Update: Wikipedia now appears to be back in working order.
Either way, this was quite a reminder of just how much the Internet has come to rely on Wikipedia. What a scare!
As Cinderella once said, “You don’t know what you’ve got, ’til it’s gone.”
Wikipedia is down right now, and people are not realizing how much they depend on it for information. There’s a reason that it often appears at the top of Google search results (and powers much of Google’s Knowledge Graph).
While there are often jokes about Wikipedia’s accuracy, a study (albeit, commissioned by Wikimedia) came out last week finding that the site compares favorably to other encyclopedias.
Wikipedia is currently showing the following message:
With the site down, people are freaking out. Here’s a sampling from Twitter:
Wikipedia is down. It’s the end of the world!
Wikipedia is down. Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
oh my god, Wikipedia is down. WHERE IS ALL THE KNOWLEDGE? WHAT ARE WE TO DO WITHOUT THE KNOWLEDGE?
wow I haven’t seen that before!! “@combatjourno: Wikipedia is down.”
Wikipedia is down. My basic life competence is severely compromised.
http://t.co/Hy0WnsNS 🙁 OH GOD, WHY?