A wiki is a community-edited website that acts as a knowledge base for a particular subject matter.
Today, there are lots of different types of wiki websites. At the top end of the scale, there’s Wikipedia. It’s the most extensive collection of encyclopedic knowledge ever collated. At the other end, there are wiki websites for niche topics such as games, celebrities, books, and almost anything else you can think of.
Here are 10 examples of wikis that are worth checking out.
1. Wikitravel
When you’re planning a holiday, you should give privately-owned websites like TripAdvisor a wide berth. The information on such sites can often be misleading; it’s hard to differentiate the paid promotions from the legitimate content. And that’s before you start worrying about the ongoing issue of fake reviews.
Wikitravel is a much better source of information. It’s been online since 2003 and is overseen by a team of administrators. They can roll back unwanted edits, delete pages, lock pages, and generally keep the information on the site accurate and free of spam.
2. WikiHow
WikiHow is a popular wiki for anyone who wants to learn how to do something.
The content on offer is extremely varied. The site’s categories include topics such as Sports and Fitness, Pets and Animals, Relationships, and Philosophy and Religion.
Although anyone can contribute to the wiki website, WikiHow has strict editorial guidelines. A typical article has been edited by 23 people and reviewed by a further 16.
3. WikiBooks
WikiBooks makes our list of wiki sites thanks to its incredible repository of open-content textbooks, annotated texts, instructional guides, and manuals. It does not include fiction, primary research, or published texts.
The books are divided across nine primary categories: Computing, Engineering, Humanities, Languages, Mathematics, Science, Social Sciences, Standard Curricula, and Kids’ books. Each group is further subdivided for easy browsing.
You can also browse the site by a book’s completion status and by reading level.
4. Wiktionary
Print dictionaries can be expensive. The complete Second Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary runs to 20 volumes, weighs 140 pounds, and costs more than $500 to buy on Amazon. Even a subscription to the OED’s website costs $90 per year.
Wiktionary, therefore, is an example of a wiki that can save you money. It is a multilingual dictionary of languages, but has a definition for every word supplied in English, regardless of the source language. Today, there are more than six million words included from more than 4,000 dialects.
5. Stranger Things Wiki
The Netflix Original, Stranger Things, has been one of the defining TV series of the last couple of years; it’s received nominations for a whole host of Emmys and Golden Globes. The third series set a new Netflix record, as 18.2 million accounts watched the entire series within four days of its release.
The Stranger Things wiki—which is part of the Fandom network of sites—is one of the best examples of a wiki about a TV series. It includes detailed information about the cast, characters, filming locations, soundtrack, and lots more. There’s also an extensive community section where fans of the show can chat and interact.
6. Wikispecies
Sure, we can all recognize a dog or horse. Hobbyists might even be able to identify particular types of insects, snakes, or birds. But what about a Phyllida varicosa? Or a Pelomyxa palustris? No, we thought not.
Wikispecies is to the 21st century what “On the Origin of Species” was to the 19th century. It aims to be a complete catalog of all Animalia, Plantae, fungi, bacteria, archaea, and Protista (i.e., life forms!) in the world.
There are almost 700,000 species in the wiki. So, there’s just eight million left still to write about…
7. Gamepedia
Gamepedia is an umbrella brand that covers hundreds of wikis about games. Some of the most popular wikis in the catalog include Wowpedia (about World of Warcraft), Dota 2 Wiki, No Man’s Sky Wiki, and Zelda Wiki.
As you’d expect, each wiki is packed with game-specific guides, plotlines, facts, trivia, in-game images, and more. Some of the wiki sites even have their own stores.
8. Wikimedia Commons
Finding media to use in your book, video, podcast, social media content, or website is not an easy undertaking. Sites like YouTube and Facebook are taking increasingly aggressive stances when it comes to removing content that breaches copyright, even if the breach was unintentional.
Wikimedia Commons is one solution. It offers more than 55 million freely usable images, sound files, and video clips. If you decide to grab the content, just make sure you accurately follow each file’s attribution requirements.
9. TV Tropes
TV Tropes is yet another different type of wiki website. It collates common plot themes, storylines, conventions, and devices that are found in hundreds of works. Because it is a wiki, anyone can add their own trope to the ever-growing list.
The site initially focused solely on TV shows and movies. Today, however, it also covers literature, comics, manga, video games, music, ads, and even toys.
You can browse by the type of media or type of trope. There’s also a community discussion section.
10. Baseball Reference
As a sport, Baseball is heavily driven by data and statistics, so it’s no surprise to learn that it provides the subject matter for the largest sports wiki on the web.
For anyone with an interest in current and historical baseball players, teams, scores, and stats, it’s a goldmine. 20,000 past and present players have profiles, and there are complete season-by-season breakdowns for every aspect of the sport’s minutiae.
You’ll even find data from the Minor, Japanese, Cuban, and Korean leagues, as well as the NCAA Division I and summer collegiate leagues.
Baseball Reference is part of the largest Sports Reference family. The group runs similar wikis for basketball, American football, soccer, and ice hockey.
Learn More About Wiki Sites
We hope our list of 10 wiki sites has provided you with an insight into the different types of wiki websites that exist. With a bit of digging, you can find one to match whatever hobbies and interests you have, no matter how niche.
If you would like to learn more about using wikis, check out our other article on how to create a wiki and our list of Wikipedia tools and alternatives.
Read the full article: 10 Popular Wikis That Actually Work
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