Wikipedia:About

This is ageneral introductionfor visitors to Wikipedia. For aspiring contributors, also see thisguideandtutorial.For other uses, seeWikipedia:Wikipedia (disambiguation).

"Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge.That's what we're doing. "—Jimmy Wales

Wikipediais afree online encyclopediathat anyone can edit, andmillions already have.

Wikipedia's purposeis to benefit readers by presenting information on all branches ofknowledge.Hosted by theWikimedia Foundation,it consists offreely editablecontent, whose articles also have numerous links to guide readers towards more information.

Written collaborativelyby largely anonymous volunteers known asWikipedians,Wikipedia articles can be edited by anyone withInternet access,except inlimited caseswhereeditingis restricted to prevent disruption orvandalism.Since its creation onJanuary 15, 2001,it has grown into the world'slargestreferencewebsite,attractingover a billion visitors monthly.Wikipedia currently has more thansixty-three million articlesinmore than 300 languages,including 6,830,928 articles inEnglish,with 119,604 active contributors in the past month.

Wikipedia's fundamental principles are summarized in itsfive pillars.TheWikipedia communityhas developed manypolicies and guidelines,although editors do not need to be familiar with them before contributing.

AnyonecaneditWikipedia's text, references, and images. What is written is more important than who writes it. The content must conform with Wikipedia'spolicies,including beingverifiableby publishedsources.Editors'opinions,beliefs, personal experiences,unreviewed research,libelous material, andcopyright violationswill not remain. Wikipedia's software allows easy reversal of errors, and experiencededitorswatchandpatrolbad edits.

Wikipedia differs from printed references in important ways.It is continually created and updated, and encyclopedic articles on new events appear within minutes rather than months or years. Because anyone can improve Wikipedia, it has become more comprehensive than any other encyclopedia. Its contributors enhance its articles' quality and quantity, and remove misinformation, errors andvandalism.Any reader can fix a mistake or add more information to what has already been written (seeResearching with Wikipedia).

Begin by simply clicking theEditorEdit sourcebuttons or the pencil iconat the top of any non-protected page or section.

Wikipedia has tested thewisdom of the crowdsince 2001 and found that it succeeds.