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  3. Wikipedia is under attack — and how it can survive
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Wikipedia is under attack — and how it can survive

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Technology
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  • greenpepper@beehaw.orgG This user is from outside of this forum
    greenpepper@beehaw.orgG This user is from outside of this forum
    greenpepper@beehaw.org
    wrote last edited by
    #1
    This post did not contain any content.
    H thingsiplay@beehaw.orgT P 3 Replies Last reply
    129
    • greenpepper@beehaw.orgG greenpepper@beehaw.org
      This post did not contain any content.
      H This user is from outside of this forum
      H This user is from outside of this forum
      henfredemars@infosec.pub
      wrote last edited by
      #2

      Wikipedia needs to leave the US at the least. Billionaires and AI pose a threat to all humans, and Wikipedia is no exception.

      jherazob@beehaw.orgJ 1 Reply Last reply
      47
      • greenpepper@beehaw.orgG greenpepper@beehaw.org
        This post did not contain any content.
        thingsiplay@beehaw.orgT This user is from outside of this forum
        thingsiplay@beehaw.orgT This user is from outside of this forum
        thingsiplay@beehaw.org
        wrote last edited by
        #3

        Do theverge have this big font or is something broken on my end?

        You can download the entirety of Wikipedia for offline usage, BTW. I do this with an application called Kiwix https://kiwix.org/en/ .

        1. Click “All Files” on the left menu of the program.
        2. In the bottom search bar (there is one top and one bottom bar) type “wikipedia” to show only those entries matching the search.
        3. Then click on the “Size” header to sort all entries by size. Usually the biggest one is the most complete.
        4. Now “Download” it (i already have it, so it says “Open” for me).

        Note that the big one with 111 GB contains images and contains all English language Wikipedia articles. The one with 43 GB should be the same I think, but without images. There are many other variants too, varying in content and theme and even build date. In example the one with “1m Top” contains the top 1 million articles only.

        O FaceDeerF L B 4 Replies Last reply
        31
        • thingsiplay@beehaw.orgT thingsiplay@beehaw.org

          Do theverge have this big font or is something broken on my end?

          You can download the entirety of Wikipedia for offline usage, BTW. I do this with an application called Kiwix https://kiwix.org/en/ .

          1. Click “All Files” on the left menu of the program.
          2. In the bottom search bar (there is one top and one bottom bar) type “wikipedia” to show only those entries matching the search.
          3. Then click on the “Size” header to sort all entries by size. Usually the biggest one is the most complete.
          4. Now “Download” it (i already have it, so it says “Open” for me).

          Note that the big one with 111 GB contains images and contains all English language Wikipedia articles. The one with 43 GB should be the same I think, but without images. There are many other variants too, varying in content and theme and even build date. In example the one with “1m Top” contains the top 1 million articles only.

          O This user is from outside of this forum
          O This user is from outside of this forum
          ordnance_qf_17_pounder@reddthat.com
          wrote last edited by
          #4

          The fact you can download the entirety of the site for 111gb sounds pretty damn impressive to me.

          e0qdk@reddthat.comE C 2 Replies Last reply
          18
          • O ordnance_qf_17_pounder@reddthat.com

            The fact you can download the entirety of the site for 111gb sounds pretty damn impressive to me.

            e0qdk@reddthat.comE This user is from outside of this forum
            e0qdk@reddthat.comE This user is from outside of this forum
            e0qdk@reddthat.com
            wrote last edited by e0qdk@reddthat.com
            #5

            It doesn’t actually include all the media, and – I think – edit history. It does give you a decent offline copy of the articles with at least the thumbnails of images though.

            Edit: If you want all the media from Wikimedia Commons (which may also include files that are not in Wikipedia articles directly) the stats for that are:

            Total file size for all 126,598,734 files: 745,450,666,761,889 bytes (677.98 TB).

            according to their media statistics page.

            thingsiplay@beehaw.orgT PowderhornP 2 Replies Last reply
            20
            • H henfredemars@infosec.pub

              Wikipedia needs to leave the US at the least. Billionaires and AI pose a threat to all humans, and Wikipedia is no exception.

              jherazob@beehaw.orgJ This user is from outside of this forum
              jherazob@beehaw.orgJ This user is from outside of this forum
              jherazob@beehaw.org
              wrote last edited by
              #6

              And the Internet Archive too

              thingsiplay@beehaw.orgT 1 Reply Last reply
              28
              • greenpepper@beehaw.orgG greenpepper@beehaw.org
                This post did not contain any content.
                P This user is from outside of this forum
                P This user is from outside of this forum
                psionicsickness@reddthat.com
                wrote last edited by
                #7

                Paywall; DR

                1 Reply Last reply
                15
                • e0qdk@reddthat.comE e0qdk@reddthat.com

                  It doesn’t actually include all the media, and – I think – edit history. It does give you a decent offline copy of the articles with at least the thumbnails of images though.

                  Edit: If you want all the media from Wikimedia Commons (which may also include files that are not in Wikipedia articles directly) the stats for that are:

                  Total file size for all 126,598,734 files: 745,450,666,761,889 bytes (677.98 TB).

                  according to their media statistics page.

                  thingsiplay@beehaw.orgT This user is from outside of this forum
                  thingsiplay@beehaw.orgT This user is from outside of this forum
                  thingsiplay@beehaw.org
                  wrote last edited by
                  #8

                  Nice stats. I always wondered. I get the feeling that ~678 TB is little bit more than ~111 GB.

                  S 1 Reply Last reply
                  10
                  • thingsiplay@beehaw.orgT thingsiplay@beehaw.org

                    Nice stats. I always wondered. I get the feeling that ~678 TB is little bit more than ~111 GB.

                    S This user is from outside of this forum
                    S This user is from outside of this forum
                    steevyt@beehaw.org
                    wrote last edited by
                    #9

                    Like, at least 7GB bigger.

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    13
                    • e0qdk@reddthat.comE e0qdk@reddthat.com

                      It doesn’t actually include all the media, and – I think – edit history. It does give you a decent offline copy of the articles with at least the thumbnails of images though.

                      Edit: If you want all the media from Wikimedia Commons (which may also include files that are not in Wikipedia articles directly) the stats for that are:

                      Total file size for all 126,598,734 files: 745,450,666,761,889 bytes (677.98 TB).

                      according to their media statistics page.

                      PowderhornP This user is from outside of this forum
                      PowderhornP This user is from outside of this forum
                      Powderhorn
                      wrote last edited by powderhorn@beehaw.org
                      #10

                      Dear god, are we still using base 2 for file sizes? At least use TiB like a reasonable person.

                      thingsiplay@beehaw.orgT 1 Reply Last reply
                      1
                      • jherazob@beehaw.orgJ jherazob@beehaw.org

                        And the Internet Archive too

                        thingsiplay@beehaw.orgT This user is from outside of this forum
                        thingsiplay@beehaw.orgT This user is from outside of this forum
                        thingsiplay@beehaw.org
                        wrote last edited by
                        #11

                        However I wonder how this would work. As far as I know Internet Archive have a “Library” status and rights in the US (and only in the US), which grants them rights to archive stuff and have it as download that would be otherwise not legal. That does not mean everything provided there is legal. So leaving the US could actually hurt Internet Archive or the users in the US maybe.

                        I would be glad if anyone with more insight into this topic could tell me one or two things about it.

                        Y 1 Reply Last reply
                        5
                        • PowderhornP Powderhorn

                          Dear god, are we still using base 2 for file sizes? At least use TiB like a reasonable person.

                          thingsiplay@beehaw.orgT This user is from outside of this forum
                          thingsiplay@beehaw.orgT This user is from outside of this forum
                          thingsiplay@beehaw.org
                          wrote last edited by
                          #12

                          It doesn’t matter in this case, as long as it is documented (and it is by the unit).

                          PowderhornP 1 Reply Last reply
                          4
                          • thingsiplay@beehaw.orgT thingsiplay@beehaw.org

                            However I wonder how this would work. As far as I know Internet Archive have a “Library” status and rights in the US (and only in the US), which grants them rights to archive stuff and have it as download that would be otherwise not legal. That does not mean everything provided there is legal. So leaving the US could actually hurt Internet Archive or the users in the US maybe.

                            I would be glad if anyone with more insight into this topic could tell me one or two things about it.

                            Y This user is from outside of this forum
                            Y This user is from outside of this forum
                            yetanotheruser@discuss.tchncs.de
                            wrote last edited by
                            #13

                            It definitely cannot go to the EU. I don’t believe any EU country permits private online libraries.

                            Plus the entire Wayback Machine would be considered systematic copyright infringement since the Internet Archive doesn’t obtain permission prior to archival. And if you don’t have permission then it is automatic copyright infeingement.

                            PowderhornP 1 Reply Last reply
                            5
                            • Y yetanotheruser@discuss.tchncs.de

                              It definitely cannot go to the EU. I don’t believe any EU country permits private online libraries.

                              Plus the entire Wayback Machine would be considered systematic copyright infringement since the Internet Archive doesn’t obtain permission prior to archival. And if you don’t have permission then it is automatic copyright infeingement.

                              PowderhornP This user is from outside of this forum
                              PowderhornP This user is from outside of this forum
                              Powderhorn
                              wrote last edited by
                              #14

                              There are still Nordic countries outside the EU. Switzerland appears to be heading in the wrong direction as well, so I might suggest the Seychelles.

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              4
                              • thingsiplay@beehaw.orgT thingsiplay@beehaw.org

                                It doesn’t matter in this case, as long as it is documented (and it is by the unit).

                                PowderhornP This user is from outside of this forum
                                PowderhornP This user is from outside of this forum
                                Powderhorn
                                wrote last edited by
                                #15

                                To be clear, I’m fine with RAM being base 2 – it’s rather difficult for it not to be given the structure – but for fixed storage, this is an old-school measurement that only gets worse with each order of magnitude.

                                thingsiplay@beehaw.orgT 1 Reply Last reply
                                1
                                • PowderhornP Powderhorn

                                  To be clear, I’m fine with RAM being base 2 – it’s rather difficult for it not to be given the structure – but for fixed storage, this is an old-school measurement that only gets worse with each order of magnitude.

                                  thingsiplay@beehaw.orgT This user is from outside of this forum
                                  thingsiplay@beehaw.orgT This user is from outside of this forum
                                  thingsiplay@beehaw.org
                                  wrote last edited by thingsiplay@beehaw.org
                                  #16
                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • O ordnance_qf_17_pounder@reddthat.com

                                    The fact you can download the entirety of the site for 111gb sounds pretty damn impressive to me.

                                    C This user is from outside of this forum
                                    C This user is from outside of this forum
                                    canadaplus@lemmy.sdf.org
                                    wrote last edited by
                                    #17

                                    Text is light. Images are a bit heavier, but there’s not too too many.

                                    1 Reply Last reply
                                    1
                                    • thingsiplay@beehaw.orgT thingsiplay@beehaw.org

                                      Do theverge have this big font or is something broken on my end?

                                      You can download the entirety of Wikipedia for offline usage, BTW. I do this with an application called Kiwix https://kiwix.org/en/ .

                                      1. Click “All Files” on the left menu of the program.
                                      2. In the bottom search bar (there is one top and one bottom bar) type “wikipedia” to show only those entries matching the search.
                                      3. Then click on the “Size” header to sort all entries by size. Usually the biggest one is the most complete.
                                      4. Now “Download” it (i already have it, so it says “Open” for me).

                                      Note that the big one with 111 GB contains images and contains all English language Wikipedia articles. The one with 43 GB should be the same I think, but without images. There are many other variants too, varying in content and theme and even build date. In example the one with “1m Top” contains the top 1 million articles only.

                                      FaceDeerF This user is from outside of this forum
                                      FaceDeerF This user is from outside of this forum
                                      FaceDeer
                                      wrote last edited by
                                      #18

                                      The problem with this solution is that it leaves out the most important part of Wikipedia of all; the editors. Wikipedia is a living document, constantly being updated and improved. Sure, you can preserve a fossil version of it. But if the site itself goes down then that fossil will lose value rapidly, and it’s not even going to be useful for creating a new live site because it doesn’t include the full history of articles (legally required under Wikipedia’s license) and won’t be the latest database dump from the moment that Wikipedia shut down.

                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      5
                                      • thingsiplay@beehaw.orgT thingsiplay@beehaw.org

                                        Do theverge have this big font or is something broken on my end?

                                        You can download the entirety of Wikipedia for offline usage, BTW. I do this with an application called Kiwix https://kiwix.org/en/ .

                                        1. Click “All Files” on the left menu of the program.
                                        2. In the bottom search bar (there is one top and one bottom bar) type “wikipedia” to show only those entries matching the search.
                                        3. Then click on the “Size” header to sort all entries by size. Usually the biggest one is the most complete.
                                        4. Now “Download” it (i already have it, so it says “Open” for me).

                                        Note that the big one with 111 GB contains images and contains all English language Wikipedia articles. The one with 43 GB should be the same I think, but without images. There are many other variants too, varying in content and theme and even build date. In example the one with “1m Top” contains the top 1 million articles only.

                                        L This user is from outside of this forum
                                        L This user is from outside of this forum
                                        laranis@lemmy.zip
                                        wrote last edited by laranis@lemmy.zip
                                        #19

                                        Thanks for sharing this. Started hosting a local copy of several wiki sources last weekend once this news broke.

                                        Another commenter said downloading is missing out on the best part of Wikipedia, the ongoing editing. Which, while true, is also going to be a weak point.

                                        How many of those amazing editors are going to stick around when their full time job becomes combatting obvious right wing bullshit, when they have to submit gov ID to have an account on the site, and when common sense and fairness becomes a crime?

                                        Wikipedia was a high point for humanity. Whatever comes next I’d like to preserve a little piece of it.

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        3
                                        • thingsiplay@beehaw.orgT thingsiplay@beehaw.org

                                          Do theverge have this big font or is something broken on my end?

                                          You can download the entirety of Wikipedia for offline usage, BTW. I do this with an application called Kiwix https://kiwix.org/en/ .

                                          1. Click “All Files” on the left menu of the program.
                                          2. In the bottom search bar (there is one top and one bottom bar) type “wikipedia” to show only those entries matching the search.
                                          3. Then click on the “Size” header to sort all entries by size. Usually the biggest one is the most complete.
                                          4. Now “Download” it (i already have it, so it says “Open” for me).

                                          Note that the big one with 111 GB contains images and contains all English language Wikipedia articles. The one with 43 GB should be the same I think, but without images. There are many other variants too, varying in content and theme and even build date. In example the one with “1m Top” contains the top 1 million articles only.

                                          B This user is from outside of this forum
                                          B This user is from outside of this forum
                                          Baldur Nil
                                          wrote last edited by
                                          #20

                                          Best thing is that it works flawlessly on the mobile apps as well, and Wikipedia also has a 1 million most relevant articles or so, which is just a few gigabytes.

                                          1 Reply Last reply
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