Wikipedia is a
multilingual,
open content,
free encyclopedia project operated by the
non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its name is a
portmanteau of the words
wiki (a type of collaborative website) and
encyclopedia. Launched in 2001, it is the largest, fastest growing and most popular general reference work currently available on the
Internet. As of December 2007, Wikipedia had approximately 9 ¼ million articles in 253 languages, comprising a combined total of over 1.41 billion words for all Wikipedias. The
English Wikipedia edition passed the 2,000,000 article mark on
September 9,
2007. Wikipedia's articles have been written
collaboratively by
volunteers around the world and the vast majority of them can be edited by anyone with access to the Internet. Critics have questioned Wikipedia's reliability and accuracy, citing its open nature. The criticism is centered on its susceptibility to
vandalism, such as the insertion of profanities or random letters into articles, and the addition of spurious or unverified information; uneven quality,
systemic bias and inconsistencies; and for favoring
consensus over
credentials in its editorial process. Scholarly work suggests that vandalism is generally short-lived. When
Time Magazine recognized "
You" as their
Person of the Year 2006, Wikipedia was the first particular "
Web 2.0" service mentioned, followed by
YouTube and
MySpace.
Leet (written 31337, 1337, and l33t), or Leetspeak, is a written argot used primarily on the Internet, which uses various combinations of alphanumerics to replace Latinate letters. The term is derived from the word "elite", and the usage it describes is a specialized form of shorthand.
