Wikipedia Reaches 2 Million English Entries; 8.29 Million Entries In 253 Languages

October 11, 2007 5:25 p.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The controversial online encyclopedia Wikipedia, surpassed the 2-million article mark on September 9; as of October 8, 2007 Wikipedia's English-language edition had over 2,039,895 articles. As of September 2007, Wikipedia had approximately 8.29 million articles in 253 languages.

The peer-edited site is now among the top 10 most-visited websites in the world. Founded in 2003 by Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia's "wiki" name has come to symbolize the concept of a type of collaborative website, not just the encyclopedia.

Wales now runs the for-profit Wikia, a wiki-hosting service based in San Mateo, near San Francisco, and remains a Wikimedia board member.

Wikipedia's articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world and the vast majority of them can be edited by anyone with access to the Internet. Due to Wikipedia's open nature, critics have questioned its reliability and accuracy. But because it is constantly updated, Wikipedia is also a source for rumors, a target of vandalism and a hub fornews and other internet phenomenon, with 6.8 million registered users worldwide.

Nonetheless, Wikipedia has only six full-time staff members but has been looking since June for a permanent chief executive officer. Hiring for new staff starts in a few weeks, according to PCWorld.com.

The Wikimedia Foundation operates a number of websites, including Wikimedia Commons, which carries more than 1 million free images and media.