Wikis (Thing 21 of 23 Things)

Well, another thing to make my head spin. I've used Wikipedia many times before for quick - but nonauthoritative answers, but honestly have not taken the time to really investigate it. Wow, this is a ton of highly organized/archived information! How do people find the time to edit, let alone write over 3 million articles for free!! Does anyone have a life? What size server or whatever does this beast reside on? Or is it everywhere? Ominous music swells. You can tell I'm fuzzy on the technical working of cyberspace.

O.K. enough ranting. Wikipedia is pretty impressive. The site is highly organized and beautifully archived. Their "guidelines" for posting and editing seem intricate and complicated, yet it states that you don't have to know them to participate. It's like the newbies will either learn the "rules" as they go or they'll loose interest and be edited into history. The good contributors get good reps and other editors/contributors look for them. Somehow I like the fact that the older the article is the "better" more accurate it is. It's kinda like real life - the older you are, the wiser you are - or at least I'd like to think so!

I'll probably never edit or contribute a thing to Wikipedia, instead I'll use it as I always have but with a greater appreciation of the collaborative effort involved. Are there other wikis in my future -who knows!