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Is there an easy way to browse past versions of Wikipedia? I’m aware of the Wayback Machine, but that only works for a particular article. I ask because it’s b
by ceilingcorner 6y ago
Is there an easy way to browse past versions of Wikipedia? I’m aware of the Wayback Machine, but that only works for a particular article.
I ask because it’s become increasingly obvious that articles are changed to fit the contemporary zeitgeist. Writers that died a century ago are recast into different people, depending on the popular ideology of the day. The choice of acceptable sources is also pretty disappointing. This problem is unique to the internet and doesn’t exist with hardback encyclopedias; one can still buy a hardback set of Britannica circa 1900.
Once 2050 comes around, I’d like to be able to read the 2010 version of Wikipedia, not the one deemed acceptable by the powers that be.
- nsajko 6y agoEvery Wikipedia page has its history accessible through "View history".
- ceilingcorner 6y agoYes I meant if there’s a way to view the entire site, not only specific pages.
- bawolff 6y agoNot super easily, but the entire site can be downloaded from https://dumps.wikimedia.org/backup-index.html https://dumps.wikimedia.org/backup-index.html so you can make your own copy and do what you want (technically this is a little involved. File formats are not the most convinent) The full dumps include old versions of articles but there are also old dumps available at https://dumps.wikimedia.org/archive/ https://dumps.wikimedia.org/archive/