrolToken":"+\\","watchToken":"+\\","csrfToken":"+\\"}); }];});});</script> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=ext.cite.styles%7Cext.discussionTools.init.styles%7Cext.uls.interlanguage%7Cext.visualEditor.desktopArticleTarget.noscript%7Cext.wikimediaBadges%7Cext.wikimediamessages.styles%7Cjquery.makeCollapsible.styles%7Cmediawiki.widgets.styles%7Coojs-ui-core.icons%2Cstyles%7Coojs-ui.styles.indicators%7Cskins.vector.icons%2Cstyles%7Cskins.vector.search.codex.styles%7Cwikibase.client.init&only=styles&skin=vector-2022"> <script async="" src="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=startup&only=scripts&raw=1&skin=vector-2022"></script> <meta name="ResourceLoaderDynamicStyles" content=""> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=site.styles&only=styles&skin=vector-2022"> <meta name="generator" content="MediaWiki 1.44.0-wmf.3"> <meta name="referrer" content="origin"> <meta name="referrer" content="origin-when-cross-origin"> <meta name="robots" content="max-image-preview:standard"> <meta name="format-detection" content="telephone=no"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=1120"> <meta property="og:title" content="Wikipedia:Purpose - Wikipedia"> <meta property="og:type" content="website"> <link rel="preconnect" href="//upload.wikimedia.org"> <link rel="alternate" media="only screen and (max-width: 640px)" href="//en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Purpose"> <link rel="alternate" type="application/x-wiki" title="Edit this page" href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Purpose&action=edit"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/static/apple-touch/wikipedia.png"> <link rel="icon" href="/static/favicon/wikipedia.ico"> <link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" href="/w/rest.php/v1/search" title="Wikipedia (en)"> <link rel="EditURI" type="application/rsd+xml" href="//en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=rsd"> <link rel="canonical" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Purpose"> <link rel="license" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en"> <link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="Wikipedia Atom feed" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:RecentChanges&feed=atom"> <link rel="dns-prefetch" href="//meta.wikimedia.org" /> <link rel="dns-prefetch" href="//login.wikimedia.org"> </head> <body class="ext-discussiontools-replytool-enabled ext-discussiontools-newtopictool-enabled ext-discussiontools-sourcemodetoolbar-enabled skin--responsive skin-vector skin-vector-search-vue mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-4 ns-subject mw-editable page-Wikipedia_Purpose rootpage-Wikipedia_Purpose skin-vector-2022 action-view"><a class="mw-jump-link" href="#bodyContent">Jump to content</a> <div class="vector-header-container"> <header class="vector-header mw-header"> <div class="vector-header-start"> <nav class="vector-main-menu-landmark" aria-label="Site"> <div id="vector-main-menu-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown vector-main-menu-dropdown vector-button-flush-left vector-button-flush-right" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-main-menu-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-main-menu-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Main menu" > <label id="vector-main-menu-dropdown-label" for="vector-main-menu-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-menu mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-menu"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Main menu</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-main-menu-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> <div id="vector-main-menu" class="vector-main-menu vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-main-menu-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-unpinned" data-feature-name="main-menu-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-main-menu" data-pinned-container-id="vector-main-menu-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-main-menu-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Main menu</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-main-menu.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-main-menu.unpin">hide</button> </div> <div id="p-navigation" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-navigation" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Navigation </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="n-mainpage-description" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Main_Page" title="Visit the main page [z]" accesskey="z"><span>Main page</span></a></li><li id="n-contents" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Contents" title="Guides to browsing Wikipedia"><span>Contents</span></a></li><li id="n-currentevents" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Portal:Current_events" title="Articles related to current events"><span>Current events</span></a></li><li id="n-randompage" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:Random" title="Visit a randomly selected article [x]" accesskey="x"><span>Random article</span></a></li><li id="n-aboutsite" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:About" title="Learn about Wikipedia and how it works"><span>About Wikipedia</span></a></li><li id="n-contactpage" class="mw-list-item"><a href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contact_us" title="How to contact Wikipedia"><span>Contact us</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-interaction" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-interaction" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Contribute </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="n-help" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Help:Contents" title="Guidance on how to use and edit Wikipedia"><span>Help</span></a></li><li id="n-introduction" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Help:Introduction" title="Learn how to edit Wikipedia"><span>Learn to edit</span></a></li><li id="n-portal" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Community_portal" title="The hub for editors"><span>Community portal</span></a></li><li id="n-recentchanges" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChanges" title="A list of recent changes to Wikipedia [r]" accesskey="r"><span>Recent changes</span></a></li><li id="n-upload" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:File_upload_wizard" title="Add images or other media for use on Wikipedia"><span>Upload file</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <a href="/wiki/Main_Page" class="mw-logo"> <img class="mw-logo-icon" src="/static/images/icons/wikipedia.png" alt="" aria-hidden="true" height="50" width="50"> <span class="mw-logo-container skin-invert"> <img class="mw-logo-wordmark" alt="Wikipedia" src="/static/images/mobile/copyright/wikipedia-wordmark-en.svg" style="width: 7.5em; height: 1.125em;"> <img class="mw-logo-tagline" alt="The Free Encyclopedia" src="/static/images/mobile/copyright/wikipedia-tagline-en.svg" width="117" height="13" style="width: 7.3125em; height: 0.8125em;"> </span> </a> </div> <div class="vector-header-end"> <div id="p-search" role="search" class="vector-search-box-vue vector-search-box-collapses vector-search-box-show-thumbnail vector-search-box-auto-expand-width vector-search-box"> <a href="/wiki/Special:Search" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only search-toggle" title="Search Wikipedia [f]" accesskey="f"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-search mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-search"></span> <span>Search</span> </a> <div class="vector-typeahead-search-container"> <div class="cdx-typeahead-search cdx-typeahead-search--show-thumbnail cdx-typeahead-search--auto-expand-width"> <form action="/w/index.php" id="searchform" class="cdx-search-input cdx-search-input--has-end-button"> <div id="simpleSearch" class="cdx-search-input__input-wrapper" data-search-loc="header-moved"> <div class="cdx-text-input cdx-text-input--has-start-icon"> <input class="cdx-text-input__input" type="search" name="search" placeholder="Search Wikipedia" aria-label="Search Wikipedia" autocapitalize="sentences" title="Search Wikipedia [f]" accesskey="f" id="searchInput" > <span class="cdx-text-input__icon cdx-text-input__start-icon"></span> </div> <input type="hidden" name="title" value="Special:Search"> </div> <button class="cdx-button cdx-search-input__end-button">Search</button> </form> </div> </div> </div> <nav class="vector-user-links vector-user-links-wide" aria-label="Personal tools"> <div class="vector-user-links-main"> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-preferences" class="vector-menu mw-portlet emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-userpage" class="vector-menu mw-portlet emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> <nav class="vector-appearance-landmark" aria-label="Appearance"> <div id="vector-appearance-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown " title="Change the appearance of the page's font size, width, and color" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-appearance-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-appearance-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Appearance" > <label id="vector-appearance-dropdown-label" for="vector-appearance-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-appearance mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-appearance"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Appearance</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-appearance-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-notifications" class="vector-menu mw-portlet emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-overflow" class="vector-menu mw-portlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="pt-sitesupport-2" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item user-links-collapsible-item"><a data-mw="interface" href="https://donate.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FundraiserRedirector?utm_source=donate&utm_medium=sidebar&utm_campaign=C13_en.wikipedia.org&uselang=en" class=""><span>Donate</span></a> </li> <li id="pt-createaccount-2" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item user-links-collapsible-item"><a data-mw="interface" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:CreateAccount&returnto=Wikipedia%3APurpose" title="You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory" class=""><span>Create account</span></a> </li> <li id="pt-login-2" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item user-links-collapsible-item"><a data-mw="interface" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin&returnto=Wikipedia%3APurpose" title="You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [o]" accesskey="o" class=""><span>Log in</span></a> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <div id="vector-user-links-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown vector-user-menu vector-button-flush-right vector-user-menu-logged-out" title="Log in and more options" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-user-links-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-user-links-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Personal tools" > <label id="vector-user-links-dropdown-label" for="vector-user-links-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-ellipsis mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-ellipsis"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Personal tools</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="p-personal" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-personal user-links-collapsible-item" title="User menu" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="pt-sitesupport" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="https://donate.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FundraiserRedirector?utm_source=donate&utm_medium=sidebar&utm_campaign=C13_en.wikipedia.org&uselang=en"><span>Donate</span></a></li><li id="pt-createaccount" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:CreateAccount&returnto=Wikipedia%3APurpose" title="You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-userAdd mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-userAdd"></span> <span>Create account</span></a></li><li id="pt-login" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin&returnto=Wikipedia%3APurpose" title="You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [o]" accesskey="o"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-logIn mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-logIn"></span> <span>Log in</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-user-menu-anon-editor" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-user-menu-anon-editor" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Pages for logged out editors <a href="/wiki/Help:Introduction" aria-label="Learn more about editing"><span>learn more</span></a> </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="pt-anoncontribs" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:MyContributions" title="A list of edits made from this IP address [y]" accesskey="y"><span>Contributions</span></a></li><li id="pt-anontalk" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:MyTalk" title="Discussion about edits from this IP address [n]" accesskey="n"><span>Talk</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </header> </div> <div class="mw-page-container"> <div class="mw-page-container-inner"> <div class="vector-sitenotice-container"> <div id="siteNotice"></div> </div> <div class="vector-column-start"> <div class="vector-main-menu-container"> <div id="mw-navigation"> <nav id="mw-panel" class="vector-main-menu-landmark" aria-label="Site"> <div id="vector-main-menu-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="vector-sticky-pinned-container"> <nav id="mw-panel-toc" aria-label="Contents" data-event-name="ui.sidebar-toc" class="mw-table-of-contents-container vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-toc-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> <div id="vector-toc" class="vector-toc vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-toc-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-pinned" data-feature-name="toc-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-toc" > <h2 class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Contents</h2> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-toc.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-toc.unpin">hide</button> </div> <ul class="vector-toc-contents" id="mw-panel-toc-list"> <li id="toc-mw-content-text" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a href="#" class="vector-toc-link"> <div class="vector-toc-text">(Top)</div> </a> </li> <li id="toc-Concept_of_an_encyclopedia" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Concept_of_an_encyclopedia"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1</span> <span>Concept of an encyclopedia</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Concept_of_an_encyclopedia-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Wikipedia's_goal" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Wikipedia's_goal"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2</span> <span>Wikipedia's goal</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Wikipedia's_goal-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Wikipedia's_content" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Wikipedia's_content"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3</span> <span>Wikipedia's content</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Wikipedia's_content-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-See_also" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#See_also"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4</span> <span>See also</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-See_also-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-References" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#References"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5</span> <span>References</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-References-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-External_links" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#External_links"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6</span> <span>External links</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-External_links-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="mw-content-container"> <main id="content" class="mw-body"> <header class="mw-body-header vector-page-titlebar"> <nav aria-label="Contents" class="vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-titlebar-toc vector-button-flush-left" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Toggle the table of contents" > <label id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-label" for="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-listBullet mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-listBullet"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Toggle the table of contents</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading mw-first-heading"><span class="mw-page-title-namespace">Wikipedia</span><span class="mw-page-title-separator">:</span><span class="mw-page-title-main">Purpose</span></h1> <div id="p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown mw-portlet mw-portlet-lang" > <input type="checkbox" id="p-lang-btn-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox mw-interlanguage-selector" aria-label="Go to an article in another language. Available in 18 languages" > <label id="p-lang-btn-label" for="p-lang-btn-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--action-progressive mw-portlet-lang-heading-18" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-language-progressive mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-language-progressive"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">18 languages</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ar mw-list-item"><a href="https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%83%D9%8A%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%A7:%D8%BA%D8%A7%D9%8A%D8%A9_%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%83%D9%8A%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%A7" title="ويكيبيديا:غاية ويكيبيديا – Arabic" lang="ar" hreflang="ar" data-title="ويكيبيديا:غاية ويكيبيديا" data-language-autonym="العربية" data-language-local-name="Arabic" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>العربية</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-bh mw-list-item"><a href="https://bh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%AA%E0%A5%80%E0%A4%A1%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%BE:%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%B8%E0%A4%A6" title="विकिपीडिया:मकसद – Bhojpuri" lang="bh" hreflang="bh" data-title="विकिपीडिया:मकसद" data-language-autonym="भोजपुरी" data-language-local-name="Bhojpuri" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>भोजपुरी</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ary mw-list-item"><a href="https://ary.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%83%D9%8A%D9%BE%D9%8A%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%A7:%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%87%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%81" title="ويكيپيديا:لأهداف – Moroccan Arabic" lang="ary" hreflang="ary" data-title="ويكيپيديا:لأهداف" data-language-autonym="الدارجة" data-language-local-name="Moroccan Arabic" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>الدارجة</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-el mw-list-item"><a href="https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%92%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%B9%CF%80%CE%B1%CE%AF%CE%B4%CE%B5%CE%B9%CE%B1:%CE%A3%CE%BA%CE%BF%CF%80%CF%8C%CF%82" title="Βικιπαίδεια:Σκοπός – Greek" lang="el" hreflang="el" data-title="Βικιπαίδεια:Σκοπός" data-language-autonym="Ελληνικά" data-language-local-name="Greek" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Ελληνικά</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fa mw-list-item"><a href="https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%DB%8C%DA%A9%DB%8C%E2%80%8C%D9%BE%D8%AF%DB%8C%D8%A7:%D9%87%D8%AF%D9%81" title="ویکی‌پدیا:هدف – Persian" lang="fa" hreflang="fa" data-title="ویکی‌پدیا:هدف" data-language-autonym="فارسی" data-language-local-name="Persian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>فارسی</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fr mw-list-item"><a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Objectif_de_Wikip%C3%A9dia" title="Wikipédia:Objectif de Wikipédia – French" lang="fr" hreflang="fr" data-title="Wikipédia:Objectif de Wikipédia" data-language-autonym="Français" data-language-local-name="French" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Français</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ko mw-list-item"><a href="https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EC%9C%84%ED%82%A4%EB%B0%B1%EA%B3%BC:%EB%AA%A9%EC%A0%81" title="위키백과:목적 – Korean" lang="ko" hreflang="ko" data-title="위키백과:목적" data-language-autonym="한국어" data-language-local-name="Korean" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>한국어</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-id mw-list-item"><a href="https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Visi_dan_misi" title="Wikipedia:Visi dan misi – Indonesian" lang="id" hreflang="id" data-title="Wikipedia:Visi dan misi" data-language-autonym="Bahasa Indonesia" data-language-local-name="Indonesian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Bahasa Indonesia</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ms mw-list-item"><a href="https://ms.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Matlamat" title="Wikipedia:Matlamat – Malay" lang="ms" hreflang="ms" data-title="Wikipedia:Matlamat" data-language-autonym="Bahasa Melayu" data-language-local-name="Malay" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Bahasa Melayu</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ja mw-list-item"><a href="https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:%E7%9B%AE%E7%9A%84" title="Wikipedia:目的 – Japanese" lang="ja" hreflang="ja" data-title="Wikipedia:目的" data-language-autonym="日本語" data-language-local-name="Japanese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>日本語</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pt mw-list-item"><a href="https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Escopo" title="Wikipédia:Escopo – Portuguese" lang="pt" hreflang="pt" data-title="Wikipédia:Escopo" data-language-autonym="Português" data-language-local-name="Portuguese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Português</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ru mw-list-item"><a href="https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%92%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%BF%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%B8%D1%8F:%D0%A6%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C" title="Википедия:Цель – Russian" lang="ru" hreflang="ru" data-title="Википедия:Цель" data-language-autonym="Русский" data-language-local-name="Russian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Русский</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-si mw-list-item"><a href="https://si.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B7%80%E0%B7%92%E0%B6%9A%E0%B7%92%E0%B6%B4%E0%B7%93%E0%B6%A9%E0%B7%92%E0%B6%BA%E0%B7%8F:Purpose" title="විකිපීඩියා:Purpose – Sinhala" lang="si" hreflang="si" data-title="විකිපීඩියා:Purpose" data-language-autonym="සිංහල" data-language-local-name="Sinhala" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>සිංහල</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-tt mw-list-item"><a href="https://tt.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%92%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%BF%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%B8%D1%8F:%D0%9C%D0%B0%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B0%D1%82" title="Википедия:Максат – Tatar" lang="tt" hreflang="tt" data-title="Википедия:Максат" data-language-autonym="Татарча / tatarça" data-language-local-name="Tatar" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Татарча / tatarça</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-uk mw-list-item"><a href="https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%92%D1%96%D0%BA%D1%96%D0%BF%D0%B5%D0%B4%D1%96%D1%8F:%D0%9C%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B0" title="Вікіпедія:Мета – Ukrainian" lang="uk" hreflang="uk" data-title="Вікіпедія:Мета" data-language-autonym="Українська" data-language-local-name="Ukrainian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Українська</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ur mw-list-item"><a href="https://ur.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%DB%8C%DA%A9%DB%8C%D9%BE%DB%8C%DA%88%DB%8C%D8%A7:%D9%85%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%B5%D8%AF" title="ویکیپیڈیا:مقاصد – Urdu" lang="ur" hreflang="ur" data-title="ویکیپیڈیا:مقاصد" data-language-autonym="اردو" data-language-local-name="Urdu" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>اردو</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-vi mw-list-item"><a href="https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:M%E1%BB%A5c_%C4%91%C3%ADch" title="Wikipedia:Mục đích – Vietnamese" lang="vi" hreflang="vi" data-title="Wikipedia:Mục đích" data-language-autonym="Tiếng Việt" data-language-local-name="Vietnamese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Tiếng Việt</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-zh mw-list-item"><a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:%E7%9B%AE%E7%9A%84" title="Wikipedia:目的 – Chinese" lang="zh" hreflang="zh" data-title="Wikipedia:目的" data-language-autonym="中文" data-language-local-name="Chinese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>中文</span></a></li> </ul> <div class="after-portlet after-portlet-lang"><span class="wb-langlinks-edit wb-langlinks-link"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Special:EntityPage/Q12203421#sitelinks-wikipedia" title="Edit interlanguage links" class="wbc-editpage">Edit links</a></span></div> </div> </div> </div> </header> <div class="vector-page-toolbar"> <div class="vector-page-toolbar-container"> <div id="left-navigation"> <nav aria-label="Namespaces"> <div id="p-associated-pages" class="vector-menu vector-menu-tabs mw-portlet mw-portlet-associated-pages" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-nstab-project" class="selected vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Purpose" title="View the project page [c]" accesskey="c"><span>Project page</span></a></li><li id="ca-talk" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Purpose" rel="discussion" title="Discuss improvements to the content page [t]" accesskey="t"><span>Talk</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="vector-variants-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown emptyPortlet" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-variants-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-variants-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Change language variant" > <label id="vector-variants-dropdown-label" for="vector-variants-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">English</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="p-variants" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-variants emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> <div id="right-navigation" class="vector-collapsible"> <nav aria-label="Views"> <div id="p-views" class="vector-menu vector-menu-tabs mw-portlet mw-portlet-views" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-view" class="selected vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Purpose"><span>Read</span></a></li><li id="ca-edit" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Purpose&action=edit" title="Edit this page [e]" accesskey="e"><span>Edit</span></a></li><li id="ca-history" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Purpose&action=history" title="Past revisions of this page [h]" accesskey="h"><span>View history</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> <nav class="vector-page-tools-landmark" aria-label="Page tools"> <div id="vector-page-tools-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-tools-dropdown" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-page-tools-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-page-tools-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Tools" > <label id="vector-page-tools-dropdown-label" for="vector-page-tools-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Tools</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-page-tools-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> <div id="vector-page-tools" class="vector-page-tools vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-page-tools-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-unpinned" data-feature-name="page-tools-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-page-tools" data-pinned-container-id="vector-page-tools-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-page-tools-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Tools</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-page-tools.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-page-tools.unpin">hide</button> </div> <div id="p-cactions" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-cactions emptyPortlet vector-has-collapsible-items" title="More options" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Actions </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-more-view" class="selected vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Purpose"><span>Read</span></a></li><li id="ca-more-edit" class="vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Purpose&action=edit" title="Edit this page [e]" accesskey="e"><span>Edit</span></a></li><li id="ca-more-history" class="vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Purpose&action=history"><span>View history</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-tb" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-tb" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> General </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="t-whatlinkshere" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:WhatLinksHere/Wikipedia:Purpose" title="List of all English Wikipedia pages containing links to this page [j]" accesskey="j"><span>What links here</span></a></li><li id="t-recentchangeslinked" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChangesLinked/Wikipedia:Purpose" rel="nofollow" title="Recent changes in pages linked from this page [k]" accesskey="k"><span>Related changes</span></a></li><li id="t-upload" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:File_Upload_Wizard" title="Upload files [u]" accesskey="u"><span>Upload file</span></a></li><li id="t-specialpages" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:SpecialPages" title="A list of all special pages [q]" accesskey="q"><span>Special pages</span></a></li><li id="t-permalink" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Purpose&oldid=1257376646" title="Permanent link to this revision of this page"><span>Permanent link</span></a></li><li id="t-info" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Purpose&action=info" title="More information about this page"><span>Page information</span></a></li><li id="t-urlshortener" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UrlShortener&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FWikipedia%3APurpose"><span>Get shortened URL</span></a></li><li id="t-urlshortener-qrcode" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:QrCode&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FWikipedia%3APurpose"><span>Download QR code</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-coll-print_export" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-coll-print_export" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Print/export </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="coll-download-as-rl" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:DownloadAsPdf&page=Wikipedia%3APurpose&action=show-download-screen" title="Download this page as a PDF file"><span>Download as PDF</span></a></li><li id="t-print" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Purpose&printable=yes" title="Printable version of this page [p]" accesskey="p"><span>Printable version</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-wikibase-otherprojects" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-wikibase-otherprojects" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> In other projects </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li class="wb-otherproject-link wb-otherproject-meta mw-list-item"><a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Vision" hreflang="en"><span>Meta-Wiki</span></a></li><li class="wb-otherproject-link wb-otherproject-wikifunctions mw-list-item"><a href="https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Wikifunctions:Vision" hreflang="en"><span>Wikifunctions</span></a></li><li class="wb-otherproject-link wb-otherproject-wikiversity mw-list-item"><a href="https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Wikiversity:Mission" hreflang="en"><span>Wikiversity</span></a></li><li id="t-wikibase" class="wb-otherproject-link wb-otherproject-wikibase-dataitem mw-list-item"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Special:EntityPage/Q12203421" title="Structured data on this page hosted by Wikidata [g]" accesskey="g"><span>Wikidata item</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> </div> <div class="vector-column-end"> <div class="vector-sticky-pinned-container"> <nav class="vector-page-tools-landmark" aria-label="Page tools"> <div id="vector-page-tools-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> </div> </nav> <nav class="vector-appearance-landmark" aria-label="Appearance"> <div id="vector-appearance-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> <div id="vector-appearance" class="vector-appearance vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-appearance-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-pinned" data-feature-name="appearance-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-appearance" data-pinned-container-id="vector-appearance-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-appearance-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Appearance</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-appearance.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-appearance.unpin">hide</button> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div id="bodyContent" class="vector-body" aria-labelledby="firstHeading" data-mw-ve-target-container> <div class="vector-body-before-content"> <div class="mw-indicators"> </div> <div id="siteSub" class="noprint">From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</div> </div> <div id="contentSub"><div id="mw-content-subtitle"></div></div> <div id="mw-content-text" class="mw-body-content"><div class="mw-content-ltr mw-parser-output" lang="en" dir="ltr"><p class="mw-empty-elt"> </p> <div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none">Wikipedia information page</div><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238436933">.mw-parser-output .ombox{margin:4px 0;border-collapse:collapse;border:1px solid #a2a9b1;background-color:var(--background-color-neutral-subtle,#f8f9fa);box-sizing:border-box;color:var(--color-base,#202122)}.mw-parser-output .ombox.mbox-small{font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em}.mw-parser-output .ombox-speedy{border:2px solid #b32424;background-color:#fee7e6}.mw-parser-output .ombox-delete{border:2px solid #b32424}.mw-parser-output .ombox-content{border:1px solid #f28500}.mw-parser-output .ombox-style{border:1px solid #fc3}.mw-parser-output .ombox-move{border:1px solid #9932cc}.mw-parser-output .ombox-protection{border:2px solid #a2a9b1}.mw-parser-output .ombox .mbox-text{border:none;padding:0.25em 0.9em;width:100%}.mw-parser-output .ombox .mbox-image{border:none;padding:2px 0 2px 0.9em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ombox .mbox-imageright{border:none;padding:2px 0.9em 2px 0;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ombox .mbox-empty-cell{border:none;padding:0;width:1px}.mw-parser-output .ombox .mbox-invalid-type{text-align:center}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .ombox{margin:4px 10%}.mw-parser-output .ombox.mbox-small{clear:right;float:right;margin:4px 0 4px 1em;width:238px}}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output table.ombox img{max-width:none!important}@media screen{html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .ombox-speedy{background-color:#310402}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .ombox-speedy{background-color:#310402}}</style><table class="plainlinks ombox ombox-notice" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><span typeof="mw:File"><span><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1d/Information_icon4.svg/40px-Information_icon4.svg.png" decoding="async" width="40" height="40" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1d/Information_icon4.svg/60px-Information_icon4.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1d/Information_icon4.svg/80px-Information_icon4.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="620" data-file-height="620"/></span></span></td><td class="mbox-text"><div style="padding-top: 6px; padding-bottom: 5px;"><b>This is an <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Project_namespace#How-to_and_information_pages" title="Wikipedia:Project namespace">information page</a>.</b><br/><div style="font-size: 90%;">It is not an <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:What_is_an_article%3F" title="Wikipedia:What is an article?">encyclopedic article</a>, nor one of <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Policies_and_guidelines" title="Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines">Wikipedia's policies or guidelines</a>; rather, its purpose is to explain certain aspects of Wikipedia's norms, customs, technicalities, or practices. It may reflect differing levels of <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Consensus" title="Wikipedia:Consensus">consensus</a> and <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Consensus#Achieving_consensus" title="Wikipedia:Consensus">vetting</a>.</div></div></td><td class="mbox-imageright"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1252059228">.mw-parser-output .module-shortcutboxplain{float:right;margin:0 0 0 1em;border:1px solid var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1);background-color:var(--background-color-base,#fff);padding:0.3em 0.6em 0.2em 0.6em;text-align:center;font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .module-shortcutboxleft{float:left;margin:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .module-shortcutlist{display:inline-block;border-bottom:1px solid var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1);margin-bottom:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .module-shortcutboxplain ul{font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .module-shortcutanchordiv{position:relative;top:-3em}.mw-parser-output li .module-shortcutanchordiv{float:right}.mw-parser-output .mbox-imageright .module-shortcutboxplain{padding:0.4em 1em 0.4em 1em;line-height:1.3;margin:0}</style><div class="module-shortcutanchordiv"><span id="WP:AIM"></span><span id="WP:PURPOSE"></span></div><div class="module-shortcutboxplain noprint" role="note"><div class="module-shortcutlist"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Shortcut" title="Wikipedia:Shortcut">Shortcuts</a></div><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1126788409">.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul{line-height:inherit;list-style:none;margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol li,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul li{margin-bottom:0}</style><div class="plainlist"><ul><li><span class="plainlinks"><a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:AIM&redirect=no">WP:AIM</a></span></li><li><span class="plainlinks"><a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:PURPOSE&redirect=no">WP:PURPOSE</a></span></li></ul></div></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Wikipedia_Community_cartoon_-_high_quality.png" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8c/Wikipedia_Community_cartoon_-_high_quality.png/220px-Wikipedia_Community_cartoon_-_high_quality.png" decoding="async" width="220" height="214" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8c/Wikipedia_Community_cartoon_-_high_quality.png/330px-Wikipedia_Community_cartoon_-_high_quality.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8c/Wikipedia_Community_cartoon_-_high_quality.png/440px-Wikipedia_Community_cartoon_-_high_quality.png 2x" data-file-width="2337" data-file-height="2271"/></a><figcaption>Wikipedia has a lofty goal: "a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge."<sup id="cite_ref-c369_1-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-c369-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></figcaption></figure> <p><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a>'s <a href="/wiki/Purpose" class="mw-disambig" title="Purpose">purpose</a> is to benefit readers by acting as a <b><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Free_encyclopedia" title="Wikipedia:Free encyclopedia">widely accessible and free encyclopedia</a></b>; a <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/comprehensive" class="extiw" title="wikt:comprehensive">comprehensive</a> written <a href="/wiki/Compendium" title="Compendium">compendium</a> that contains <a href="/wiki/Information" title="Information">information</a> on all branches of <a href="/wiki/Knowledge" title="Knowledge">knowledge</a>. </p><p><a href="/wiki/Encyclopedias" class="mw-redirect" title="Encyclopedias">Encyclopedias</a> are designed to introduce readers to a topic, not to be the final point of reference. <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a>, like other encyclopedias, is a <a href="/wiki/Tertiary_source" title="Tertiary source">tertiary source</a> and provides overviews of a topic by indicating <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Reliable_sources" title="Wikipedia:Reliable sources">reliable sources</a> of more extensive information. </p><p>The goal of a Wikipedia article is to present a <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Neutral_point_of_view" title="Wikipedia:Neutral point of view">neutrally written</a> summary of <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:No_original_research" title="Wikipedia:No original research">existing mainstream knowledge</a> in a fair and <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">accurate manner</a> with a straightforward, "<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Summary_style" title="Wikipedia:Summary style">just-the-facts style</a>". Articles should have an <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Encyclopedic_style" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:Encyclopedic style">encyclopedic style</a> with a <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:TONE" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:TONE">formal tone</a> instead of essay-like, argumentative, promotional or opinionated writing. </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc"/> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Concept_of_an_encyclopedia" data-mw-thread-id="h-Concept_of_an_encyclopedia"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Concept_of_an_encyclopedia"></span>Concept of an encyclopedia<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Concept_of_an_encyclopedia"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Purpose&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Concept of an encyclopedia"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <table class="cquote pullquote" role="presentation" style="margin:auto; border-collapse: collapse; border: none; width: auto;"> <tbody><tr> <td style="width: 20px; vertical-align: top; border: none; color: #B2B7F2; font-size: 40px; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: .6em; text-align: left; padding: 10px 10px;">“ </td> <td style="vertical-align: top; border: none; padding: 4px 10px;">Indeed, the purpose of an encyclopedia is to collect knowledge disseminated around the globe; to set forth its general system to the men with whom we live, and transmit it to those who will come after us, so that the work of preceding centuries will not become useless to the centuries to come; and so that our offspring, becoming better instructed, will at the same time become more virtuous and happy, and that we should not die without having rendered a service to the human race. </td> <td style="width: 20px; vertical-align: bottom; border: none; color: #B2B7F2; font-size: 40px; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: .6em; text-align: right; padding: 10px 10px;">” </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="3" class="cquotecite" style="border: none; padding-right: 4%; font-size: smaller; line-height:normal; text-align: right;"><cite>— <a href="/wiki/Denis_Diderot" title="Denis Diderot">Denis Diderot</a>, chief editor and contributor of <i><a href="/wiki/Encyclop%C3%A9die" title="Encyclopédie">Encyclopédie</a></i> (Paris, 1755)<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></cite> </td></tr></tbody></table> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Wikipedia's_goal" data-mw-thread-id="h-Wikipedia's_goal"><span id="Wikipedia.27s_goal"></span><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Wikipedia's_goal"></span>Wikipedia's goal<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Wikipedia's_goal"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Purpose&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Wikipedia's goal"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <table class="cquote pullquote" role="presentation" style="margin:auto; border-collapse: collapse; border: none; width: auto;"> <tbody><tr> <td style="width: 20px; vertical-align: top; border: none; color: #B2B7F2; font-size: 40px; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: .6em; text-align: left; padding: 10px 10px;">“ </td> <td style="vertical-align: top; border: none; padding: 4px 10px;">Our goal with Wikipedia is to create a free encyclopedia; indeed, the largest encyclopedia in history, both in terms of breadth and in terms of depth. We also want Wikipedia to be a reliable resource. </td> <td style="width: 20px; vertical-align: bottom; border: none; color: #B2B7F2; font-size: 40px; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: .6em; text-align: right; padding: 10px 10px;">” </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="3" class="cquotecite" style="border: none; padding-right: 4%; font-size: smaller; line-height:normal; text-align: right;"><cite>— <a href="/wiki/Larry_Sanger" title="Larry Sanger">Larry Sanger</a><sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></cite> </td></tr></tbody></table> <table class="cquote pullquote" role="presentation" style="margin:auto; border-collapse: collapse; border: none; width: auto;"> <tbody><tr> <td style="width: 20px; vertical-align: top; border: none; color: #B2B7F2; font-size: 40px; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: .6em; text-align: left; padding: 10px 10px;">“ </td> <td style="vertical-align: top; border: none; padding: 4px 10px;">Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That's what we're doing. </td> <td style="width: 20px; vertical-align: bottom; border: none; color: #B2B7F2; font-size: 40px; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: .6em; text-align: right; padding: 10px 10px;">” </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="3" class="cquotecite" style="border: none; padding-right: 4%; font-size: smaller; line-height:normal; text-align: right;"><cite>— <a href="/wiki/Jimmy_Wales" title="Jimmy Wales">Jimmy Wales</a><sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></cite> </td></tr></tbody></table> <table class="cquote pullquote" role="presentation" style="margin:auto; border-collapse: collapse; border: none; width: auto;"> <tbody><tr> <td style="width: 20px; vertical-align: top; border: none; color: #B2B7F2; font-size: 40px; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: .6em; text-align: left; padding: 10px 10px;">“ </td> <td style="vertical-align: top; border: none; padding: 4px 10px;">Wikipedia is first and foremost an effort to create and distribute a free encyclopedia of the highest possible quality to every single person on the planet in their own language. </td> <td style="width: 20px; vertical-align: bottom; border: none; color: #B2B7F2; font-size: 40px; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: .6em; text-align: right; padding: 10px 10px;">” </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="3" class="cquotecite" style="border: none; padding-right: 4%; font-size: smaller; line-height:normal; text-align: right;"><cite>— Jimmy Wales<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></cite> </td></tr></tbody></table> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Wikipedia's_content" data-mw-thread-id="h-Wikipedia's_content"><span id="Wikipedia.27s_content"></span><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Wikipedia's_content"></span>Wikipedia's content<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Wikipedia's_content"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Purpose&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Wikipedia's content"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Content is governed by <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Core_content_policies" title="Wikipedia:Core content policies">three principal core content policies</a> – <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Neutral_point_of_view" title="Wikipedia:Neutral point of view">neutral point of view</a>, <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">verifiability</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:No_original_research" title="Wikipedia:No original research">no original research</a>. </p> <table class="cquote pullquote" role="presentation" style="margin:auto; border-collapse: collapse; border: none; width: auto;"> <tbody><tr> <td style="width: 20px; vertical-align: top; border: none; color: #B2B7F2; font-size: 40px; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: .6em; text-align: left; padding: 10px 10px;">“ </td> <td style="vertical-align: top; border: none; padding: 4px 10px;">Wikipedia has an important policy: roughly stated, you should write articles without bias, representing all views fairly. </td> <td style="width: 20px; vertical-align: bottom; border: none; color: #B2B7F2; font-size: 40px; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: .6em; text-align: right; padding: 10px 10px;">” </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="3" class="cquotecite" style="border: none; padding-right: 4%; font-size: smaller; line-height:normal; text-align: right;"><cite>— Larry Sanger<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></cite> </td></tr></tbody></table> <table class="cquote pullquote" role="presentation" style="margin:auto; border-collapse: collapse; border: none; width: auto;"> <tbody><tr> <td style="width: 20px; vertical-align: top; border: none; color: #B2B7F2; font-size: 40px; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: .6em; text-align: left; padding: 10px 10px;">“ </td> <td style="vertical-align: top; border: none; padding: 4px 10px;">A general-purpose encyclopedia is a collection of synthesized knowledge presented from a neutral point of view. To whatever extent possible, encyclopedic writing should steer clear of taking any particular stance other than the stance of the neutral point of view. </td> <td style="width: 20px; vertical-align: bottom; border: none; color: #B2B7F2; font-size: 40px; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: .6em; text-align: right; padding: 10px 10px;">” </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="3" class="cquotecite" style="border: none; padding-right: 4%; font-size: smaller; line-height:normal; text-align: right;"><cite>— Jimmy Wales<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></cite> </td></tr></tbody></table> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="See_also" data-mw-thread-id="h-See_also"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-See_also"></span>See also<span data-mw-comment-end="h-See_also"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Purpose&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: See also"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236090951">.mw-parser-output .hatnote{font-style:italic}.mw-parser-output div.hatnote{padding-left:1.6em;margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .hatnote i{font-style:normal}.mw-parser-output .hatnote+link+.hatnote{margin-top:-0.5em}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .hatnote{display:none!important}}</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Further information: <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Essay_directory#About_Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia:Essay directory">Wikipedia:Essay directory § About Wikipedia</a></div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Administration" title="Wikipedia:Administration">Administration</a> – discusses both the human administrative structure of Wikipedia, as well as its non-human components.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:The_Free_Encyclopedia" title="Wikipedia:The Free Encyclopedia">The Free Encyclopedia</a> – describes how Wikipedia is "Free" as in Free Software and Free Culture.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:The_essence_of_Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia:The essence of Wikipedia">The essence of Wikipedia</a> – describes how Wikipedia uses collective intelligence, collaboration, and preservation to build, expand, and improve content.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/User:Jimbo_Wales/Statement_of_principles" title="User:Jimbo Wales/Statement of principles">Statement of principles</a> – by the co-founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, as updated by the community since then.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:What_Wikipedia_is_not" title="Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not">What Wikipedia is not</a> – describes how there are certain things that Wikipedia is not.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Offline_access" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:Offline access">Offline access</a> – describes how to access Wikipedia's free content without internet access.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Special:PermanentLink/294531" title="Special:PermanentLink/294531">Original Wikipedia policy</a> – as edited by the co-founder of Wikipedia, Larry Sanger, on 1 November 2001.</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="References" data-mw-thread-id="h-References"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-References"></span>References<span data-mw-comment-end="h-References"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Purpose&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: References"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239543626">.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}</style><div class="reflist"> <div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-c369-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-c369_1-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://onbeing.org/programs/jimmy-wales-the-sum-of-all-human-knowledge-2/">"The Sum of All Human Knowledge"</a>. <i>The On Being Project</i>. 30 June 2020<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">9 June</span> 2024</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=The+On+Being+Project&rft.atitle=The+Sum+of+All+Human+Knowledge&rft.date=2020-06-30&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fonbeing.org%2Fprograms%2Fjimmy-wales-the-sum-of-all-human-knowledge-2%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AWikipedia%3APurpose" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFDiderot1755" class="citation encyclopaedia cs1"><a href="/wiki/Denis_Diderot" title="Denis Diderot">Diderot, Denis</a> (1755). <i><a href="/wiki/Encyclop%C3%A9die" title="Encyclopédie">Encyclopédie</a></i>. Vol. 5. Translated by Philip Stewart. Paris. p. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0000.004">635</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Encyclop%C3%A9die&rft.place=Paris&rft.pages=635&rft.date=1755&rft.aulast=Diderot&rft.aufirst=Denis&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AWikipedia%3APurpose" class="Z3988"></span> University of Michigan Library: Scholarly Publishing Office and DLXS. Retrieved on: November 17, 2007</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFSanger2001" class="citation cs2"><a href="/wiki/Larry_Sanger" title="Larry Sanger">Sanger, Larry</a> (1 November 2001), <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.webcitation.org/5U0Rx8xAc"><i>Wikipedia Policy</i></a>, <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a>, archived from <a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia_policy&direction=next&oldid=68263">the original</a> on 11 December 2007</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Wikipedia+Policy&rft.pub=Wikipedia&rft.date=2001-11-01&rft.aulast=Sanger&rft.aufirst=Larry&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fw%2Findex.php%3Ftitle%3DWikipedia_policy%26direction%3Dnext%26oldid%3D68263&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AWikipedia%3APurpose" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFRoblimo2004" class="citation web cs1">Roblimo (28 July 2004). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://slashdot.org/story/04/07/28/1351230/wikipedia-founder-jimmy-wales-responds">"Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales Responds"</a>. Slashdot<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">28 April</span> 2014</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=Wikipedia+Founder+Jimmy+Wales+Responds&rft.pub=Slashdot&rft.date=2004-07-28&rft.au=Roblimo&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fslashdot.org%2Fstory%2F04%2F07%2F28%2F1351230%2Fwikipedia-founder-jimmy-wales-responds&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AWikipedia%3APurpose" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a class="external text" href="https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2005-March/020469.html">"Wikipedia is an encyclopedia"</a>. Wikimedia. 8 March 2005<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">5 March</span> 2017</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=Wikipedia+is+an+encyclopedia&rft.pub=Wikimedia&rft.date=2005-03-08&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Flists.wikimedia.org%2Fpipermail%2Fwikipedia-l%2F2005-March%2F020469.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AWikipedia%3APurpose" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a class="external text" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Neutral_point_of_view/draft&oldid=777">"Neutral point of view/draft - Meta"</a>. <i>meta.wikimedia.org</i>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=meta.wikimedia.org&rft.atitle=Neutral+point+of+view%2Fdraft+-+Meta&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fmeta.wikimedia.org%2Fw%2Findex.php%3Ftitle%3DNeutral_point_of_view%2Fdraft%26oldid%3D777&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AWikipedia%3APurpose" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20010416035757/http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/NeutralPointOfView">"Wikipedia: NeutralPointOfView"</a>. 16 April 2001. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/NeutralPointOfView">the original</a> on 16 April 2001.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=Wikipedia%3A+NeutralPointOfView&rft.date=2001-04-16&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wikipedia.com%2Fwiki%2FNeutralPointOfView&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AWikipedia%3APurpose" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> </ol></div></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="External_links" data-mw-thread-id="h-External_links"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-External_links"></span>External links<span data-mw-comment-end="h-External_links"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Purpose&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: External links"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1257001546">.mw-parser-output .infobox-subbox{padding:0;border:none;margin:-3px;width:auto;min-width:100%;font-size:100%;clear:none;float:none;background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .infobox-3cols-child{margin:auto}.mw-parser-output .infobox .navbar{font-size:100%}@media screen{html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data:not(.notheme)>div:not(.notheme)[style]{background:#1f1f23!important;color:#f8f9fa}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data:not(.notheme) div:not(.notheme){background:#1f1f23!important;color:#f8f9fa}}@media(min-width:640px){body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table{display:table!important}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table>caption{display:table-caption!important}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table>tbody{display:table-row-group}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table tr{display:table-row!important}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table th,body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table td{padding-left:inherit;padding-right:inherit}}</style><table class="infobox" style="width: 210px; clear: right; float:right;margin:0 0 1.5em 1.5em"><tbody><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-above" style="font-size:115%">External videos</th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-full-data" style="text-align: left"><span typeof="mw:File"><span><img alt="video icon" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Nuvola_apps_kaboodle.svg/16px-Nuvola_apps_kaboodle.svg.png" decoding="async" width="16" height="16" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Nuvola_apps_kaboodle.svg/24px-Nuvola_apps_kaboodle.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Nuvola_apps_kaboodle.svg/32px-Nuvola_apps_kaboodle.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128"/></span></span> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.ted.com/talks/jimmy_wales_on_the_birth_of_wikipedia">Jimmy Wales: The birth of Wikipedia</a>, 2005 TED (conference), 20 mins.</td></tr></tbody></table> <ul><li><a href="https://donate.wikimedia.org/wiki/FAQ" class="extiw" title="donate:FAQ">What is Wikipedia?</a> – The Wikimedia Foundation.</li> <li><a href="https://wikimediafoundation.org/about/mission" class="extiw" title="foundationsite:about/mission">Mission statement</a> – The Wikimedia Foundation.</li> <li><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Bylaws#ARTICLE_II_-_STATEMENT_OF_PURPOSE" class="extiw" title="wmf:Bylaws">Statement of Purpose</a> – Wikimedia Foundation Bylaws Article II .</li> <li><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Wikimedia_Foundation_Guiding_Principles" class="extiw" title="wmf:Resolution:Wikimedia Foundation Guiding Principles">Foundation Guiding Principles</a> – The Wikimedia Foundation.</li> <li><a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Founding_principles" class="extiw" title="meta:Founding principles">Wikimedia founding principles</a> – Principles generally supported by all of the Wikimedia communities.</li></ul> <div class="navbox-styles"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1129693374">.mw-parser-output .hlist dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul{margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt,.mw-parser-output .hlist li{margin:0;display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul ul{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist .mw-empty-li{display:none}.mw-parser-output .hlist dt::after{content:": "}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li::after{content:" · ";font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li:last-child::after{content:none}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dd:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dt:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dd:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dt:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dd:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dt:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li li:first-child::before{content:" (";font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd li:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt li:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li li:last-child::after{content:")";font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .hlist ol{counter-reset:listitem}.mw-parser-output .hlist ol>li{counter-increment:listitem}.mw-parser-output .hlist ol>li::before{content:" "counter(listitem)"\a0 "}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd ol>li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt ol>li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li ol>li:first-child::before{content:" ("counter(listitem)"\a0 "}</style><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236075235">.mw-parser-output .navbox{box-sizing:border-box;border:1px solid #a2a9b1;width:100%;clear:both;font-size:88%;text-align:center;padding:1px;margin:1em auto 0}.mw-parser-output .navbox .navbox{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .navbox+.navbox,.mw-parser-output .navbox+.navbox-styles+.navbox{margin-top:-1px}.mw-parser-output .navbox-inner,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup{width:100%}.mw-parser-output .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-title,.mw-parser-output .navbox-abovebelow{padding:0.25em 1em;line-height:1.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .navbox-group{white-space:nowrap;text-align:right}.mw-parser-output .navbox,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup{background-color:#fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-list{line-height:1.5em;border-color:#fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-list-with-group{text-align:left;border-left-width:2px;border-left-style:solid}.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-group,.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-image,.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-list{border-top:2px solid #fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-title{background-color:#ccf}.mw-parser-output .navbox-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup .navbox-title{background-color:#ddf}.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup .navbox-abovebelow{background-color:#e6e6ff}.mw-parser-output .navbox-even{background-color:#f7f7f7}.mw-parser-output .navbox-odd{background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .navbox .hlist td dl,.mw-parser-output .navbox .hlist td ol,.mw-parser-output .navbox .hlist td ul,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist dl,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist ol,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist ul{padding:0.125em 0}.mw-parser-output .navbox .navbar{display:block;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .navbox-title .navbar{float:left;text-align:left;margin-right:0.5em}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .navbox-image img{max-width:none!important}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .navbox{display:none!important}}</style></div><div role="navigation" class="navbox" aria-labelledby="Basic_information_on_Wikipedia_-_(Search)" style="padding:3px"><table class="nowraplinks hlist mw-collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner" style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="2" style="text-align: center;"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239400231">.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:inline;font-size:88%;font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .navbar-collapse{float:left;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .navbar-boxtext{word-spacing:0}.mw-parser-output .navbar ul{display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;line-height:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::before{margin-right:-0.125em;content:"[ "}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::after{margin-left:-0.125em;content:" ]"}.mw-parser-output .navbar li{word-spacing:-0.125em}.mw-parser-output .navbar a>span,.mw-parser-output .navbar a>abbr{text-decoration:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-mini abbr{font-variant:small-caps;border-bottom:none;text-decoration:none;cursor:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-full{font-size:114%;margin:0 7em}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-mini{font-size:114%;margin:0 4em}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}@media(prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}}@media print{.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:none!important}}</style><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Basic_information" title="Template:Basic information"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Basic_information" title="Template talk:Basic information"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Basic_information" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Basic information"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div><div id="Basic_information_on_Wikipedia_-_(Search)" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em"><a href="/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_basic_information" title="Category:Wikipedia basic information">Basic information on Wikipedia</a> - (<a href="/wiki/Help:Searching#Custom_search_boxes" title="Help:Searching">Search</a>)</div></th></tr><tr><td class="navbox-abovebelow" colspan="2" style="text-align: center;"><div> <ul><li><b><a href="/wiki/Help:Contents" title="Help:Contents">Help</a></b> <ul><li><b><a href="/wiki/Help:Directory" title="Help:Directory">directory</a></b></li> <li><b><a href="/wiki/Help:Menu" title="Help:Menu">menu</a></b></li></ul></li> <li><b><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Teahouse" title="Wikipedia:Teahouse">Teahouse</a></b> (interactive help for new editors)</li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="text-align: center;;width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:About" title="Wikipedia:About">About Wikipedia</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Reader%27s_index_to_Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia:Reader's index to Wikipedia">Readers' index to Wikipedia</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Statistics" title="Wikipedia:Statistics">Statistics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Administration" title="Wikipedia:Administration">Administration</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:FAQ/Index" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:FAQ/Index">FAQs</a> <ul><li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Purpose</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Who_writes_Wikipedia%3F" title="Wikipedia:Who writes Wikipedia?">Who writes Wikipedia?</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Formal_organization" title="Wikipedia:Formal organization">Organization</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Censorship" title="Help:Censorship">Censorship</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_in_brief" title="Wikipedia:Wikipedia in brief">In brief</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:General_disclaimer" title="Wikipedia:General disclaimer">General disclaimer</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="text-align: center;;width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:FAQ/Readers" title="Wikipedia:FAQ/Readers">Readers' FAQ</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Help:Student_help" title="Help:Student help">Student help</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Navigation" title="Help:Navigation">Navigation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Searching" title="Help:Searching">Searching</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Viewing_media" title="Help:Viewing media">Viewing media</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Help:Media" title="Help:Media">Help</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Mobile_access" title="Help:Mobile access">Mobile access</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Advice_for_parents" title="Wikipedia:Advice for parents">Parental advice</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Other_languages" title="Help:Other languages">Other languages</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Researching_with_Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia:Researching with Wikipedia">Researching with Wikipedia</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia:Citing Wikipedia">Citing Wikipedia</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Copyright" title="Help:Copyright">Copyright</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="text-align: center;;width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Contributing_to_Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia:Contributing to Wikipedia">Introductions<br/>to contributing </a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Help:Introduction" title="Help:Introduction">Main introduction</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Getting_started" title="Help:Getting started">List of tutorials and introductions</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:The_answer_to_life,_the_universe,_and_everything" title="Wikipedia:The answer to life, the universe, and everything">The answer</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Dos_and_don%27ts" title="Wikipedia:Dos and don'ts">Dos and don'ts</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Learning_the_ropes" title="Wikipedia:Learning the ropes">Learning the ropes</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Avoiding_common_mistakes" title="Wikipedia:Avoiding common mistakes">Common mistakes</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:A_primer_for_newcomers" title="Wikipedia:A primer for newcomers">Newcomer primer</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Simplified_ruleset" title="Wikipedia:Simplified ruleset">Simplified ruleset</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Wikipedia:_The_Missing_Manual" title="Help:Wikipedia: The Missing Manual">The "Missing Manual"</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Your_first_article" title="Help:Your first article">Your first article</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Article_wizard" title="Wikipedia:Article wizard">Wizard</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Guidance_for_younger_editors" title="Wikipedia:Guidance for younger editors">Young Wikipedians</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:The_Wikipedia_Adventure" title="Wikipedia:The Wikipedia Adventure">The Wikipedia Adventure</a></li> <li>Accounts <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Why_create_an_account%3F" title="Wikipedia:Why create an account?">Why create an account?</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Logging_in" title="Help:Logging in">Logging in</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Email_confirmation" title="Help:Email confirmation">Email confirmation</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Editing" title="Help:Editing">Editing</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Help:Edit_toolbar" title="Help:Edit toolbar">Toolbar</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Edit_conflict" title="Help:Edit conflict">Conflict</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:VisualEditor" title="Wikipedia:VisualEditor">VisualEditor</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:VisualEditor/User_guide" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:VisualEditor/User guide">User guide</a></li></ul></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="text-align: center;;width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Policies_and_guidelines" title="Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines">Pillars, policies<br/> and guidelines</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Five_pillars" title="Wikipedia:Five pillars">Five pillars</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style" title="Wikipedia:Manual of Style">Manual of Style</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Simplified_Manual_of_Style" title="Wikipedia:Simplified Manual of Style">Simplified</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Etiquette" title="Wikipedia:Etiquette">Etiquette</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Expectations_and_norms_of_the_Wikipedia_community" title="Wikipedia:Expectations and norms of the Wikipedia community">Expectations</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Editorial_oversight_and_control" title="Wikipedia:Editorial oversight and control">Oversight</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Principles" title="Wikipedia:Principles">Principles</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Ignore_all_rules" title="Wikipedia:Ignore all rules">Ignore all rules</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:The_rules_are_principles" title="Wikipedia:The rules are principles">The rules are principles</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Core_content_policies" title="Wikipedia:Core content policies">Core content policies</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_policies_and_guidelines" title="Wikipedia:List of policies and guidelines">Policies and guidelines</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Vandalism" title="Wikipedia:Vandalism">Vandalism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Guide_to_appealing_blocks" title="Wikipedia:Guide to appealing blocks">Appealing blocks</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:What_Wikipedia_is_not" title="Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not">What Wikipedia is not</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="text-align: center;;width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Questions" title="Wikipedia:Questions">Getting help</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Help:Menu" title="Help:Menu">Help menu</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Help_desk" title="Wikipedia:Help desk">Help desk</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Reference_Desk" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:Reference Desk">Reference Desk</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Category" title="Help:Category">Category</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Request_directory" title="Wikipedia:Request directory">Requests for help</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Dispute_resolution_requests" title="Wikipedia:Dispute resolution requests">Disputes resolution requests</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:IRC" title="Wikipedia:IRC">IRC live chat</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:IRC/Tutorial" title="Wikipedia:IRC/Tutorial">Tutorial</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Contact_us" title="Wikipedia:Contact us">Contact us</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="text-align: center;;width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia_community" title="Wikipedia community">Wikipedia community</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Department_directory" title="Wikipedia:Department directory">Departments</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup" title="Wikipedia:Meetup">Meetups</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProjects" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:WikiProjects">WikiProjects</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Council/Guide#What_is_a_WikiProject?" title="Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Guide">Overview</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2013-04-01/WikiProject_report" title="Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2013-04-01/WikiProject report">FAQ</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump" title="Wikipedia:Village pump">Village pump</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_(policy)" title="Wikipedia:Village pump (policy)">policy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_(technical)" title="Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)">technical</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_(proposals)" title="Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)">proposals</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_(idea_lab)" title="Wikipedia:Village pump (idea lab)">idea lab</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_(WMF)" title="Wikipedia:Village pump (WMF)">wikimedia</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_(miscellaneous)" title="Wikipedia:Village pump (miscellaneous)">misc</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:News" title="Wikipedia:News">Newsletters</a>: <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost" title="Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost">Signpost</a></i></li> <li><a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/The_Wikipedia_Library/Newsletter" class="extiw" title="metawiki:The Wikipedia Library/Newsletter">Library Newsletter</a></li> <li><a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter" class="extiw" title="meta:GLAM/Newsletter"> GLAM Newsletter</a></li></ul></li> <li>Informational: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Community_portal" title="Wikipedia:Community portal">Community portal</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Dashboard" title="Wikipedia:Dashboard">Dashboard</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Noticeboards" title="Wikipedia:Noticeboards">Noticeboards</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Maintenance" title="Wikipedia:Maintenance">Maintenance</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Task_Center" title="Wikipedia:Task Center">Task Center</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Essays" title="Wikipedia:Essays">Essays</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Open_letters" title="Wikipedia:Open letters">Open letters</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="text-align: center;;width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources" title="Wikipedia:Citing sources">Sourcing</a> <br/>and <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Reliable_sources" title="Wikipedia:Reliable sources">referencing</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"></div><table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Research</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:The_Wikipedia_Library/Research_desk" title="Wikipedia:The Wikipedia Library/Research desk">Research desk</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:The_Wikipedia_Library" title="Wikipedia:The Wikipedia Library">Wikipedia Library</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Resource_Exchange/Resource_Request" title="Wikipedia:WikiProject Resource Exchange/Resource Request">Request Resources</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:The_Wikipedia_Library/Free_resources" title="Wikipedia:The Wikipedia Library/Free resources">Free resources</a></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://wikipedialibrary.wmflabs.org/">Request access to major databases</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Resource_Exchange" title="Wikipedia:WikiProject Resource Exchange">WikiProject Resource Exchange</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Resource_Exchange/Shared_Resources" title="Wikipedia:WikiProject Resource Exchange/Shared Resources">Shared resources</a></li></ul></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Guidelines</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Help:Find_sources" title="Help:Find sources">Finding sources</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Combining_sources" title="Wikipedia:Combining sources">Combining sources</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Referencing_for_beginners" title="Help:Referencing for beginners">Referencing</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Citations_quick_reference" title="Help:Citations quick reference">Citations</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Help:Citation_Style_1" title="Help:Citation Style 1">Citation Style 1</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_templates" title="Wikipedia:Citation templates">Citation templates</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Footnotes" title="Help:Footnotes">Footnotes</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:References_and_page_numbers" title="Help:References and page numbers">Page numbers</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Cite_errors" title="Help:Cite errors">Cite errors</a></li></ul></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table><div></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="text-align: center;;width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_how-to" title="Category:Wikipedia how-to">How-to guides</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_information_pages" title="Category:Wikipedia information pages">Category</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Tools" title="Wikipedia:Tools">Tools</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Infobox" title="Help:Infobox">Infoboxes</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Essays_in_a_nutshell/Article_writing" title="Wikipedia:Essays in a nutshell/Article writing">Writing articles</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Article_development" title="Wikipedia:Article development">Development</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Writing_better_articles" title="Wikipedia:Writing better articles">Better writing</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Files" title="Help:Files">Files</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Images" title="Wikipedia:Images">Images</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Creation_and_usage_of_media_files" title="Help:Creation and usage of media files">Media files</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Uploading_images" title="Wikipedia:Uploading images">Uploading</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Guide_to_image_deletion" title="Wikipedia:Guide to image deletion">Deletion</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:User_contributions" title="Help:User contributions">User contribution pages</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Editing" title="Help:Editing">Editing pages</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Help:Diff" title="Help:Diff">Diffs</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Namespace" title="Wikipedia:Namespace">Namespaces</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Guide_to_deletion" title="Wikipedia:Guide to deletion">Deletion</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Merging" title="Wikipedia:Merging">Merging</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:How_to_move_a_page" title="Help:How to move a page">Renaming</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Requested_moves" title="Wikipedia:Requested moves">Requests</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Redirect" title="Help:Redirect">Redirecting</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Reverting" title="Help:Reverting">Reverting</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Simple_guide_to_vandalism_cleanup" title="Help:Simple guide to vandalism cleanup">Vandalism cleanup</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Talk_pages" title="Help:Talk pages">Talk pages</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Help:Archiving_a_talk_page" title="Help:Archiving a talk page">Archiving</a></li></ul></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="text-align: center;;width:1%">Wiki markup</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Help:Wikitext" title="Help:Wikitext">Wiki markup</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Help:Cheatsheet" title="Help:Cheatsheet">Cheatsheet</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Columns" title="Help:Columns">Columns</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:HTML_in_wikitext" title="Help:HTML in wikitext">HTML</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:List" title="Help:List">Lists</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Magic_words" title="Help:Magic words">Magic words</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Help:Magic_words_for_beginners" title="Help:Magic words for beginners">For beginners</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Section" title="Help:Section">Sections</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Sound_file_markup" title="Help:Sound file markup">Sounds</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Special_characters" title="Help:Special characters">Special Characters</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Table" title="Help:Table">Tables</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Template" title="Help:Template">Templates</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Template_documentation" title="Wikipedia:Template documentation">Documentation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Template_index" title="Wikipedia:Template index">Index</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Substitution" title="Wikipedia:Substitution">Substitution</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Transclusion" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:Transclusion">Transclusion</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Visual_file_markup" title="Help:Visual file markup">Image and video markup</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Help:Pictures" title="Help:Pictures">Tutorial</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Help:Link" title="Help:Link">Linking</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="text-align: center;;width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Directories_and_indexes" title="Wikipedia:Directories and indexes">Directories</a> and glossaries</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_directories" title="Category:Wikipedia directories">Category</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_abbreviations" title="Wikipedia:Wikipedia abbreviations">Abbreviations</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Contents" title="Wikipedia:Contents">Contents</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Edit_summary_legend" title="Wikipedia:Edit summary legend">Edit summaries</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Essay_directory" title="Wikipedia:Essay directory">Essays</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Glossary" title="Wikipedia:Glossary">Glossary</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Editor%27s_index_to_Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia:Editor's index to Wikipedia">Index</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Shortcut_index" title="Wikipedia:Shortcut index">Shortcuts</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Tips" title="Wikipedia:Tips">Tips</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <div class="navbox-styles"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236075235"></div><div role="navigation" class="navbox" aria-labelledby="Wikipedia_articles" style="padding:3px"><table class="nowraplinks hlist mw-collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner" style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="2"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1239400231"><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Wikipedia" title="Template:Wikipedia"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Wikipedia" title="Template talk:Wikipedia"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Wikipedia" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Wikipedia"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div><div id="Wikipedia_articles" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a> articles</div></th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Outline_of_Wikipedia" title="Outline of Wikipedia">Overview<br/>(outline)</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li>Biases <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Gender_bias_on_Wikipedia" title="Gender bias on Wikipedia">gender</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Geographical_bias_on_Wikipedia" title="Geographical bias on Wikipedia">geographical</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ideological_bias_on_Wikipedia" title="Ideological bias on Wikipedia">ideological</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Racial_bias_on_Wikipedia" title="Racial bias on Wikipedia">racial</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Censorship_of_Wikipedia" title="Censorship of Wikipedia">Censorship</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Conflict-of-interest_editing_on_Wikipedia" title="Conflict-of-interest editing on Wikipedia">Conflict-of-interest editing</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/List_of_political_editing_incidents_on_Wikipedia" title="List of political editing incidents on Wikipedia">political editing incidents</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Criticism_of_Wikipedia" title="Criticism of Wikipedia">Criticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Deletion_of_articles_on_Wikipedia" title="Deletion of articles on Wikipedia">Deletion of articles</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Deletionism_and_inclusionism_in_Wikipedia" title="Deletionism and inclusionism in Wikipedia">deletionism and inclusionism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Notability_in_the_English_Wikipedia" title="Notability in the English Wikipedia">notability</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Disputes_on_Wikipedia" title="Disputes on Wikipedia">Disputes</a></li> <li>"<a href="/wiki/Ignore_all_rules" title="Ignore all rules">Ignore all rules</a>"</li> <li><a href="/wiki/MediaWiki" title="MediaWiki">MediaWiki</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Plagiarism_from_Wikipedia" title="Plagiarism from Wikipedia">Plagiarism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Predictions_of_the_end_of_Wikipedia" title="Predictions of the end of Wikipedia">Predictions of the project's end</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Reliability_of_Wikipedia" title="Reliability of Wikipedia">Reliability</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia_and_fact-checking" title="Wikipedia and fact-checking">Fact-checking</a></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Citation_needed" title="Citation needed">Citation needed</a></i></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Vandalism_on_Wikipedia" title="Vandalism on Wikipedia">Vandalism</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia_community" title="Wikipedia community">Community<br/>(Wikipedians)</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"></div><table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" class="navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia_administrators" title="Wikipedia administrators">Administrators</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/AfroCrowd" title="AfroCrowd">AfroCrowd</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Arbitration_Committee_(Wikipedia)" title="Arbitration Committee (Wikipedia)">Arbitration Committee</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Art%2BFeminism" title="Art+Feminism">Art+Feminism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia_bots" title="Wikipedia bots">Bots</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Lsjbot" title="Lsjbot">Lsjbot</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Edit_count" title="Edit count">Edit count</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_Wikipedias" title="List of Wikipedias">List of Wikipedias</a></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/The_Signpost" title="The Signpost">The Signpost</a></i></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikimedian_of_the_Year" title="Wikimedian of the Year">Wikimedian of the Year</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedian_in_residence" title="Wikipedian in residence">Wikipedian in residence</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/WikiProject" title="WikiProject">WikiProject</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Women_in_Red" title="Women in Red">Women in Red</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Events</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Edit-a-thon" title="Edit-a-thon">Edit-a-thon</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/WikiConference_India" title="WikiConference India">WikiConference India</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wiki_Indaba" title="Wiki Indaba">Wiki Indaba</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/WikiConference_North_America" title="WikiConference North America">WikiConference North America</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikimania" title="Wikimania">Wikimania</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Wiki Loves</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wiki_Loves_Earth" title="Wiki Loves Earth">Earth</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wiki_Loves_Folklore" title="Wiki Loves Folklore">Folklore</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wiki_Loves_Monuments" title="Wiki Loves Monuments">Monuments</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wiki_Loves_Pride" title="Wiki Loves Pride">Pride</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wiki_Science_Competition" title="Wiki Science Competition">Science</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">People<br/>(<a href="/wiki/List_of_Wikipedia_people" title="List of Wikipedia people">list</a>)</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Esra%27a_Al_Shafei" title="Esra'a Al Shafei">Esra'a Al Shafei</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Florence_Devouard" title="Florence Devouard">Florence Devouard</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sue_Gardner" title="Sue Gardner">Sue Gardner</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/David_Gerard_(author)" title="David Gerard (author)">David Gerard</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/James_Heilman" title="James Heilman">James Heilman</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Maryana_Iskander" title="Maryana Iskander">Maryana Iskander</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dariusz_Jemielniak" title="Dariusz Jemielniak">Dariusz Jemielniak</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rebecca_MacKinnon" title="Rebecca MacKinnon">Rebecca MacKinnon</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Katherine_Maher" title="Katherine Maher">Katherine Maher</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Magnus_Manske" title="Magnus Manske">Magnus Manske</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ira_Brad_Matetsky" title="Ira Brad Matetsky">Ira Brad Matetsky</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Erik_M%C3%B6ller" title="Erik Möller">Erik Möller</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Jason_Moore_(Wikipedia_editor)" title="Jason Moore (Wikipedia editor)">Jason Moore</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Raju_Narisetti" title="Raju Narisetti">Raju Narisetti</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Steven_Pruitt" title="Steven Pruitt">Steven Pruitt</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Annie_Rauwerda" title="Annie Rauwerda">Annie Rauwerda</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Larry_Sanger" title="Larry Sanger">Larry Sanger</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mar%C3%ADa_Sefidari" title="María Sefidari">María Sefidari</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Lisa_Seitz-Gruwell" title="Lisa Seitz-Gruwell">Lisa Seitz-Gruwell</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rosie_Stephenson-Goodknight" title="Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight">Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Lila_Tretikov" title="Lila Tretikov">Lila Tretikov</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Jimmy_Wales" title="Jimmy Wales">Jimmy Wales</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Molly_White_(writer)" title="Molly White (writer)">Molly White</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table><div></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/History_of_Wikipedia" title="History of Wikipedia">History</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"></div><table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" class="navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Bomis" title="Bomis">Bomis</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Nupedia" title="Nupedia">Nupedia</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/First_Wikipedia_edit" title="First Wikipedia edit">First edit</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia_logo" title="Wikipedia logo">Logo</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Internet_Watch_Foundation_and_Wikipedia" title="Internet Watch Foundation and Wikipedia">Internet Watch Foundation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Church_of_Scientology_editing_on_Wikipedia" title="Church of Scientology editing on Wikipedia">Scientology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hillsborough_disaster_Wikipedia_posts" title="Hillsborough disaster Wikipedia posts">Hillsborough disaster Wikipedia posts</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/VisualEditor" title="VisualEditor">VisualEditor</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/1Lib1Ref" title="1Lib1Ref">#1Lib1Ref</a></li> <li>Wikimedia Foundation actions <ul><li><a href="/wiki/2021_Wikimedia_Foundation_actions_on_the_Chinese_Wikipedia" title="2021 Wikimedia Foundation actions on the Chinese Wikipedia">on the Chinese Wikipedia</a> <ul><li>2021</li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/2022_Wikimedia_Foundation_actions_on_the_Arabic_and_Persian_Wikipedias" title="2022 Wikimedia Foundation actions on the Arabic and Persian Wikipedias">on the Arabic and Persian Wikipedias</a> <ul><li>2022</li></ul></li></ul></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/List_of_Wikipedia_controversies" title="List of Wikipedia controversies">Controversies</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Alan_MacMasters_hoax" title="Alan MacMasters hoax">Alan MacMasters hoax</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Carlos_Bandeirense_Mirand%C3%B3polis_hoax" title="Carlos Bandeirense Mirandópolis hoax">Carlos Bandeirense Mirandópolis hoax</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_edit_wars_on_Wikipedia" title="List of edit wars on Wikipedia">Edit wars</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Essjay_controversy" title="Essjay controversy">Essjay controversy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Henryk_Batuta_hoax" title="Henryk Batuta hoax">Henryk Batuta hoax</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Jar%27Edo_Wens_hoax" title="Jar'Edo Wens hoax">Jar'Edo Wens hoax</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia_Seigenthaler_biography_incident" title="Wikipedia Seigenthaler biography incident">Seigenthaler biography incident</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia_Star_Trek_Into_Darkness_debate" title="Wikipedia Star Trek Into Darkness debate"><i>Star Trek Into Darkness</i> debate</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/United_States_congressional_staff_edits_to_Wikipedia" title="United States congressional staff edits to Wikipedia">United States congressional staff edits</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Zhemao_hoaxes" title="Zhemao hoaxes">Zhemao hoaxes</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Coverage</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia_coverage_of_American_politics" title="Wikipedia coverage of American politics">American politics</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia_coverage_of_Donald_Trump" title="Wikipedia coverage of Donald Trump">Donald Trump</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia_and_the_COVID-19_pandemic" title="Wikipedia and the COVID-19 pandemic">COVID-19 pandemic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia_coverage_of_death" title="Wikipedia coverage of death">Death</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia_and_the_Israeli%E2%80%93Palestinian_conflict" title="Wikipedia and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict">Israeli–Palestinian conflict</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia_and_the_Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine" title="Wikipedia and the Russian invasion of Ukraine">Russian invasion of Ukraine</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table><div></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Honors</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/274301_Wikipedia" title="274301 Wikipedia">274301 Wikipedia</a></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Viola_angustifolia" title="Viola angustifolia">Viola angustifolia</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia_Monument" title="Wikipedia Monument">Wikipedia Monument</a></i></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">References<br/>and analysis</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Academic_studies_about_Wikipedia" title="Academic studies about Wikipedia">Academic studies</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bibliography_of_Wikipedia" title="Bibliography of Wikipedia">Bibliography</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia_in_culture" title="Wikipedia in culture">Cultural</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_films_about_Wikipedia" title="List of films about Wikipedia">Films</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Listen_to_Wikipedia" title="Listen to Wikipedia">Listen to Wikipedia</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipediocracy" title="Wikipediocracy">Wikipediocracy</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Mobile</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/List_of_Wikipedia_mobile_applications" title="List of Wikipedia mobile applications">Apps</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/QRpedia" title="QRpedia">QRpedia</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wapedia" title="Wapedia">Wapedia</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia_Zero" title="Wikipedia Zero">Wikipedia Zero</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/WikiReader" title="WikiReader">WikiReader</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikiwand" title="Wikiwand">Wikiwand</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Content use</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/DBpedia" title="DBpedia">DBpedia</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Depths_of_Wikipedia" title="Depths of Wikipedia">Depths of Wikipedia</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Relationship_between_Google_and_Wikipedia" title="Relationship between Google and Wikipedia">Google and Wikipedia</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Health_information_on_Wikipedia" title="Health information on Wikipedia">Health information</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Kiwix" title="Kiwix">Kiwix</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Science_information_on_Wikipedia" title="Science information on Wikipedia">Science information</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia-based_education" title="Wikipedia-based education">Wikipedia-based education</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Related</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/The_Iraq_War:_A_Historiography_of_Wikipedia_Changelogs" title="The Iraq War: A Historiography of Wikipedia Changelogs">The Iraq War: A Historiography of Wikipedia Changelogs</a></i></li> <li><a href="/wiki/LGBTQ_and_Wikipedia" title="LGBTQ and Wikipedia">LGBTQ and Wikipedia</a></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Magna_Carta_(An_Embroidery)" title="Magna Carta (An Embroidery)">Magna Carta (An Embroidery)</a></i></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_people_imprisoned_for_editing_Wikipedia" title="List of people imprisoned for editing Wikipedia">People imprisoned for editing Wikipedia</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Print_Wikipedia" title="Print Wikipedia">Print Wikipedia</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wiki_rabbit_hole" title="Wiki rabbit hole">Wiki rabbit hole</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation" title="Wikimedia Foundation">Wikimedia Foundation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikimedia_movement" title="Wikimedia movement">Wikimedia movement</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia_for_World_Heritage" title="Wikipedia for World Heritage">Wikipedia for World Heritage</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia_in_India" title="Wikipedia in India">Wikipedia in India</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikiracing" title="Wikiracing">Wikiracing</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_online_encyclopedias" title="List of online encyclopedias">List of online encyclopedias</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_wikis" title="List of wikis">List of wikis</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><td class="navbox-abovebelow" colspan="2"><div> <ul><li><span class="noviewer" typeof="mw:File"><span title="List-Class article"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/db/Symbol_list_class.svg/16px-Symbol_list_class.svg.png" decoding="async" width="16" height="16" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/db/Symbol_list_class.svg/23px-Symbol_list_class.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/db/Symbol_list_class.svg/31px-Symbol_list_class.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="180" data-file-height="185"/></span></span> <b><a href="/wiki/List_of_Wikipedias" title="List of Wikipedias">List</a></b></li> <li><span class="noviewer" typeof="mw:File"><span title="Category"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/96/Symbol_category_class.svg/16px-Symbol_category_class.svg.png" decoding="async" width="16" height="16" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/96/Symbol_category_class.svg/23px-Symbol_category_class.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/96/Symbol_category_class.svg/31px-Symbol_category_class.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="180" data-file-height="185"/></span></span> <b><a href="/wiki/Category:Wikipedia" title="Category:Wikipedia">Category</a></b></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table></div>    </div><noscript><img src="https://login.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAutoLogin/start?type=1x1" alt="" width="1" height="1" style="border: none; position: absolute;"></noscript> <div class="printfooter" data-nosnippet="">Retrieved from "<a dir="ltr" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Purpose&oldid=1257376646">https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Purpose&oldid=1257376646</a>"</div></div> <div id="catlinks" class="catlinks" data-mw="interface"><div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="/wiki/Help:Category" title="Help:Category">Category</a>: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_information_pages" title="Category:Wikipedia information pages">Wikipedia information pages</a></li></ul></div></div> </div> </main> </div> <div class="mw-footer-container"> <footer id="footer" class="mw-footer" > <ul id="footer-info"> <li id="footer-info-lastmod"> This page was last edited on 14 November 2024, at 16:20<span class="anonymous-show"> (UTC)</span>.</li> <li id="footer-info-copyright">Text is available under the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_4.0_International_License" title="Wikipedia:Text of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License">Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License</a>; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the <a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Terms_of_Use" class="extiw" title="foundation:Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Terms of Use">Terms of Use</a> and <a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Privacy_policy" class="extiw" title="foundation:Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Privacy policy">Privacy Policy</a>. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://wikimediafoundation.org/">Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.</a>, a non-profit organization.</li> </ul> <ul id="footer-places"> <li id="footer-places-privacy"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Privacy_policy">Privacy policy</a></li> <li id="footer-places-about"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:About">About Wikipedia</a></li> <li id="footer-places-disclaimers"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:General_disclaimer">Disclaimers</a></li> <li id="footer-places-contact"><a href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contact_us">Contact Wikipedia</a></li> <li id="footer-places-wm-codeofconduct"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Universal_Code_of_Conduct">Code of Conduct</a></li> <li id="footer-places-developers"><a href="https://developer.wikimedia.org">Developers</a></li> <li id="footer-places-statslink"><a href="https://stats.wikimedia.org/#/en.wikipedia.org">Statistics</a></li> <li id="footer-places-cookiestatement"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Cookie_statement">Cookie statement</a></li> <li id="footer-places-mobileview"><a href="//en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Purpose&mobileaction=toggle_view_mobile" class="noprint stopMobileRedirectToggle">Mobile view</a></li> </ul> <ul id="footer-icons" class="noprint"> <li id="footer-copyrightico"><a href="https://wikimediafoundation.org/" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button--enabled"><img src="/static/images/footer/wikimedia-button.svg" width="84" height="29" alt="Wikimedia Foundation" loading="lazy"></a></li> <li id="footer-poweredbyico"><a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button--enabled"><img src="/w/resources/assets/poweredby_mediawiki.svg" alt="Powered by MediaWiki" width="88" height="31" loading="lazy"></a></li> </ul> </footer> </div> </div> </div> <div class="vector-settings" id="p-dock-bottom"> <ul></ul> </div><script>(RLQ=window.RLQ||[]).push(function(){mw.config.set({"wgHostname":"mw-web.codfw.main-84d8f4b96-fgpw6","wgBackendResponseTime":149,"wgDiscussionToolsPageThreads":[{"headingLevel":2,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-Concept_of_an_encyclopedia","replies":[]},{"headingLevel":2,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-Wikipedia's_goal","replies":[]},{"headingLevel":2,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-Wikipedia's_content","replies":[]},{"headingLevel":2,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-See_also","replies":[]},{"headingLevel":2,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-References","replies":[]},{"headingLevel":2,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-External_links","replies":[]}],"wgPageParseReport":{"discussiontools":{"limitreport-timeusage":"0.038"},"limitreport":{"cputime":"0.528","walltime":"0.664","ppvisitednodes":{"value":2424,"limit":1000000},"postexpandincludesize":{"value":118024,"limit":2097152},"templateargumentsize":{"value":11274,"limit":2097152},"expansiondepth":{"value":12,"limit":100},"expensivefunctioncount":{"value":3,"limit":500},"unstrip-depth":{"value":1,"limit":20},"unstrip-size":{"value":44776,"limit":5000000},"entityaccesscount":{"value":0,"limit":400},"timingprofile":["100.00% 505.861 1 -total"," 29.55% 149.477 1 Template:Reflist"," 23.85% 120.664 4 Template:Navbox"," 22.26% 112.585 5 Template:Cite_web"," 21.93% 110.937 1 Template:Information_page"," 19.11% 96.678 1 Template:Basic_information"," 12.74% 64.439 1 Template:Ombox"," 8.69% 43.976 2 Template:Namespace_detect"," 7.77% 39.328 1 Template:External_media"," 7.19% 36.390 1 Template:Shortcut"]},"scribunto":{"limitreport-timeusage":{"value":"0.290","limit":"10.000"},"limitreport-memusage":{"value":6160097,"limit":52428800}},"cachereport":{"origin":"mw-api-int.codfw.main-648bd44df8-92nlm","timestamp":"20241116052614","ttl":2592000,"transientcontent":false}}});});</script> </body> </html>