Amazing Stories from the Web
UNCYCLOPEDIA
Pre-Reading: Discussion Questions
1. What reference books can you name?
2. Which search web sites do you regularly use?
Search is one of the first functions that appeared on various web sites. Today, one can say that everything and anything can be found in the internet. If you have ever posted anything on any site, try typing your own name into the SEARCH line, and some links are sure to pop up. One can use such popular search engines as Wikipedia, Google, Yahoo, Yandex to find the data they need. Inevitably, alongside these serious web pages, some humorous ones are now in existence.
Uncyclopedia is perhaps the best-known unsource, or “the content-free encyclopedia”, among them. It is a satirically-themed wikipedia founded in 2005. Essentially, it is a humorous parody of Wikipedia. Originally an English-language wiki, the project currently spans over 50 languages. The English version has over 23,000 pages of content. Like Wikipedia, Uncyclopedia has guidelines regarding what is and is not acceptable content, and these guidelines have become progressively stricter as the site has expanded over time. The site has gained negative attention due to its articles on places and people. Its logo is a hollowed potato, named Sophia after the Gnostic deity, that serves as a spoof of Wikipedia’s globe logo.
Uncyclopedia was launched on January 5, 2005 by Jonathan Huang, known online as “Chronarion”, and a partner known under his nickname Stillwaters. The idea for Uncyclopedia came from the English pages of Wikipedia, where jokes and nonsense pages used to be published. The editors of Wikipedia decided that these pages clashed with the serious content, and deleted them as a category. Uncyclopedia became so popular that within a very short space of time, all the allotted domain space was used up. The creators started to look for a new host, with bigger web space. In a surprise move, the editors of Wikipedia decided to host their weird cousin.
Today, approximately half of the Uncyclopedia collection is hosted by Wikia. There are various pages and whole categories, as well as sites in other languages than English, which are hosted by other domains. As with all other Wikia sites, the whole article database is freely available for online download.
Uncyclopedia’s stated goal is to “provide the world’s misinformation in the least redeeming and most sarcastic and humorous way possible, through satire”. One of its usual features is quotations, which are in truth either misquotes, or inventions attributed to famous people like Oscar Wilde or Bernard Shaw. Many articles about places, celebrities and important events were criticized in the press as being too sarcastic or unfair to their subjects. Educators around the world express their concern about Uncyclopedia’s influence on young people, who may see the world as an object of satire only. The site creators insist that people should be more relaxed about this site, whose chief aim is to provide entertainment and relaxation.
| pop up | (v.) to appear suddenly |
| span | (v.)to include in space or time |
| Gnostic deity | (expr.) pre-Christian God |
| spoof | (n.) parody |
| clash | (v.) to be in opposition, to disagree |
| allotted | (adj.) given, set aside for a purpose |
| redeeming | (adj.) good |
If you are interested in this story, or wish to learn more about various web reference pages, you may visit the following sites: wikipedia.org, thefreedictionary.com, google.com, yahoo.com, yandex.ru, imdb.com