You know that feeling when you can't quite remember a fact – or when curiosity strikes about something super specific? Or maybe you're caught in a debate over a little detail.
Who – or what – do you turn to? The answer for all those scenarios is likely the same: Wikipedia.
Whether you click through to one of Wikipedia's six million-plus English language articles – or query the AI bot in your phone – much of our factual questions get answered by the site.
Or rather – the tens of millions of editors who have contributed and updated its pages. More than 100,000 so-called "Wikipedians" have done so in the past month alone.
Debate often arises among editors. For example, a couple months ago, editors thrashed out where the two words "convicted felon" should appear on Donald Trump's page. In the first few sentences? Or buried further down?
What does the future of the site hold?
Like what you hear? Find more of our programs online. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a.
Copyright 2024 NPR