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> Anyone know how Wikipedia's own "Random article" function (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random) selects

> Anyone know how Wikipedia's own "Random article" function (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random) selects articles? Truly completely random with no quality aspect? Here's how it works: - https://github.com/wikimedia/mediawiki/blob/addb6649503c45f06a94930e90cae4f8c0d258f7/includes/specials/SpecialRandomPage.php#L122 https://github.com/wikimedia/mediawiki/blob/addb6649503c45f0... - https://github.com/wikimedia/mediawiki/blob/addb6649503c45f06a94930e90cae4f8c0d258f7/includes/GlobalFunctions.php#L239 https://github.com/wikimedia/mediawiki/blob/addb6649503c45f0... TLDR: random, no quality aspect

chrisma0 5y ago
Thanks for those links! From the code comments: "it won't cause any more bias than what the page_random scheme causes anyway. Trust me, I'm a mathematician. :)" Git blame says the author was "Ilmari Karonen" (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ilmari_Karonen https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ilmari_Karonen), 15 years ago!