Wikipedia Hack – Simplified Pages For Research

[Encia22]

The Problem:

Ok, let’s face it, life is too short to have to wade through the myriad of data available on Wikipedia. Whether you love or hate Wiki, it’s a resource that moat people have used and abused frequently or occasionally.

The times I use Wikipedia is when I want a quick refresher of something I already know, or I only need a simple outline of a topic; which can be time consuming with normal Wiki pages.

The Solution:

So, here’s a simple hack to simplify and speed up your research.

It consists of replacing ‘en’ in the url prefix, with ‘simple’.

See the following example of everyone’s favourite topic: Quantum Mechanics…
 

The normal Wiki page… a nightmare:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mechanics

 

Simplified or dumbed down, if you prefer: 

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mechanics

See, Simple!

Notes:

- Unlike switching to the mobile version of any page, this is not an automation. The page must already exist, having been created specifically as an easier-to-read version of the original.

- For the above reason, and after some experimentation, simplified pages are not always available in other languages. You can try, but you will probably get a default page that invites you to create the topic. However, you can always use the hack and then have Google translate the page into your preferred language.

- Wikipedia has some guidelines regarding Simple pages, as it’s been an ongoing project since 2001. It requires simpler vocabulary and grammar, as it was meant for "people with different needs, such as students, children, adults with learning difficulties, and people who are trying to learn English." But I feel it is useful for anyone, and especially for me and my mild form of dyslexia. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_English_Wikipedia

As Wikipedia has grown into a monster over the decades, I hope this helps anyone who has been struggling with the platform.

Perhaps AI will one day make Wikipedia obsolete, but in the here-and-now, it is what it is.

ETA: In all the excitement, I forgot to add that if anyone is uncomfortable with modifying the url, then there is a Wikipedia search homepage dedicated to this feature. 

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

:beer:

[UltraBudgie]

this is especially useful for math topics. the "well, ackshully..." effect makes most of those unreadable, except by people who specialize in the stuff, who don't need to read wikipedia to learn about it. sort of self-defeating, that. save it for wolfram folks.

it is an interesting point, that layers of explanation (none of them actually "correct") are often more useful than an exhaustive explanation of the current state-of-thought. for example, models of how molecules and atoms work. sometimes the bohr model and simple models of electron valence are much more informative than getting bogged down in fiddly standard model stuff.

it would be neat if there were like a slider widget on wikipedia that allowed one to adjust the range from "simple summary" to "exhaustive nitpicking" on a continuous scale. that'll probably be a feature that ai enables in a few years.

[sahgwa]

That's very cool; thank you for sharing! :)

[Byrd]

this is especially useful for math topics. the "well, ackshully..." effect makes most of those unreadable, except by people who specialize in the stuff, who don't need to read wikipedia to learn about it. sort of self-defeating, that. save it for wolfram folks.

it is an interesting point, that layers of explanation (none of them actually "correct") are often more useful than an exhaustive explanation of the current state-of-thought. for example, models of how molecules and atoms work. sometimes the bohr model and simple models of electron valence are much more informative than getting bogged down in fiddly standard model stuff.

it would be neat if there were like a slider widget on wikipedia that allowed one to adjust the range from "simple summary" to "exhaustive nitpicking" on a continuous scale. that'll probably be a feature that ai enables in a few years.

(chuckle)  Love it!  I'd pay for the "exhaustive nitpicking" feature, myself.

(I bet you guessed that!)