View source for User:Gracefool

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{{User unified login/userbox|gracefool}}
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{{User:gracefool/active wikipedian for|year=2004|month=3|day=5|htmlusername=gracefool}}
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{{User:Strdst grl/ubx/sevenages|Senior}}
{{Ubxrands|num=8|User wikipedia/WikiGnome|User wikipedia/WikiGnome|User wikipedia/WikiGnome|User wikipedia/Platypus|User wikipedia/Platypus|User wikipedia/WikiHobbit|User wikipedia/WikiHobbit|User wikipedia/WikiChef}}
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! style="background-color:#ccf;text-align:left" |{{anchor|Userscripts|Userscripts I use}}[[Wikipedia:WikiProject User scripts/Scripts|Userscripts]] I [[User:gracefool/common.js|use]]
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Navigation & tweaks
* [[Wikipedia:Tools/Navigation popups|Navigation popups]]
* [[User:Haza-w/Drop-down_menus|Drop-down menus]]
* [[m:User:Pathoschild/Scripts/TemplateScript|TemplateScript]]
* [[User:Drilnoth/lefteditlinks.js/doc|closer section edit links]]
* [[Wikipedia:Comments in Local Time|Comments in Local Time]]
* [[User:PleaseStand/Comment highlighter|Comment highlighter]]
Editing
* [[User:Cacycle/wikEd|wikEd]]
* [[Wikipedia:HotCat|HotCat]]
* [[Wikipedia:Citation expander|Citation expander]]
* [[User:PleaseStand/Hide Vector sidebar|Hide Vector sidebar]] (for edit mode only)
Info
* [[User:Pyrospirit/metadata|article assessment header]]
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Hello! [[wp:Wikipedia is an MMORPG|Wikipedia is my favourite MMORPG]]. I'm [[wp:be nice|nice]], [[wp:be bold|bold]] and [[wp:No angry mastodons|peaceful]], and follow the [[wp:Revert only when necessary#One-revert rule|one-revert rule]] (i.e. the standard [[Wikipedia:BOLD, revert, discuss cycle|be bold, revert, discuss cycle]]). Almost all my edits are small, incremental improvements—small things can make a big difference, such as [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Writing Captions|adding captions]] or improving [[Wikipedia:neutral point of view|neutral point of view]]. Occasionally I make bigger edits ([[/Edits|see some examples]]).

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==Contributions==
<!--Pageviews https://pageviews.toolforge.org/userviews/?project=en.wikipedia.org&platform=all-access&agent=user&namespace=0&redirects=0&start=2015-07-01&end=2020-11-10&user=Gracefool&sort=views&direction=1&view=list&user=Gracefool-->
I have made <!--[https://tools.wmflabs.org/supercount/index.php?user=Gracefool&project=en.wikipedia many]-->{{scp|1=https://tools.wmflabs.org/xtools-ec/?user=gracefool&lang=en&wiki=wikipedia|2=many}}<sup>[[m:Edit counting|!]]</sup> {{scp|1=http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Special:Contributions&target=gracefool|2=contributions}}<sup>{{scp|1=https://tools.wmflabs.org/guc/?user=Gracefool |2=+}}</sup>, of many kinds:
*Initially I did a fair bit of [[/Maintenance|maintenance]] and [[/Greeted|greeting]].
*Early on I helped with the new [[wp:citation templates|citation templates]], creating {{tl|cite book}} to replace {{tl|book reference}}, and the other templates incorporated the same code. See [[User:gracefool/cite book]] for the earliest development—this was in the days before complex templates were supported in the software via [[mw:Help:Extension:ParserFunctions|ParserFunctions]] (which have themselves thankfully been replaced with [[mw:lua scripting|lua scripting]]), so the code was very hard to read, but it worked. I like to see citation templates being used—not only do they make following standards easy, using them usually means adding information to the citation. Note that you can use the {{scp|https://tools.wmflabs.org/refill/|reFill}} tool to get you started. Also for web links you should use a tool like [[Wikipedia:Using WebCite|WebCite]] or [https://archive.is/ archive.is] to create a lasting copy of the page. However I'm hoping all this will be replaced by the [[m:Wikicite|Wikicite project]].
<!--*I do {{scp|1=https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Contributions&offset=&limit=500&tagfilter=&contribs=user&target=Gracefool&namespace=10&associated=1|2=other work on templates}}.-->
*I tweaked a bunch of userboxes, and [[User:gracefool/Userboxen|created a few variations]] that are used by hundreds of people.
*I've '''[[User:gracefool/Uploaded|uploaded]]''' {{/Uploaded/total}} images and '''[[User:gracefool/Created|created]]''' {{/Created/total}} articles.
*I like to create [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Redirect|redirects]] to make it easier for people to find articles, and so new article creators are aware of the article space they share.
*I'm in the [[wp:Typo Team|tyop team]], and I use my [[User:gracefoo|alternate account]] for the [[Wikipedia:WikiProject TypoScan|TypoScan Wikiproject]]<!-- (I made 825 semi-automated edits before I started using my alternate account, and another 159 after because my alternate account AWB approval expired, totalling {{scp|1=https://xtools.wmflabs.org/autoedits/en.wikipedia.org/Gracefool|2=984 automated edits on this account}})-->.
*I'm available to [[/Adopted|mentor]] users.

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==[[Commons:Commons:Picture of the day|Commons picture of the day]]==
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==Policy==
{{Signpost-subscription|right}}
Earlier in my time as a Wikipedia editor I had a role in developing policy, because I saw how well-defined policies help prevent a lot of arguments and wasted time. Over my {{Number to word|{{#expr:{{CURRENTYEAR}}-2004-{{#ifexpr:{{CURRENTMONTH}}>3|0|{{#ifexpr:{{CURRENTMONTH}}<3|1|{{#ifexpr:{{CURRENTDAY}}>=5|0|1}}}}}}}}}} years of experience I've seen how policy has gradually changed—not officially, but effectively.

===Categories===
My essay ''[[/What is a category?|What is a category?]]'' pointed out why categories should be sets rather than hierarchies, and this is now policy.{{dubious|Category policy}} A simple change for the better.

===Criteria for article inclusion===
Probably the most fundamental political conflict on Wikipedia is between two viewpoints: deletionism and inclusionism. [[m:deletionism|Deletionists]] believe the quality of Wikipedia is significantly improved by deleting obscure articles, keeping the average article quality higher. Inclusionists such as myself believe deletion on the basis of notability is counterproductive for many reasons: essentially, deletion ''removes'' work that could contribute to worthwhile articles, even if it isn't initially [[Wikipedia:Good articles|up to standard]]. Further, we don't see why average article quality has any relevance at all: we believe the founding principle that [[m:Wiki is not paper|Wiki is not paper]]; that is, there is no reason why the existence of stub articles on relatively obscure topics lowers the quality of the encyclopedia - quite the opposite, the strength of Wikipedia is in the way it can have a page on anything without any problem of overhead.

Thus I also [[wp:Notability/Historical/Importance|worked on]] the creation of the policy on notability / importance: I was tired of many deletionists acting as if such a policy existed, giving them reason to delete articles, regardless of good references. So I decided to see if they really did have a consensus view. Fortunately they didn't; the community still backs the status quo so [[wp:Notability|the current page]] mostly just points to the other older policies—ie. article notability is still determined by [[wp:verifiability|verifiability]] and "[[wp:What Wikipedia is not|What Wikipedia is not]]". There is notability so far as [[wp:Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Release Version Criteria#Importance of topic|article assessment]] is concerned; but not for article inclusion.

Unfortunately the idea that article inclusion depends on notability is still very common, and arguments about it are more numerous than ever. Whether with files or articles, some people just prefer to delete things instead of fixing them — that is after all easier, and it is the fundamental problem with deletionism: it's essentially destructive. Often articles are successfully reintroduced (and never again voted for deletion) by someone who does a better job of it (there's also now a crazy workaround called the [[wp:Article Incubator|Article Incubator]]). The success of deletionism means the standard for new articles has gradually increased over time, so where once a new article would be tagged as a [[wp:stub]] for later expansion, it is now more likely to be removed for not meeting a relatively high standard from the start.

Over time, the subjects of new articles will naturally be more esoteric, and in combination with the raised entry barrier, it is now unlikely that any article created by a newcomer will survive. This is one of the reasons that numbers of both [https://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/TablesWikipediansNew.htm new Wikipedians] and [https://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/TablesWikipediansEditsGt5.htm active Wikipedians] have declined every year since 2007.

Policy and the [[wp:Five pillars|five pillars]] are one thing, but what actually happens is determined by an active minority of self-appointed content police.

It's a huge, time wasting problem that is probably '''the''' biggest discouragement to Wikipedia contributions, and is often the reason people leave Wikipedia. It has crazy effects such as making [http://www.chemconnector.com/2011/11/17/why-are-pornstars-more-notable-than-scientists-on-wikipedia/ pornstars more notable than world-famous scientists], and increasing [[Criticism of Wikipedia#Systemic bias in coverage|Wikipedia's systemic bias]]. See [[deletionism and inclusionism in Wikipedia]] for more.
<!-- Jimbo on deletionism http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2003-November/008266.html -->

====Voting====
Over-reliance on polls is against the spirit of Wikipedia—Wikipedia is about creating consensus, not taking sides. Official policy is still that [[wp:What Wikipedia is not#Wikipedia is not a democracy|consensus is based on discussion, not voting]], however in practice that didn't last long and now [[wp:voting|voting]] is the norm. People commonly add their votes even when they don't have anything to add to the discussion, and admins consider consensus based on a count of people for versus people against. See also [[m:Polls are evil|Polls are evil]] and [[wp:Voting is not evil|Voting is not evil]].

More than that, what is called "consensus" is usually only a slim majority, and effectively not even that. [[Wikipedia:Deletion_process#Deletion_discussions|Deletion discussions]] heavily bias deletion since the vast majority of people who participate are either people who worked on the page (almost always only a few), and people whose goal it is to improve the quality of Wikipedia by deleting articles, and who thus contribute to large numbers of discussions on pages they've had nothing to do with. If anything, the opinion of those with [http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2013/09/taleb_on_skin_i.html skin in the game] should be more weighty than that of others, not less.

Deletion discussions used to be explicitly called "Votes for deletion". Now we now pretend we're not voting, in accordance with policy. Voting further increases the deletionist bias since participants can quickly vote on a large number of "discussions", perhaps adding a token point that has already been covered by someone else, instead of contributing anything of substance.

Although a lack of consensus is supposed to result in non-deletion, discussions are instead often extended instead ''until'' deletion results. Of course this undermines the integrity of voting, since there's no clear limit on how long a discussion can be extended if someone doesn't like the outcome (most of the time that someone is a deletionist, for reasons stated above). Worse, discussions for the same page are often created over and again for years until a greater number of people are calling for deletion, or more often, merely a greater number of people have ''recently'' called for deletion, since arguments in older iterations of the discussion aren't counted.

====Example====
<!--Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2016 January 26#Abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz (song)-->
The fifth article I created, in 2004, was [[Phantom mobile device vibration]]. It was deleted, but shouldn't have been, as there was [[wp:Votes for deletion/Phantom mobile device vibration-1|nothing close to a consensus]] with people for and against split 5/5. The article was later recreated by another editor, successfully [[wp:Votes for deletion/Phantom_mobile_device_vibration|voted for deletion again]], recreated by yet another editor, voted for deletion a third time, and then [[wp:Speedy deletions|speedily deleted]] (again, against policy).

As a result of being wrongly deleted, good writing was lost (you can't see the history of a deleted page), making the eventual article weaker and more likely to be deleted each subsequent time, instead of gradually improving. In 2006 it was recreated for the fourth time, under the title [[ringxiety]], and this time it got lucky and survived, and looks to be here to stay under the title [[phantom ringing]].

While it's not a terribly important article, in hindsight it's clearly important enough to deserve an article, with several research papers written on it, and chosen as "word of the year" by [[Macquarie Dictionary|Australia's most authoritative dictionary]] in 2012. Similar deletions have happened to many better articles. It's an example of how deletionism involves predicting the future, how it tends to make the encyclopedia worse for ''highly questionable benefit'', how the voting process is biased in favour of [[meta:deletionism|deletionism]], and why voting has always been against policy.



For more reasons behind my thinking on inclusion and voting, see [http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/whowriteswikipedia Who Writes Wikipedia?] ([[Aaron Swartz]], 2006).

===Conclusion: Wikipedia is a zombie===
As Wikipedia gains acceptance in academia, these issues are only becoming more important. We are discouraging not only new editors from contributing, but also world experts and academic organisations. [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2011-10-10/Opinion essay|We need to make Wikipedia easier to use]], and this is more of a cultural problem than a technical one.

These problems are ultimately a result of large-scale "consensus" decision-making, with a lack of central leadership (for an example, see [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2011-08-29/Opinion_essay|this essay]]). The problem originates in the [http://larrysanger.org/2011/06/is-there-a-new-geek-anti-intellectualism/ techno-utopian anarchist philosophies common among first-generation Internet geeks]. In reality, crowd collaboration is excellent for highly parallel tasks that benefit from diverse viewpoints, like bug-fixing and feedback—and the core task of improving encyclopaedia articles—but it cannot replace centralized vision and leadership, or highly skilled teams (such as those that maintain Wikipedia's technical infrastructure). See also [http://www.strategy-business.com/article/07204?pg=all ''The ignorance of crowds''] by [[Nicholas G. Carr|Nicholas Carr]].

Without stronger direction, [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2012-05-14/News and notes#Editor survey results|bureaucratic complexity]] will grow and Wikipedia will continue to become less friendly to newcomers, and less open and transparent in its actual operation. Further evidence of this is the [[User:Guy Macon/Wikipedia has Cancer|massively increasing budget of the Foundation]], making it increasingly dependent on [[Big Tech]] and thus threatening to undermine the fundamentally democratic ethos, in addition to misrepresentation and misuse of donations.

By [[Monthly active users|social media standards]], Wikipedia has been slowly dying for most of its existence (since its [[Wikipedia#Launch and early growth|peak in early 2007]], measured by [https://stats.wikimedia.org/#/en.wikipedia.org/contributing/active-editors/normal|line|all|~total|monthly active users], [https://stats.wikimedia.org/#/en.wikipedia.org/contributing/user-edits/normal|bar|all|page_type~content|monthly edits], and [[Wikipedia:Modelling Wikipedia's growth|new articles]]). If stronger direction (as opposed to bureaucracy) continues to be seen as contrary to its founding principles, it is doomed to continue to stagnate.

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===Postscript: Sockpuppetry===
A related issue is that [[Conflict-of-interest editing on Wikipedia|paid edits and conflicts of interest on Wikipedia]] are rarely disclosed. Everyone wants articles covering themselves to be more favourable, but organisations have extra motivation to do something about it directly—not realising that such covert marketing is likely against the rules. While unsophisticated [[Business communication|marketing / comms]] people perform edits themselves, and often fail due to their complete lack of subtlety, the clever ones pay for experts. I've been offered money for editing a company's page (I refused, instead just giving advice about how to go about editing the ''right'' way to increase their chances of success)—so I wonder how much Wikipedia editing is paid promotion. What leadership Wikipedia does have often prefers to minimize the problem, as it's bad for Wikipedia's reputation—most common challenges to Wikipedia's reputation ''are'' ignorant or unreasonable, so leadership has a habit of defensiveness. Of course conflicts of interest can never be eliminated, but blatant [[sockpuppet (Internet)|sockpuppets]] can. For instance [https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/05/the-philip-cross-affair/ there are many accounts that are almost certainly fronts for organisations, but that leadership flatly denies].


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==Useful stuff==
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{| cellpadding="5" cellspacing="6" border style="background:#CCF9FF;font-size:90%;font-family:verdana;tahoma;arial;border:0;"
! [[Help:Contents|Help]] & [[Wikipedia:Community portal|Community]] !! Interesting stuff !! [[Wikipedia:Tools|Tools]]
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*[[meta:Help:Editing|Editing]]
*[[wp:Article wizard|Article wizard]]
*[[User:Tony1/How to improve your writing|How to improve your writing on Wikipedia]]
*[[wp:Policies and guidelines|Policies and guidelines]]
*[[wp:Editor's index to Wikipedia|Editor's index to Wikipedia]]
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*[[Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost|Signpost]], the Wikipedia newspaper
*[[m:Research:Newsletter/Archives|Wikimedia Research newsletter]]
*[[Wikipedia:Statistics]]
*[http://wikipedia.trending.eu/en/24/ Most viewed articles] ([http://wikipedia.trending.eu/en/24/ hourly])([[Wikipedia:5000|top 5000]])
<!--[[tools:~johang/wikitrends/english-most-visited-this-week.html|Most viewed articles]]-->
*[[Wikipedia:Database reports/Most-watched pages|Most watched pages]]
*[http://www.netsoc.tcd.ie/~mu/wiki/ Six degrees of Wikipedia]
<!--*[http://www.wikirage.com/top-edits/672/ Most edited articles] broken {{as of|2012|6}}
*[http://wikistics.falsikon.de/latest/wikipedia/en/ Most viewed articles] stopped updating 2009-08-->
*[[Wikipedia:Press coverage {{CURRENTYEAR}}|Press coverage of Wikipedia]]
<!--*[http://en.wikichecker.com/media/ Wikipedia in the news online] tool-->
*[http://www.bjaodn.org/wiki/Main_Page Bad jokes and other deleted nonsense]
*[http://wikidumper.blogspot.com/ Recycle bin of Wikipedia articles]
| valign="top" rowspan="3" |
*Automatic citation creation: {{scp|https://tools.wmflabs.org/refill/|reFill}}, <!--[[tools:~dispenser/view/Reflinks|Reflinks]]-->, [http://dispenser.homenet.org/~dispenser/cgi-bin/webreflinks.py Webreflinks]
*[[Wikipedia:WikiProject User scripts/Scripts|Userscripts]] & [[tools:~dispenser/view/Integration|bookmarklets]]
*[[wp:Boilerplate request for permission|Boilerplate request for permission]] to re-license copyrighted work
*[http://www.uni-bonn.de/~manfear/html2wiki-tables.php#wiki HTML to Wiki Converter]
Analysis of contributions
*[http://en.wikichecker.com/ WikiChecker] site statistics & contribution timelines
<!--*[[tools:~overlordq/scripts/articlecontribs.fcgi|Article User contribs]]-->
Cross-wiki
*[[m:User:Pathoschild/Scripts/Synchbot|synchronise userpages and settings]]
*{{scp|https://tools.wmflabs.org/crosswatch/welcome|Cross-wiki watchlist}}
More
*{{scp|https://tools.wmflabs.org/xtools/pages/index.php|X!'s tools}} (note the Article blamer is unreliable)
*{{scp|https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Toolforge_tools|All tools}}
*[[User:Angela/useful stuff]]
|-
! Things to do
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*[[wp:Village pump|Village pump]]
*<!--{{scp|http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Current_surveys&oldid=98301053#List_of_current_surveys|Current polls}}-->
*[[wp:Maintenance|Maintenance]] ([[:Category:Wikipedia_maintenance|category]])
*[[wp:Offline reports|Offline reports]]
*[[User:SuggestBot|SuggestBot]]
*[[wp:New articles by topic|New articles by topic]]
*[[Special:Newpages|New pages]]
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{{wikipedia ads|2|4|13|15|20|21|25|69|234}}
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==Random interesting articles==
This is an occasionally-updated list of random articles I find interesting (most recent at the top). For other interesting articles, see [[Wikipedia:Unusual articles]]. And of course, there's always [[Portal:Featured content|featured content]] and [[{{MONTHNAME|{{CURRENTMONTH}}}} {{CURRENTDAY}}#Events|today in history]].
<!--14 April-->
#[[The Third Wave (experiment)|The Third Wave]] experimental social movement conducted at a California high school demonstrating the ease of creating a fascist-like movement. Reminiscent of the (much worse) [[Stanford prison experiment|Stanford prison demonstration]].
<!--1 March 2021-->
#[[Status-6 Oceanic Multipurpose System|Poseidon autonomous nuclear torpedo]] (Russian [[Stealth technology|stealth]] weapon designed to bypass defences against nuclear weapons attacks on the United States)
#[[NUKEMAP]] (tool estimating the effects and casualties of nuclear bombs)
#[[User:Guy Macon/On the Diameter of the Sewer cover in front of Greg L’s house|On the diameter of the sewer cover in front of Greg L’s house]] − important article
<!--9 Jan 2018-->
#[[List of the largest artificial non-nuclear explosions#Rank order of largest conventional explosions/detonations by magnitude|List of largest artificial non-nuclear explosions]] - terrifying accidents
#[[Internal contradictions of capital accumulation]] − the inevitable cycle of modern consumerist economies
#[[List of chemical compounds with unusual names]] − for instance [[Draculin]], [[Adamantane]] and its cousin Bastardane, [[Arsole]], Crapinon, Fartox, [[Dickite]], [[Fucitol]], [[wikt:fukalite|Fukalite]], [[Fornacite]], [[Cummingtonite]], [[Orotic acid]], [[Nonanal]], [[Moronic acid]], and [[Noggin (protein)|Noggin]]
<!--19 Feb 2016-->
#[[One-syllable article]] - in [[Standard Chinese|Chinese]] you can write and say an entire story with a single syllable. See also [[James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher]].
#[[Unintended consequences]], especially [[perverse incentive]]s
#[[Bat bomb]] - potentially very effective [[incendiary device]], abandoned in favour of the [[nuclear weapon|atomic bomb]]
#[[Door to Hell]] - the most famous persistent natural fire; there are many such massive fires around the world that are almost impossible to put out and expected to burn for hundreds of years
#[[Cadaver Synod]] - impressive [[Catholicism|Catholic]] [[bureaucracy]] (see also [[List of sexually active popes]])
#[[Spite house]] - impressive [[passive-aggressive behavior|passive-aggression]]
#[[Tanganyika laughter epidemic]] - [[mass psychogenic illness|psychogenic virus]]
#[[Nils Olav|Sir Nils Olav]], Colonel-in-Chief of the [[Hans Majestet Kongens Garde|Norwegian Royal Guard]], a penguin
#[[Euthanasia Coaster]] - the ultimate [[roller coaster]]
#[[52-hertz whale]] - the most mysterious [[whale]]
#[[List of unexplained sounds]]
#[[Cryptophasia]] - secret languages of twins
#[[Toynbee tiles]] - mysterious street art
#[[Kármán vortex street]] - [[aerodynamics|aerodynamic effect]]
#[[Human]] - amusing attempt at [[neutral point of view]]
#[[Wikipedia:Lamest edit wars]] - funny
#[[Wikipedia:Getting to Philosophy]] - demonstrating that [[philosophy]] is the grandfather of knowledge
#[[Phoenix Jones]] - a [[real-life superhero]]<!--21 May 2015-->
#[[Geneva drive]] - a clever mechanism used in watches and film projectors<!--5 Dec 2013-->
#[[Antikythera mechanism]] - an ancient Greek [[astronomy|astronomical]] [[analog computer|computer]]
#[[Bag of holding]] ([[fantasy]]) - a magical item
#[[Polypropylene stacking chair]] - the most popular chair in the world
#[[List of common misconceptions]] ([[common knowledge]])
#[[Sybil attack]] ([[reputation system]]s)
#[[Countersteering]] ([[physics]]) - did you know to steer left on a bike you have to momentarily steer or lean right?
#[[Doomsday rule]] ([[Mathematics|maths]]) - look like a mathematical genius using this to calculate the day of the week for any date
#[[Raining animals]] ([[meteorology]])
#[[Proof by intimidation]] ([[logic]])
#[[LOLCODE]] ([[Computer programming|programming]] / [[Internet]] [[humour]])
#[[Rule 110]] ([[Mathematics|maths]])
#{{oldid|Bridge jumping|145617496|Bridge jumping}} ([[Sport]]) &mdash; (now removed) - see also [[List of bridges in Cambridge]]
#[[9814072356 (number)|9814072356]] ([[Mathematics|maths]])

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