The Encyclopedia That Wouldn't Write Itself
Before Wikipedia, there was Nupedia. Launched in March 2000 by internet entrepreneur Jimmy Wales and his newly hired editor-in-chief, philosopher Larry Sanger, Nupedia was meant to be a free, online encyclopedia for the ages. The vision was ambitious
and traditional: articles would be written by volunteer experts and subjected to a rigorous, seven-step peer-review process to ensure their quality was comparable to professional encyclopedias like Britannica. There was just one problem: it was agonizingly slow. The process was so intimidating and laborious that in its first year, only a handful of articles were actually published. Nupedia was a perfect, pristine cathedral for knowledge, but the pews were empty and the experts weren't showing up to preach. The project, funded by Wales's web portal company Bomis, was stalling out.
A Side Project Called 'Wiki'
As Nupedia languished, Larry Sanger grew frustrated. The breakthrough came in January 2001 after a conversation with a programmer, Ben Kovitz, who introduced him to a radical concept called a 'wiki'. A wiki, a term coined by programmer Ward Cunningham in 1995 from the Hawaiian word for 'quick', was a type of website anyone could edit instantly. It turned the traditional publishing model on its head. Instead of writing, reviewing, and then publishing, a wiki let you publish first and review later. This was the 'hidden decision'. Sanger proposed to Wales that they create a wiki as a side project—a less formal, collaborative feeder system for Nupedia. The idea was that the public could rapidly draft articles on the wiki, and the best ones would then be polished by Nupedia's experts. It was seen as a supplementary tool, a way to jumpstart the stalled engine of their main project. Wales agreed, and Sanger coined the name for this silly little experiment: a portmanteau of 'wiki' and 'encyclopedia'. Wikipedia was born.
Opening the Floodgates
Wikipedia.com went live on January 15, 2001. The effect was immediate and explosive. While Nupedia had produced about two dozen articles in its entire existence, Wikipedia generated hundreds in its first few weeks and over 20,000 in its first year. The open, anarchic model that seemed so unserious to Nupedia's academic contributors was its greatest strength. Anyone could contribute, on any topic, without asking permission. It was messy, chaotic, and unbelievably productive. The side project almost immediately overshadowed the main event. Within months, it became clear that the 'feeder' project was the main attraction. The floodgates of collaborative knowledge had been opened, and the sheer volume and energy of the community made Nupedia's slow, careful process look obsolete.
An Uncomfortable Success
The wild success of Wikipedia created a philosophical rift between its founders. Jimmy Wales fully embraced the chaotic, decentralized 'bazaar' model, trusting that the community's collective goodwill would, on average, produce something valuable. Larry Sanger, however, grew increasingly concerned. As the site's primary organizer, he battled trolls and edit wars, and he worried that the lack of respect for formal expertise would permanently damage the project's credibility. For him, the wiki was supposed to supplement expert review, not replace it entirely. But the community had its own momentum. After funding for his position ran out in 2002 amid the dot-com bust, Sanger departed, eventually becoming an outspoken critic of the very system he helped create. Nupedia officially shut down in 2003, its few finished articles absorbed into its wildly successful, unruly child.
