Wookieepedia Celebrates 20 Years Of 'Star Wars' Knowledge
Image Source: Cultureslate
More than twenty years ago, the Star Wars fandom was quite different from what it is today. The last film of the Prequel Trilogy would soon be released in cinemas, but the future of the saga was in peril: George Lucas had just spent more than a decade of his life on the Prequels and seemed tired and fed up with all the negativity around his films and so by that time there were no furhter Lucasfilm projects announced. The franchise could very well enter another "dark times", like in the mid-80s.
It is kind of ironic that just around that time, a group of enthusiasts and volunteers decided to start an online encyclopedia for the galaxy far, far away.
Wookieepedia is the brainchild of Steven Greenwood and Chad Barbry, who also came up with the name for the Wiki.
On March 4, 2005, Wookieepedia launched on what was then called Wikieciets (now Fandom).
Since then, not only has the design of the site changed several times, but Wookieepedia has become the largest go-to place on the internet regarding Star Wars. There are tons of reference books about characters, events, vehicles, planets, and wardrobe, but no book can be as vast and extensive as Wookieepedia. There is no creature, no plant, no blaster, and no background character too small that there isn't a Wookieepedia article about it. When a new Star Wars media is released, be it a film, TV series, book, comic, magazine, or videogame, you can be sure to find articles about every nuance of it within hours.
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Today, Wookieepedia has more than 207,000 articles, all written, edited, and curated by volunteers. New "Wookieepedians" join almost daily, many fixing typos or improving grammar at first, but soon starting to write their articles or expanding existing ones.
There is a group of administrators and review board members, as well as discussion boards and so-called WookieeProjects, aimed at improving the content regarding certain characters, topics, or real-world matters like LGBTQIA+ individuals or authors.
Since the former Expanded Universe is no longer canon, each article now features a flag on the top, stating if it is part of Legends or current Star Wars lore. There is a list of appearances, sources, and references at the bottom of each article, and most of them include a bunch of high-quality images or drawings (also with their respective source).
Aside from English, Wookieepedia is (with different names) available in 30 additional languages.
One might be hard pressed to find a Star Wars fan who hasn't visited Wookieepedia to look something up, to learn, or to find a confirmation for something, and it is all too easy to follow the links from one article to the next, spending hours upon hours there without even noticing it.
So from all of us here at Culturesalte: Happy Birthday Wookieepeia. May the Force be with you for at least another 20 years.
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Source: SWToR-Strategies
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