Uncyclopedia
Encyclopedia
Uncyclopedia is a satirical website that parodies
Wikipedia
. Founded in 2005 as an originally English-language wiki
, the project currently spans over 75 languages. The English version has over 30,000 pages of content, second only to the Brazilian/Portuguese.
Various styles of humor and cursing are used as a vehicle for parody, from earnest attempts at sophisticated satire to straightforward uses of sarcasm, along with structured in-jokes and occasional non-sequiturs. Like Wikipedia, Uncyclopedia has guidelines regarding what is and is not acceptable content and these guidelines have become progressively stricter as the site expands over time. The site has garnered media attention for its articles on people and places.
Its logo, a hollow potato
named Sophia after the Gnostic
deity
, serves as a parody
of Wikipedia's globe logo.
Some of the articles on Uncyclopedia contain templates providing a link to the corresponding Wikipedia article. It generally uses the quotes "For those without comedic tastes, the so-called experts at Wikipedia think they have an article about (a link to the article)."
In 2011, Uncyclopedia changed its default skin to an imitation of the Vector scheme now used on Wikipedia. In the same year, it changed its logo significantly.
ous partner called "Stillwaters".
Though it started as an independent project, Uncyclopedia quickly outgrew its original webhost, leading Huang to search for a new host. On May 26, 2005, Angela Beesley, Vice President of Wikia, Inc., announced that Wikia would host Uncyclopedia. On July 10, 2006, Huang transferred ownership of the Uncyclopedia.org domain name
to Wikia. The majority of Uncyclopedia-related projects in other languages remain hosted under their own localised names, either as fully independent domains or as subdomains of Wikia.com.
25% (or 20 out of 79) of the Uncyclopedia collection is hosted by Wikia
; there are also six dedicated non-Wikia servers which host "Uncyclopedia Babel" project content in various languages. To coordinate these projects (collectively, the "Uncyclomedia Babble Project") an Un-Meta wiki was created in 2006.
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 license. As with other Wikia sites, the full article database is freely available for online download. As of 2010, the English-language Uncyclopedia contains over 25,000 articles, making it one of the largest Wikia-hosted wikis. It also has the most active users of any Wikia wiki as of February 2008, with over 200 more users than FFXIclopedia, the runner-up. Uncyclopedia's article about Wikipedia claims that Wikipedia is a parody of Uncyclopedia, not the reverse.
Uncyclopedia's stated goal is to "provide the world's misinformation in the least redeeming and most searingly sarcastic and humorous way possible, through satire". Its articles contain information which is parodied, fabricated or ridiculed to such an extent that very little, if any, fact
ual accuracy remains, and information often contradicts itself. Often the article leads of into a story of some sorts. Ambiguous as this may sound, Uncyclopedia explicitly states that satire is at its best when it is close to, or represents, the truth. In a manner similar to Wikipedia's "Five pillars", Uncyclopedia has a core set of rules called the "Five pliers", including "Satirical point of view". Despite all the policy pages that parody those of Wikipedia, Uncyclopedia has two main rules: "Be funny and not just stupid," and "Don't be a dick".
The wiki has a system for reviewing articles to ensure that they comply with the defined standards of proper humour, grammar, spelling, use of images, and overall presentation, named Pee Review to parody Wikipedia's article review service Peer Review. Writers post their articles on the Pee Review project page for review by other Uncyclopedians. Similarly, a reference desk exists as the "Reefer Desk" to offer review of humorous user-edited images
.
One feature of Uncyclopedia's articles is the use of quotation
s, usually misquoted, fictitiously attributed or entirely fabricated. Among the most recurrent themes is the invention of quotes that are attributed to Oscar Wilde
, a phenomenon which began with an article stating that inventing Wilde quotes was the "national sport of England
". Themes such as "Kitten Huffing" (the inhalation of the souls of cat
s as a form of drug abuse
) recur frequently.
Uncyclopedia administrators often have to double as censors and critics as they are continually confronted by a steady flow of articles that do not meet Uncyclopedia's standards. Much like Wikipedia, Uncyclopedia has policies concerning vanity articles, which are articles written by an individual associated with the subject of the page. Originally, vanity articles were welcomed as long as they were humorous. However, many of these articles degenerated into flame wars, and creation of vanity pages was therefore disallowed. Uncyclopedia's warning policy is also a play on Wikipedia with mostly the same rules (for example, two warnings before a temporary block
as in WP:blocking), but containing funnier-sounding formulations intended to parody the WP:rule process.
entry from Uncyclopedia was mentioned in a New York Times column reporting the spread of so-called "Pastafarianism
", the religion
that worships the Flying Spaghetti Monster. The column was then reprinted in other newspapers, including the Taipei Times
. The magazine .net
featured an interview with Huang about Uncyclopedia in May 2007. A number of other articles have been centred on specific entries on Uncyclopedia—most notably the article in the Arizona Daily Star
, which focused on the Tucson, Arizona
parody, and the article in the Cyprus Mail
, which focused on the Cyprus
article.
In addition to articles about specific entries on the wiki, several papers speak of the website in general—usually in a section devoted to technology
or the Internet
. This was the case when Uncyclopedia was referenced in the Boston Herald
and The Guardian
. Although most articles mentioning Uncyclopedia are specific to the site, there are other articles about Wikia
or Wikipedia that just mention its name briefly. These include the editorial in The Register
discussing the Seigenthaler incident, in which Uncyclopedia was named only once. It has also been listed as one of the "Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites" in PC Magazine
, as well as among the "101 most useful websites" on the internet by The Sunday Telegraph. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
considers Uncyclopedia to be The Onion
of wiki sites.
reported that school officials, including the headmaster of King's College
, stating that Uncyclopedia and Bebo
were "cyber bullying menace[s] ". This was prompted by one Epsom Girls' Grammar School
student's name and mobile phone
number, along with an offensive message, being posted to Uncyclopedia without her knowledge. The individual in question stated that students commonly added full names and photographs to their own pages, drawing concern from several schooling establishments. The report contributed to the imposition and reworking of the website's vanity and cyberbullying policies, which were only loosely enforced beforehand. Uncyclopedia has also been criticised for racist humour and general hatefulness, but Huang said that racist articles are pulled.
The article on The Lake District was criticised in June 2007 as being offensive by councillors and tourism bosses, who called for stricter regulations on the site. The story was reported in British local newspaper
the North-West Evening Mail
, but no policy changes were made as a result of this. In fact, the publicity generated by the issue prompted the Lake District article to be featured on Uncyclopedia's main page. In a similar incident in November 2007, Uncyclopedia's article on Northern Ireland
was criticised by Northern Irish politician James McCarry who branded the site "disgraceful" and vowed to, along with help from Moyle Council
, "get it removed". The article is still on the site. Ardoyne
councillor
Conor Maskey and Portadown News
creator Newton Emerson
opposed McCarry, saying people should be more relaxed about the website. This story was reported in The Belfast Telegraph
.
A similar incident occurred in April 2008, when civic leaders of Telford
, Shropshire
, UK
lashed out at an article calling the town “a world leader in the production and reproduction and re-reproduction of Chav
s”. Another article, this time about the Shropshire county town of Shrewsbury
, says the town is only famous for being the birthplace of Charles Darwin
, and includes insults towards the residents describing them as monkeys who have evolved into sheep. Uncyclopedia has also been mentioned in the Sioux City Journal
for its article on Sioux City, Iowa
, Hawke's Bay Today
for its article on Flaxmere
, and Lochaber News for its article on Fort William, Scotland
.
In January 2008, the Malaysian Internal Security Ministry issued a directive alerting newspaper editors not to trust Uncyclopedia. It said the article concerning Malaysia contained "untruths, insults and ridicule" and was demeaning to the country. Uncyclopedia's users found this statement more humorous than serious, and subsequently parodied the directive in an UnNews article. As of February 2010, Uncyclopedia is blocked from the People's Republic of China
.
In December 2008, the Video Professor
made claims of defamation and trademark abuse against Uncyclopedia, demanding that all content relating to the Video Professor be removed within 48 hours. Uncyclopedia has not, as of October 2011, removed said content.
The site uses a layout not unlike that of Wikipedia
, which may cause confusion to inexperienced users who misinterpret the content as factual.
languages such as "Portuñol
" and "English But Louder". The first Uncyclopedias in languages other than English were created in June 2005, beginning with a French language
version. On February 20, 2008, the 50th language, Welsh
, was added to the Uncyclopedia series.
Each language wiki is free to establish its own unique community identity, but most of the logos and names in use retain some semblance to those of the English-language version. For instance, as an "un-" encyclopedia, the encyclopedia is named "Uncyclopedia" in both English
and German
. In some other languages it is:
Some of the largest Uncyclopedias available in other languages are listed below.
2006. In half a year the number of articles grew to about 350. Though the number of pages in March
2007 was around 500, 150 short articles moved to the new daughter project, the "OnWoordenboek der Nederlandse Taal" (literary translated: "UnDictionary of the Dutch Language"), so the number of new contributions almost doubled in three months (350 - 150 + 300 = 500). In February
2007, a second project started: OnNieuws (UnNews), a news paper full of nonsense. This can be either fictional news or real news told in a funny way. Around March 15, 2007 the decision was made to change the name.
The Onziclopedie was renamed to Oncyclopedia (Neerlandica). Later more projects started: OnZinnen (Unquotable)
, OnBoeken (UnBooks)
and the Oncycloversiteit (Uncycloversity).
Oncyclopedia also has its own fictional radio
station (OnRadio)
which is only available to listen on the weblog of the Oncyclopedia. The Oncy has become well known mostly because of the articles about Emo
, Tokio Hotel
and suicide
. These articles have gotten a lot of criticism in the past, but the admins
mostly didn't do anything with it, because like they say, it is mostly destructive commentary. Sometimes blocks follow, although this only happens in the case of swearing
.
At the end of May
2011, the Oncyclopedia had more than 2,150 articles.
Finally there is the "Oncyclopolis Project".
This gives the Oncyclopedia a fictional city-state
, Oncyclopolis and its own ranking system (based on number of articles, user rights and user duty) comparable with the system of the Uncyclopedia.
featuring satirically
themed and humorous articles. It was created on December 17, 2004, by David Sowka, making it the first known humor wiki. In 2010 it joined the Uncyclopedia family, becoming one of the site's German language wikis. Stupidedia is the largest German language wiki of this kind with over 19,200 articles . Its slogan is "Wissen Sie Bescheid? Nein? Wir auch nicht! (English: Do you know the score? No? Neither do we!)
version, was founded on November 3, 2005 and features over 10,000 articles. Like Uncyclopedia, it has many secondary projects, like Manuali, a collection of fake or humorous tutorials about strange arguments (like How to conquer England in 4 steps), the Horroscopo, a fake horoscope
, NonNotizie, a parody of WikiNews
and the Walk of Shame, a parody of the "Walk of Fame", which collects the best articles. Like most of the other languages' editions there is a space for the Article of the Week and some pages have related audio files containing a vocal narration of the page's content. Typical subjects of humour are Wikipedia, Chuck Norris
, Pier Paolo Pasolini
, Silvio Berlusconi
, Emo
subculture, Nietzsche
, the fictional state of Svervegia (literally Swederway) and people who vandalize Nonciclopedia in response to being offended by an article. Since Chuck Norris, Svervegia and Emo topics were abused, especially by newbie
writers, they are not used anymore. In October
2011 Nonciclopedia was closed indefinitely by the administrators after legal threats were issued by Vasco Rossi
This has generated a strong protest movement on Facebook
and other social networks.
transliteration
of the word Uncyclopedia. It was founded in December 2005. Its "UnNews" section is known for posting stories that closely resemble real news stories, which has caused rumors and angry reactions on Twitter
.
version with over 30,000 pages, is the largest Uncyclopedia. Founded in August 2005, it purports to be the brainchild of the largely fictional Doutor Roberto (Portuguese for "Doctor Robert") a satire upon the late powerful owner of TV Globo
, Roberto Marinho
. This humour routinely targets regional Brazil
ian notables such as centenarian comedy actress Dercy Gonçalves
, depicted as a cover model posed for a Playboy-like magazine Playold. Actress Cláudia Raia is portrayed as a stingray
. Political leaders such as Luíz Inácio Lula da Silva
( - "squid") also often fall victim to Desciclopédia's parodies, along with singers, athletes and other public figures.
Desciclopédia uses various domain hack
s for individual secondary projects, which include Desnoticias ("noticias" is "news"), Descionário (with "dicionário" meaning "dictionary"), Deslivros (for books, "biblioteca" means "library"), and Desentrevistas ("entrevistas" meaning "interviews"). These would correspond to "UnNews", "UnDictionary", "UnBooks" and the exclusive-to-Desciclopédia "UnInterviews".
Inciclopedia was established in February 2006 to accommodate content displaced by the closure of Spanish humour wiki Frikipedia. Frikipedia was shut down by the Sociedad General de Autores y Editores
, a Spanish organization for copyright who were angered by Frikipedia's entry on them. Frikipedia was eventually relaunched.
Notables such as Chilean folk
singer Monteaguilino and Senator Pedro Muñoz
have expressed their discontent with Inciclopedia and the site's mockery of the Chilean flag and national symbols. Noche Hache, a television
program on Spain's TV Cuatro, also mentioned Inciclopedia among supporters of Eva Hache
's joke candidacy to the presidency of Spain
.
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
. Founded in 2005 as an originally English-language wiki
Wiki
A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
, the project currently spans over 75 languages. The English version has over 30,000 pages of content, second only to the Brazilian/Portuguese.
Various styles of humor and cursing are used as a vehicle for parody, from earnest attempts at sophisticated satire to straightforward uses of sarcasm, along with structured in-jokes and occasional non-sequiturs. Like Wikipedia, Uncyclopedia has guidelines regarding what is and is not acceptable content and these guidelines have become progressively stricter as the site expands over time. The site has garnered media attention for its articles on people and places.
Its logo, a hollow potato
Potato
The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
named Sophia after the Gnostic
Gnosticism
Gnosticism is a scholarly term for a set of religious beliefs and spiritual practices common to early Christianity, Hellenistic Judaism, Greco-Roman mystery religions, Zoroastrianism , and Neoplatonism.A common characteristic of some of these groups was the teaching that the realisation of Gnosis...
deity
Deity
A deity is a recognized preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by believers....
, serves as a parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of Wikipedia's globe logo.
Some of the articles on Uncyclopedia contain templates providing a link to the corresponding Wikipedia article. It generally uses the quotes "For those without comedic tastes, the so-called experts at Wikipedia think they have an article about (a link to the article)."
In 2011, Uncyclopedia changed its default skin to an imitation of the Vector scheme now used on Wikipedia. In the same year, it changed its logo significantly.
History
Uncyclopedia was launched on January 5, 2005, by Elvin Liu's FACE, known online as "Chronarion", and a pseudonymPseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
ous partner called "Stillwaters".
Though it started as an independent project, Uncyclopedia quickly outgrew its original webhost, leading Huang to search for a new host. On May 26, 2005, Angela Beesley, Vice President of Wikia, Inc., announced that Wikia would host Uncyclopedia. On July 10, 2006, Huang transferred ownership of the Uncyclopedia.org domain name
Domain name
A domain name is an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control in the Internet. Domain names are formed by the rules and procedures of the Domain Name System ....
to Wikia. The majority of Uncyclopedia-related projects in other languages remain hosted under their own localised names, either as fully independent domains or as subdomains of Wikia.com.
25% (or 20 out of 79) of the Uncyclopedia collection is hosted by Wikia
Wikia
Wikia is a free web hosting service for wikis . It is normally free of charge for readers and editors, deriving most of its income from advertising, and publishes all user-provided text under copyleft licenses. Wikia hosts several hundred thousand wikis using the open-source wiki software MediaWiki...
; there are also six dedicated non-Wikia servers which host "Uncyclopedia Babel" project content in various languages. To coordinate these projects (collectively, the "Uncyclomedia Babble Project") an Un-Meta wiki was created in 2006.
Content
Uncyclopedia's content is licensed under the Creative CommonsCreative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 license. As with other Wikia sites, the full article database is freely available for online download. As of 2010, the English-language Uncyclopedia contains over 25,000 articles, making it one of the largest Wikia-hosted wikis. It also has the most active users of any Wikia wiki as of February 2008, with over 200 more users than FFXIclopedia, the runner-up. Uncyclopedia's article about Wikipedia claims that Wikipedia is a parody of Uncyclopedia, not the reverse.
Articles
Fact
A fact is something that has really occurred or is actually the case. The usual test for a statement of fact is verifiability, that is whether it can be shown to correspond to experience. Standard reference works are often used to check facts...
ual accuracy remains, and information often contradicts itself. Often the article leads of into a story of some sorts. Ambiguous as this may sound, Uncyclopedia explicitly states that satire is at its best when it is close to, or represents, the truth. In a manner similar to Wikipedia's "Five pillars", Uncyclopedia has a core set of rules called the "Five pliers", including "Satirical point of view". Despite all the policy pages that parody those of Wikipedia, Uncyclopedia has two main rules: "Be funny and not just stupid," and "Don't be a dick".
The wiki has a system for reviewing articles to ensure that they comply with the defined standards of proper humour, grammar, spelling, use of images, and overall presentation, named Pee Review to parody Wikipedia's article review service Peer Review. Writers post their articles on the Pee Review project page for review by other Uncyclopedians. Similarly, a reference desk exists as the "Reefer Desk" to offer review of humorous user-edited images
Photo manipulation
Photo manipulation is the application of image editing techniques to photographs in order to create an illusion or deception , through analog or digital means.- Types of digital photo manipulation :...
.
One feature of Uncyclopedia's articles is the use of quotation
Quotation
A quotation or quote is the repetition of one expression as part of another one, particularly when the quoted expression is well-known or explicitly attributed by citation to its original source, and it is indicated by quotation marks.A quotation can also refer to the repeated use of units of any...
s, usually misquoted, fictitiously attributed or entirely fabricated. Among the most recurrent themes is the invention of quotes that are attributed to Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
, a phenomenon which began with an article stating that inventing Wilde quotes was the "national sport of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
". Themes such as "Kitten Huffing" (the inhalation of the souls of cat
Cat
The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
s as a form of drug abuse
Drug abuse
Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, refers to a maladaptive pattern of use of a substance that is not considered dependent. The term "drug abuse" does not exclude dependency, but is otherwise used in a similar manner in nonmedical contexts...
) recur frequently.
Uncyclopedia administrators often have to double as censors and critics as they are continually confronted by a steady flow of articles that do not meet Uncyclopedia's standards. Much like Wikipedia, Uncyclopedia has policies concerning vanity articles, which are articles written by an individual associated with the subject of the page. Originally, vanity articles were welcomed as long as they were humorous. However, many of these articles degenerated into flame wars, and creation of vanity pages was therefore disallowed. Uncyclopedia's warning policy is also a play on Wikipedia with mostly the same rules (for example, two warnings before a temporary block
Block (internet)
On the Internet, a block is a technical measure intended to restrict access to information or resources. Blocks should not be confused with bans, although they are often used to enforce a ban.-Effects of blocks:...
as in WP:blocking), but containing funnier-sounding formulations intended to parody the WP:rule process.
| Uncyclopedia project | Object of parody |
|---|---|
| UnBooks | Wikibooks Wikibooks Wikibooks is a Wiki hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation for the creation of free content textbooks and annotated texts that anyone can edit.... |
| UnNews | Wikinews Wikinews Wikinews is a free-content news source wiki and a project of the Wikimedia Foundation. The site works through collaborative journalism. Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has distinguished Wikinews from Wikipedia by saying "on Wikinews, each story is to be written as a news story as opposed to an... |
| Undictionary | Wiktionary Wiktionary Wiktionary is a multilingual, web-based project to create a free content dictionary, available in 158 languages... |
| Un-Bestiary, also UnSpecies | Wikispecies Wikispecies Wikispecies is a wiki-based online project supported by the Wikimedia Foundation. Its aim is to create a comprehensive free content catalogue of all species and is directed at scientists, rather than at the general public... |
| Uncycloversity | Wikiversity Wikiversity Wikiversity is a Wikimedia Foundation project, which supports learning communities, their learning materials, and resulting activities. It differs from more structured projects such as Wikipedia in that it instead offers a series of tutorials, or courses, for the fostering of learning, rather than... |
| Unquotable, formerly QuoteUnQuote | Wikiquote Wikiquote Wikiquote is one of a family of wiki-based projects run by the Wikimedia Foundation, running on MediaWiki software. Based on an idea by Daniel Alston and implemented by Brion Vibber, the goal of the project is to produce collaboratively a vast reference of quotations from prominent people, books,... |
| UnScripts, also UnSource | Wikisource Wikisource Wikisource is an online digital library of free content textual sources on a wiki, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Its aims are to host all forms of free text, in many languages, and translations. Originally conceived as an archive to store useful or important historical texts, it has... |
| UnMeta | Wikimedia Meta-Wiki |
| UnCommons, formerly Uncyclomedia Commons | Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons is an online repository of free-use images, sound and other media files. It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation.... |
| The Uncyclopedia Store | The Wikipedia Store |
| UnTunes | iTunes ITunes iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.... |
| HowTo | wikiHow WikiHow wikiHow is a web-based and wiki-based community, consisting of an extensive database of how-to guides. wikiHow's mission is to build the world's largest and highest quality how-to manual. The site started as an extension of the already existing eHow website, and has evolved to host over 127,000... |
| Why?, also UnAnswers | wikiAnswers WikiAnswers WikiAnswers is an ad-supported wiki-based website where users can submit and answer questions.This site allows users to post and edit questions and answers. WikiAnswers.com uses wiki technology and fundamentals, allowing communal ownership and editing of content. Each question has a "living"... |
| Game | Choose your own adventure Choose Your Own Adventure Choose Your Own Adventure is a series of children's gamebooks where each story is written from a second-person point of view, with the reader assuming the role of the protagonist and making choices that determine the main character's actions and the plot's outcome. The series was based on a... books |
Subprojects
As well as housing many articles designed to satirize Wikipedia-style content, Uncyclopedia also contains several secondary projects (known as "UnProjects"). As of November 2007, there were 12 such projects, each of which specializes in satire of a different information style. Many of these are directly analogous to Wikipedia's sister projects.Press coverage
Uncyclopedia has been referenced in several well-known news publications from around the world, in addition to numerous local and regional newspapers and periodicals. In 2005, the Flying Spaghetti MonsterFlying Spaghetti Monster
The Flying Spaghetti Monster is the deity of the parody religion the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster or Pastafarianism...
entry from Uncyclopedia was mentioned in a New York Times column reporting the spread of so-called "Pastafarianism
Flying Spaghetti Monster
The Flying Spaghetti Monster is the deity of the parody religion the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster or Pastafarianism...
", the religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
that worships the Flying Spaghetti Monster. The column was then reprinted in other newspapers, including the Taipei Times
Taipei Times
The Taipei Times is one of the three major English-language newspapers in the Republic of China the other two being the Taiwan News and The China Post...
. The magazine .net
.net (magazine)
.net is a monthly Internet magazine published in the UK by Future Publishing. Founded in 1994, .net magazine is published every four weeks . The magazine is aimed at professional and amateur web designers, and a significant proportion of its readers are full-time web developers. The front cover...
featured an interview with Huang about Uncyclopedia in May 2007. A number of other articles have been centred on specific entries on Uncyclopedia—most notably the article in the Arizona Daily Star
Arizona Daily Star
The Arizona Daily Star is the major morning daily newspaper that serves Tucson and surrounding districts of southern Arizona in the United States. The paper was purchased by Pulitzer in 1971; Lee Enterprises bought Pulitzer in 2005....
, which focused on the Tucson, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
parody, and the article in the Cyprus Mail
Cyprus Mail
Cyprus Mail is an English language newspaper published in Cyprus. The newspaper is mostly read by foreign nationals and expatriates, particularly from the UK, in Cyprus. It is published daily , and a number of articles are available online...
, which focused on the Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
article.
In addition to articles about specific entries on the wiki, several papers speak of the website in general—usually in a section devoted to technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
or the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. This was the case when Uncyclopedia was referenced in the Boston Herald
Boston Herald
The Boston Herald is a daily newspaper that serves Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and its surrounding area. It was started in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States...
and The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
. Although most articles mentioning Uncyclopedia are specific to the site, there are other articles about Wikia
Wikia
Wikia is a free web hosting service for wikis . It is normally free of charge for readers and editors, deriving most of its income from advertising, and publishes all user-provided text under copyleft licenses. Wikia hosts several hundred thousand wikis using the open-source wiki software MediaWiki...
or Wikipedia that just mention its name briefly. These include the editorial in The Register
The Register
The Register is a British technology news and opinion website. It was founded by John Lettice, Mike Magee and Ross Alderson in 1994 as a newsletter called "Chip Connection", initially as an email service...
discussing the Seigenthaler incident, in which Uncyclopedia was named only once. It has also been listed as one of the "Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites" in PC Magazine
PC Magazine
PC Magazine is a computer magazine published by Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009...
, as well as among the "101 most useful websites" on the internet by The Sunday Telegraph. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is an online newspaper and former print newspaper covering Seattle, Washington, United States, and the surrounding metropolitan area...
considers Uncyclopedia to be The Onion
The Onion
The Onion is an American news satire organization. It is an entertainment newspaper and a website featuring satirical articles reporting on international, national, and local news, in addition to a non-satirical entertainment section known as The A.V. Club...
of wiki sites.
Criticism and controversy
In May 2006, The New Zealand HeraldThe New Zealand Herald
- External links :* * *...
reported that school officials, including the headmaster of King's College
King's College, Auckland
King's College is an independent secondary school in New Zealand. It was originally a boys-only school but now also admits girls in the sixth and seventh forms . The school has strong links to the Anglican church; the Anglican Bishop of Auckland, and the Dean of Auckland are permanent members of...
, stating that Uncyclopedia and Bebo
Bebo
Bebo is a social networking website launched in July 2005. It is currently owned and operated by Criterion Capital Partners after taking over from AOL in June 2010....
were "cyber bullying menace
Epsom Girls' Grammar School
Epsom Girls Grammar School is a girls school located in Epsom, a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. It was established in 1917.The principal is Madeleine Gunn...
student's name and mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
number, along with an offensive message, being posted to Uncyclopedia without her knowledge. The individual in question stated that students commonly added full names and photographs to their own pages, drawing concern from several schooling establishments. The report contributed to the imposition and reworking of the website's vanity and cyberbullying policies, which were only loosely enforced beforehand. Uncyclopedia has also been criticised for racist humour and general hatefulness, but Huang said that racist articles are pulled.
The article on The Lake District was criticised in June 2007 as being offensive by councillors and tourism bosses, who called for stricter regulations on the site. The story was reported in British local newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
the North-West Evening Mail
North-West Evening Mail
The North-West Evening Mail, known locally as the Evening Mail, is a daily, local newspaper in the United Kingdom, printed every evening. It is based in Barrow-in-Furness....
, but no policy changes were made as a result of this. In fact, the publicity generated by the issue prompted the Lake District article to be featured on Uncyclopedia's main page. In a similar incident in November 2007, Uncyclopedia's article on Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
was criticised by Northern Irish politician James McCarry who branded the site "disgraceful" and vowed to, along with help from Moyle Council
Moyle District Council
Moyle District Council is a Local Council in County Antrim in the north-east corner of Northern Ireland. It covers a largely rural area of approximately 190 square miles and has a population of 15,000...
, "get it removed". The article is still on the site. Ardoyne
Ardoyne
Ardoyne is an Irish nationalist, working class and mainly Catholic district in north Belfast, Northern Ireland. It gained notoriety due to the large number of incidents during "The Troubles". It is home to approximately 20,000 inhabitants...
councillor
Belfast City Council
Belfast City Council is the local authority with responsibility for the city of Belfast, the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland. The Council serves an estimated population of , the largest of any district council in Northern Ireland, while also being the fourth smallest by area...
Conor Maskey and Portadown News
Portadown News
The Portadown News was a satirical web-based newspaper dealing with Northern Irish politics and culture. It was written by journalist and political commentator Newton Emerson, a Portadown resident. Its format and style were similar to The Onion.The site was updated biweekly, with the first issue...
creator Newton Emerson
Newton Emerson
Newton Emerson is a political commentator and satirist in Northern Ireland. He describes himself as a 'liberal Unionist'. Despite this, he writes in two Nationalist-leaning newspapers, the Irish edition of the Daily Mirror, and The Irish News...
opposed McCarry, saying people should be more relaxed about the website. This story was reported in The Belfast Telegraph
The Belfast Telegraph
The Belfast Telegraph is a daily evening newspaper published in Belfast, Northern Ireland by Independent News & Media.It was first published as the Belfast Evening Telegraph on 1 September 1870 by brothers William and George Baird...
.
A similar incident occurred in April 2008, when civic leaders of Telford
Telford
Telford is a large new town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, approximately east of Shrewsbury, and west of Birmingham...
, Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
, UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
lashed out at an article calling the town “a world leader in the production and reproduction and re-reproduction of Chav
Chav
A chav is a term that is used in the United Kingdom to describe a stereotype of teenagers and young adults from an underclass background.-Etymology:...
s”. Another article, this time about the Shropshire county town of Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire, in the West Midlands region of England. Lying on the River Severn, it is a civil parish home to some 70,000 inhabitants, and is the primary settlement and headquarters of Shropshire Council...
, says the town is only famous for being the birthplace of Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
, and includes insults towards the residents describing them as monkeys who have evolved into sheep. Uncyclopedia has also been mentioned in the Sioux City Journal
Sioux City Journal
The Sioux City Journal is the daily newspaper of Sioux City, Iowa. The publication covers western Iowa and portions of Nebraska and South Dakota.It is owned by Lee Enterprises Inc....
for its article on Sioux City, Iowa
Sioux City, Iowa
Sioux City is a city in Plymouth and Woodbury counties in the western part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 82,684 in the 2010 census, a decline from 85,013 in the 2000 census, which makes it currently the fourth largest city in the state....
, Hawke's Bay Today
Hawke's Bay Today
Hawke's Bay Today is a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Hastings, New Zealand and serving Hastings, Napier and the Wawke's Bay region. It is owned by APN News & Media...
for its article on Flaxmere
Flaxmere
Flaxmere is a suburb in the Hawke's Bay region of New Zealand's North Island.It is located North-west to the town of Hastings City, and is regarded as a suburb of its larger neighbor. It had a population of 10,400 according to the Hastings Council....
, and Lochaber News for its article on Fort William, Scotland
Fort William, Scotland
Fort William is the second largest settlement in the highlands of Scotland and the largest town: only the city of Inverness is larger.Fort William is a major tourist centre with Glen Coe just to the south, Aonach Mòr to the north and Glenfinnan to the west, on the Road to the Isles...
.
In January 2008, the Malaysian Internal Security Ministry issued a directive alerting newspaper editors not to trust Uncyclopedia. It said the article concerning Malaysia contained "untruths, insults and ridicule" and was demeaning to the country. Uncyclopedia's users found this statement more humorous than serious, and subsequently parodied the directive in an UnNews article. As of February 2010, Uncyclopedia is blocked from the People's Republic of China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
.
In December 2008, the Video Professor
Video Professor
Video Professor, Inc. is a U.S. company that develops, manufacturers and offers tutorials for a variety of computer-related subjects, such as learning to use Microsoft Word, Microsoft Windows, and eBay. Video Professor was founded in 1987 by John W. Scherer and is located in Lakewood, Colorado. ...
made claims of defamation and trademark abuse against Uncyclopedia, demanding that all content relating to the Video Professor be removed within 48 hours. Uncyclopedia has not, as of October 2011, removed said content.
The site uses a layout not unlike that of Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
, which may cause confusion to inexperienced users who misinterpret the content as factual.
Uncyclopedia in other languages
The Uncyclopedia concept has been adapted to wikis in more than fifty other languages. The UnNews project has similarly been replicated, under various localised names, in eighteen other languages. The websites also invoke various parodyParody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
languages such as "Portuñol
Portuñol
Portuñol or Portunhol is the code-switching of Portuguese and Spanish.The word portunhol is a portmanteau of the words Portugués/Português and Español/Espanhol ....
" and "English But Louder". The first Uncyclopedias in languages other than English were created in June 2005, beginning with a French language
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
version. On February 20, 2008, the 50th language, Welsh
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
, was added to the Uncyclopedia series.
Each language wiki is free to establish its own unique community identity, but most of the logos and names in use retain some semblance to those of the English-language version. For instance, as an "un-" encyclopedia, the encyclopedia is named "Uncyclopedia" in both English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
. In some other languages it is:
- ChineseChinese languageThe Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
: "伪基百科" (wěijībǎikē, literally "fake-(Wiki)pedia"), which is derived from "维基百科" (wéijībǎikē, Wikipedia) by changing the first character to "伪", meaning "fake". - Danish: "Spademanns Leksikon" does not include the English word "encyclopedia" in its name; Spademanns Leksikon is a parody of Lademanns Leksikon, a respected Danish encyclopedia, combining its name with the word "spade" (slang for "retard").
- DutchDutch languageDutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
: an exact translation: "Oncyclopedia Neerlandica", only they include the name of their language in the name, "Neerlandica" is a dignified name for "Nederlands", which is the Dutch word for Dutch. This is also a reference to Encyclopædia BritannicaEncyclopædia BritannicaThe Encyclopædia Britannica , published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia that is available in print, as a DVD, and on the Internet. It is written and continuously updated by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 expert...
. - FinnishFinnish languageFinnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
: "Hikipedia" would literally translate to "Sweat-pedia", but "hiki" is more expressive when used as a prefix in spoken language and could mean for example "barely-pedia", "lousy-pedia" or even "hard work -pedia", while obviously being a pun on "Wikipedia". - FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
: "dÉsencyclopédie" in FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
: means "dis-encyclopedia". - GreekGreek languageGreek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
: "Φρικηπαίδεια" in GreekGreek languageGreek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
: means "horror-pedia" or "freak-out-pedia". - HebrewHebrew languageHebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
: "איןציקלופדיה" (Eincylopedia), consisting of "אין" (ein), which means literally "there isn't", so together means "Nocyclopedia". - IndonesiaIndonesiaIndonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
n: Tololpedia (spelled as "Tolololpedia" in Indonesian), from the word tolol "idiot". - ItalianItalian languageItalian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
: "Nonciclopedia" is constructed from the negation "non-" and the word "enciclopedia". - Malaysian: Bodohpedia, from the word bodoh, which means "stupid" in the Malay languageMalay languageMalay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...
. - KoreanKorean languageKorean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
: "백괴사전" (Baekgoesajeon; 백괴事典). The name is derived from the Korean word "백과사전" (baekgwasajeon; 百科事典), a translation of 'encyclopedia', by changing the character 과 (gwa; 科) into 괴 (goe), which means "strange". Therefore, "백괴사전" means "the dictionary of all strange knowledge". - NorwegianNorwegian languageNorwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
: "Ikkepedia" (Not-pedia). - PolishPolish languagePolish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
: "Nonsensopedia". - PortuguesePortuguese languagePortuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
: "Desciclopédia": means "dis-encyclopedia". - RussianRussian languageRussian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
: "Absurdopedia" (Абсурдопедия) from the word "absurd" and "encyclopedia". - Spanish languageSpanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
"Inciclopedia" applies the negation "in-" to "encyclopedia" . - SwedishSwedish languageSwedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
"Psyklopedin" (Psychlopedia). - TagalogTagalog languageTagalog is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by a third of the population of the Philippines and as a second language by most of the rest. It is the first language of the Philippine region IV and of Metro Manila...
: "Pekepedia," which is based on the word for "fake" (peke). - ThaiThai languageThai , also known as Central Thai and Siamese, is the national and official language of Thailand and the native language of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member of the Tai group of the Tai–Kadai language family. Historical linguists have been unable to definitively...
: ไร้สาระนุกรม (rai sa:ra nukrom), is a play on the word for encyclopedia, สารานุกรม (sa:ra:nukrom), and means 'nonsense-opedia'. - TurkishTurkish languageTurkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
: "Yansiklopedi" from the words "Yan" meaning "awry" in Turkish, and "Ansiklopedi" meaning encyclopedia in Turkish. - Ukrainian languageUkrainian languageUkrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....
"Інциклопедія" applies the negation "in-" to "encyclopedia" ). - WelshWelsh languageWelsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
: "Celwyddoniadur" is derived from the words "celwydd" (meaning "lie" ("untruth")) and "[g]wyddoniadur" (meaning "encyclopedia").
Some of the largest Uncyclopedias available in other languages are listed below.
Dutch — Oncyclopedia
The Dutch version started in JuneJune
June is the sixth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and one of the four months with a length of 30 days. Ovid provides two etymologies for June's name in his poem concerning the months entitled the Fasti...
2006. In half a year the number of articles grew to about 350. Though the number of pages in March
March
March is in present time held to be the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is one of the seven months which are 31 days long....
2007 was around 500, 150 short articles moved to the new daughter project, the "OnWoordenboek der Nederlandse Taal" (literary translated: "UnDictionary of the Dutch Language"), so the number of new contributions almost doubled in three months (350 - 150 + 300 = 500). In February
February
February is the second month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the shortest month and the only month with fewer than 30 days. The month has 28 days in common years and 29 days in leap years...
2007, a second project started: OnNieuws (UnNews), a news paper full of nonsense. This can be either fictional news or real news told in a funny way. Around March 15, 2007 the decision was made to change the name.
The Onziclopedie was renamed to Oncyclopedia (Neerlandica). Later more projects started: OnZinnen (Unquotable)
, OnBoeken (UnBooks)
and the Oncycloversiteit (Uncycloversity).
Oncyclopedia also has its own fictional radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
station (OnRadio)
which is only available to listen on the weblog of the Oncyclopedia. The Oncy has become well known mostly because of the articles about Emo
Emo
Emo is a style of rock music and its associated subcultureEmo may also refer to:- Businesses :* Emo , an Irish oil company and filling station chain* Emo Speedway, a racetrack in Emo, Ontario...
, Tokio Hotel
Tokio Hotel
Tokio Hotel is a pop rock band from Germany, founded in 2001 by singer Bill Kaulitz, guitarist Tom Kaulitz, drummer Gustav Schäfer and bassist Georg Listing...
and suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
. These articles have gotten a lot of criticism in the past, but the admins
SysOp
A sysop is an administrator of a multi-user computer system, such as a bulletin board system or an online service virtual community. It may also be used to refer to administrators of other Internet-based network services....
mostly didn't do anything with it, because like they say, it is mostly destructive commentary. Sometimes blocks follow, although this only happens in the case of swearing
Profanity
Profanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms.The...
.
At the end of May
May
May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian Calendars and one of seven months with the length of 31 days.May is a month of autumn in the Southern Hemisphere and spring in the Northern Hemisphere...
2011, the Oncyclopedia had more than 2,150 articles.
Finally there is the "Oncyclopolis Project".
This gives the Oncyclopedia a fictional city-state
City-state
A city-state is an independent or autonomous entity whose territory consists of a city which is not administered as a part of another local government.-Historical city-states:...
, Oncyclopolis and its own ranking system (based on number of articles, user rights and user duty) comparable with the system of the Uncyclopedia.
German — Stupidedia
Stupidedia (from Stupid and encyclopedia) is a German-language wikiWiki
A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
featuring satirically
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
themed and humorous articles. It was created on December 17, 2004, by David Sowka, making it the first known humor wiki. In 2010 it joined the Uncyclopedia family, becoming one of the site's German language wikis. Stupidedia is the largest German language wiki of this kind with over 19,200 articles . Its slogan is "Wissen Sie Bescheid? Nein? Wir auch nicht! (English: Do you know the score? No? Neither do we!)
Italian — Nonciclopedia
Nonciclopedia, the Italian languageItalian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
version, was founded on November 3, 2005 and features over 10,000 articles. Like Uncyclopedia, it has many secondary projects, like Manuali, a collection of fake or humorous tutorials about strange arguments (like How to conquer England in 4 steps), the Horroscopo, a fake horoscope
Horoscope
In astrology, a horoscope is a chart or diagram representing the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, the astrological aspects, and sensitive angles at the time of an event, such as the moment of a person's birth. The word horoscope is derived from Greek words meaning "a look at the hours" In...
, NonNotizie, a parody of WikiNews
Wikinews
Wikinews is a free-content news source wiki and a project of the Wikimedia Foundation. The site works through collaborative journalism. Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has distinguished Wikinews from Wikipedia by saying "on Wikinews, each story is to be written as a news story as opposed to an...
and the Walk of Shame, a parody of the "Walk of Fame", which collects the best articles. Like most of the other languages' editions there is a space for the Article of the Week and some pages have related audio files containing a vocal narration of the page's content. Typical subjects of humour are Wikipedia, Chuck Norris
Chuck Norris
Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris is an American martial artist and actor. After serving in the United States Air Force, he began his rise to fame as a martial artist and has since founded his own school, Chun Kuk Do...
, Pier Paolo Pasolini
Pier Paolo Pasolini
Pier Paolo Pasolini was an Italian film director, poet, writer, and intellectual. Pasolini distinguished himself as a poet, journalist, philosopher, linguist, novelist, playwright, filmmaker, newspaper and magazine columnist, actor, painter and political figure...
, Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...
, Emo
Emo
Emo is a style of rock music and its associated subcultureEmo may also refer to:- Businesses :* Emo , an Irish oil company and filling station chain* Emo Speedway, a racetrack in Emo, Ontario...
subculture, Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...
, the fictional state of Svervegia (literally Swederway) and people who vandalize Nonciclopedia in response to being offended by an article. Since Chuck Norris, Svervegia and Emo topics were abused, especially by newbie
Newbie
Newbie or noob is a slang term for a novice or newcomer, or somebody inexperienced in any profession or activity. Contemporary use can particularly refer to a beginner or new user of computers, often concerning Internet activity, such as online gaming or Linux use...
writers, they are not used anymore. In October
October
October is the tenth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian Calendars and one of seven months with a length of 31 days. The eighth month in the old Roman calendar, October retained its name after January and February were inserted into the calendar that had originally been created by the...
2011 Nonciclopedia was closed indefinitely by the administrators after legal threats were issued by Vasco Rossi
Vasco Rossi
Vasco Rossi , also known as Vasco or with the nickname Il Blasco, is an Italian singer-songwriter. During his career, he has published 25 albums and has written over 150 songs, as well as lyrics for other artists...
This has generated a strong protest movement on Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
and other social networks.
Japanese — Ansaikuropedia
Ansaikuropedia , fourth-largest with just over ten thousand pages, takes its name from the katakanaKatakana
is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet . The word katakana means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana scripts are derived from components of more complex kanji. Each kana represents one mora...
transliteration
Transliteration
Transliteration is a subset of the science of hermeneutics. It is a form of translation, and is the practice of converting a text from one script into another...
of the word Uncyclopedia. It was founded in December 2005. Its "UnNews" section is known for posting stories that closely resemble real news stories, which has caused rumors and angry reactions on Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
.
Portuguese — Desciclopédia
Desciclopédia, the Portuguese languagePortuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
version with over 30,000 pages, is the largest Uncyclopedia. Founded in August 2005, it purports to be the brainchild of the largely fictional Doutor Roberto (Portuguese for "Doctor Robert") a satire upon the late powerful owner of TV Globo
Rede Globo
Rede Globo , or simply Globo, is a Brazilian television network, launched by media mogul Roberto Marinho on April 26, 1965. It is owned by media conglomerate Organizações Globo, being by far the largest of its holdings...
, Roberto Marinho
Roberto Marinho
Roberto Pisani Marinho was the president and founder of the biggest Brazilian TV channel, Globo, a television network with 113 stations and associates...
. This humour routinely targets regional Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian notables such as centenarian comedy actress Dercy Gonçalves
Dercy Gonçalves
Dercy Gonçalves, stage name of Dolores Gonçalves Costa, was a Brazilian comedienne. She stood 4' 11" tall. In her 80-year long career, Dercy Gonçalves worked in the theater, revues, film, radio and television, becoming famous by her humorous use of vulgar language...
, depicted as a cover model posed for a Playboy-like magazine Playold. Actress Cláudia Raia is portrayed as a stingray
Stingray
The stingrays are a group of rays, which are cartilaginous fishes related to sharks. They are classified in the suborder Myliobatoidei of the order Myliobatiformes, and consist of eight families: Hexatrygonidae , Plesiobatidae , Urolophidae , Urotrygonidae , Dasyatidae , Potamotrygonidae The...
. Political leaders such as Luíz Inácio Lula da Silva
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva , known popularly as Lula, served as the 35th President of Brazil from 2003 to 2010.A founding member of the Workers' Party , he ran for President three times unsuccessfully, first in the 1989 election. Lula achieved victory in the 2002 election, and was inaugurated as...
( - "squid") also often fall victim to Desciclopédia's parodies, along with singers, athletes and other public figures.
Desciclopédia uses various domain hack
Domain hack
A domain hack is an unconventional domain name that combines domain levels, especially the top-level domain , to spell out the full "name" or title of the domain. Examples include del.icio.us , goo.gl and fold.it...
s for individual secondary projects, which include Desnoticias ("noticias" is "news"), Descionário (with "dicionário" meaning "dictionary"), Deslivros (for books, "biblioteca" means "library"), and Desentrevistas ("entrevistas" meaning "interviews"). These would correspond to "UnNews", "UnDictionary", "UnBooks" and the exclusive-to-Desciclopédia "UnInterviews".
Spanish — Inciclopedia
The SpanishSpanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
Inciclopedia was established in February 2006 to accommodate content displaced by the closure of Spanish humour wiki Frikipedia. Frikipedia was shut down by the Sociedad General de Autores y Editores
Sociedad General de Autores y Editores
Sociedad General de Autores y Editores is the main collecting society for songwriters, composers and music publishers in Spain. It is similar to ASCAP. The composer and performer Teddy Bautista is the Chairman of the Board of Directors. The SGAE was founded in 1941 as General Society of Authors of...
, a Spanish organization for copyright who were angered by Frikipedia's entry on them. Frikipedia was eventually relaunched.
Notables such as Chilean folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
singer Monteaguilino and Senator Pedro Muñoz
Pedro Muñoz
Pedro Muñoz is a municipality in the autonomous community named Castile-La Mancha, Spain. It lies in the province of Ciudad Real, in the extreme northeast of the province on right basin of the Záncara river. It is in the La Mancha region, in the "Mancha Alta" sub-region...
have expressed their discontent with Inciclopedia and the site's mockery of the Chilean flag and national symbols. Noche Hache, a television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
program on Spain's TV Cuatro, also mentioned Inciclopedia among supporters of Eva Hache
Eva Hache
Eva Hache is a Spanish comedy actress and television show hostess, better known for her late night show Noche Hache. Her real name is Eva Hernández.-Biography:...
's joke candidacy to the presidency of Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
.
See also
- BigipediaBigipediaBigipedia is a comedy sketch show broadcast on BBC Radio 4 that first aired between 23 July and 13 August 2009. A second series of four episodes began on 12 July, 2011. The show's storyline revolves around "Bigipedia", a fictional website broadcast on radio, intended to be a parody of Wikipedia,...
- Dickipedia
- Encyclopedia DramaticaEncyclopedia DramaticaEncyclopædia Dramatica was a satirical open wiki that used MediaWiki software. Launched on December 10, 2004, it lampooned both encyclopedic topics and current events, especially those related or relevant to contemporary internet culture. It was frequently utilized by a socially fluid and dynamic...
- StupidediaStupidediaStupidedia is a German-language wiki featuring satirically themed and humorous articles. In 2010 it joined the Uncyclopedia family, becoming one of the site's German language wikis. Stupidedia is the largest German language wiki of this kind, with over 19,200 articles .- External links :* * *...
- WikiWikiA wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...