Wookieepedia:50,000 article media release

On July 9, 2007, Wookieepedia, (http://starwars.wikia.com) the Star Wars Wiki hosted by Wikia, reached the 50,000 article milestone with the creation of solitaire by Riffsyphon1024. The Wiki has existed since March 4, 2005 and has quickly become one of the most popular wikis on the Internet, with sister wikis in nine other languages.

The huge encyclopedia draws information from all aspects of Star Wars, such as the films, books, comics, magazines, television and games. Thanks to the quality work of its many contributors, Wookieepedia has grown exponentially in the year since its establishment by Chad Barbry and Steven Greenwood. Within a year, the site had surpassed the previously largest wiki, the Star Trek database Memory Alpha, by over 8,000 articles and has continued to grow both in number of articles and in the content displayed on articles.

Wookieepedia’s contributors, drawn from across the globe from places such as Malaysia, Australia, Great Britain, Russia, Canada, and the United States have partnered together to create an ever-improving, ever-increasing wiki that seeks to be the ultimate unofficial online repository of Star Wars information. The sheer scope and volume of the site, as well as its quick updates in response to the release of new canonical information, have earned it attention from official authors including Abel G. Peña and notable publications such as Variety. (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117964316.html?categoryid=2533&cs=1), Members of Wookieepedia, including co-founder Steven Greenwood, recently participated in Celebration IV with a table and a fan trivia contest, with the partnership of Bob Vitas from the Completely Unofficial Star Wars Encyclopedia.

Many articles have gone from one or two sentence stubs to the length of several paragraphs or more, and some pages even feature an audio version of the article where a Wookieepedian read aloud and recorded a particular version on an article and then placed the audio file online. For example, a user recently created an audio version of Mirta Gev. Wookieepedia’s longest article, Palpatine, has grown from 157 kilobytes since Wookieepedia’s first anniversary on March 4, 2006 to 242 kilobytes currently, a 64% increase in size. The easy-to-use nature of the wiki allows virtually anyone with an Internet connection and knowledge of Star Wars to add to the site’s content, while veteran users and admins provide guidance and tips for new contributors.

Additionally, Wookieepedia has also opened a special region of the site that is dedicated to answering general questions about the Star Wars universe, known as the Knowledge Bank. Here, users and visitors are welcome to ask general questions, such as the types of weddings in the Galaxy, Far, Far Away, or the lightsaber color of Plo Koon.

Wookieepedia is always happy to welcome new users who would like to join the project and help make the wiki even better. If you have the drive and desire to join up, it’s as easy as clicking this link. May the Force be with you!