by the Wikimedia Foundation

“ February 25, 2004 (The Internet) : Wikipedia (Wikipedia.org) , a volunteer-created, multi-language encyclopedia, announced today that the project has reached a milestone of 500,000 articles, spread across 50 different languages.
More than 300,000 new articles were created in the last 12 months alone, making Wikipedia the world's largest and fastest-growing open content encyclopedia. Every day, another two thousand articles are added to this collaborative endeavour. All articles on Wikipedia can be edited and improved by anyone at any time. ”

“ Jimmy Wales comments that "Wikipedia owes its success to the presence of a strong core group of well-educated and articulate contributors from around the world who together maintain community standards of civility, quality and neutrality." Explaining one of the mechanisms to ensure that the article quality remains high, he said, "Participants all keep a watchful eye over the 'recent changes' page. They edit each other's work constantly." Even articles covering controversial topics can be worked on using this process. ”

“ The motivation of Wikipedians is very different, but all share a love of knowledge. "For years, I've been collecting old almanacs and encyclopedias," comments Oliver Brown, who writes under the nickname "Kingturtle". "To stumble on a thriving community devoted to sharing information gave me a tremendous thrill and a curious sense of relief." ”