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It's easy to forget how amazing Wikipedia is because people are so used to it. It's also an anomaly in todays internet landscape - no ads, popups or auto-play v

It's easy to forget how amazing Wikipedia is because people are so used to it. It's also an anomaly in todays internet landscape - no ads, popups or auto-play videos. I think it's literally the best website in existence. If you suggested 20 years ago that there will soon exist a free online encyclopedia, which has two orders of magnitude more words than Britannica, is updated daily and is mostly unbiased - they would probably think it's impossible.

segfaultbuserr 7y ago
> no ads, popups or auto-play videos. Also, there are no 100 JavaScript tracking scripts on Wikipedia, and it's probably one of the fastest sites among the top-100 websites in the world.
- Polylactic_acid 7y ago
  Most websites start out like wikipedia and then they feel the constant pressure to expand and now they have a mountain of expenses to cover so they tarnish the website in an effort to squeeze every last $ out of the user. I like how wikipedia has stuck to its original goal and kept a lean budget while delivering one of the most used websites on the internet.
  - busymom0 7y ago
    Agree with everything except the "lean budget" part. My other comment has breakdown of their costs. They spend way too much money imo: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22135938 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22135938
    - segfaultbuserr 7y ago
      Yes, it's my worry too. The Wikimedia Foundation kept expanding, and it may be unsustainable.
    - Polylactic_acid 7y ago
      Lean budget compared to all of the other websites at their size.
kick 7y ago
There are two candidates for "best website in existence," both were made by people born in countries that spawned from the dissolution of the USSR, and one starts with "sci-" while the other starts with "Lib." One ends with "hub" while the other ends with "Gen."
- executesorder66 7y ago
  It's okay. You can say Scihub and libgen. Nothing bad will happen.
  - kick 7y ago
    I know I can, but separating by syllable might lead people to my favorite program, ever: https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/archive/scigen/ https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/archive/scigen/

segfaultbuserr 7y ago

> no ads, popups or auto-play videos. Also, there are no 100 JavaScript tracking scripts on Wikipedia, and it's probably one of the fastest sites among the top-100 websites in the world.

Polylactic_acid 7y ago
Most websites start out like wikipedia and then they feel the constant pressure to expand and now they have a mountain of expenses to cover so they tarnish the website in an effort to squeeze every last $ out of the user. I like how wikipedia has stuck to its original goal and kept a lean budget while delivering one of the most used websites on the internet.
- busymom0 7y ago
  Agree with everything except the "lean budget" part. My other comment has breakdown of their costs. They spend way too much money imo: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22135938 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22135938
  - segfaultbuserr 7y ago
    Yes, it's my worry too. The Wikimedia Foundation kept expanding, and it may be unsustainable.
  - Polylactic_acid 7y ago
    Lean budget compared to all of the other websites at their size.

kick 7y ago

There are two candidates for "best website in existence," both were made by people born in countries that spawned from the dissolution of the USSR, and one starts with "sci-" while the other starts with "Lib." One ends with "hub" while the other ends with "Gen."

executesorder66 7y ago
It's okay. You can say Scihub and libgen. Nothing bad will happen.
- kick 7y ago
  I know I can, but separating by syllable might lead people to my favorite program, ever: https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/archive/scigen/ https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/archive/scigen/