Wikipedia origin (Timeline)

Summary

• 26th December 2000 – Kira Wales is born with a rare lung incapacity. She is saved by an unproven and almost unknown procedure that inspires Jimbo to set up Wikipedia."At the end of the procedure, I realized how precious the doctor’s knowledge was. It occurred to me that no one other than this doctor would ever know about this whole thing. There had to be a way”.
• Tuesday January 2, 2001 – Sanger meets with Ben Kovitz, who suggests the idea of using a wiki to build an encyclopedia.
• That night, Larry writes a formal proposal outlining how a wiki encyclopedia would work, and sends it to Jimbo.
• Wednesday January 3, 2001 – Jimbo, or possibly a Bomis sysop, sets up a wiki on Bomis's own server
• Wednesday January 10, 2001, Larry posts to the Nupedia list, proposing to ‘add a little feature' to Nupedia. ‘Jimmy Wales thinks that many people might find the idea objectionable, but I think not’.
• Shortly afterwards, the wiki is installed on Nupedia.com
• The Nupedia board almost unanimously rejects the idea of connecting wikis with Nupedia. "Wikis are a fine idea, but they are, I think, antithetical to the idea of a well reviewed and reliable encyclopedia", says Michael Witbrock.
• Thursday 11 January - Jimbo suggests making the wiki an entirely separate project from Nupedia, with its own 'brand name'. " That way, we separate the wiki from the Nupedia brand name. It is very important to all of us who have an emotional stake in Nupedia that we not harm the reputation of Nupedia."
• The same day, Larry suggests branding it 'The Wikipedia'.
• Friday January 12 – Jimbo sides with the Nupedia Board, and dismisses the wiki as a mere ‘chat room mechanism’.
• The same day, Larry announces they will be creating a new domain,
• The wiki is relaunched on January 15 under wikipedia.com.

References

• A week before the Christmas break, Jeremy Rosenfeld tells Wales about wikis (per Wales, emails and statements by him).
• Tuesday 26th December 2000. Kira Wales born, and is immediately put into intensive care, suffering from serious lung condition. Wales has to remain at the hospital, ‘for some time’. Supported by multiple accounts, including Wales himself. It is not clear when Kira’s condition is resolved.
• Tuesday 2nd January 2001 – Sanger meets Kovitz, Sanger seeks authority from Wales to start a wiki. Supported by multiple accounts
• 3rd or 4th of January, first wiki is downloaded and installed, either by Wales or by sysop Jason Richie.
• Wed, 10 Jan 2001 12:50:32 -0800 = Wed UTC 20:50:32 Sanger posts to the Nupedia mailing list, proposing to ‘add a little feature to Nupedia’. Note, this is a proposal to incorporate a wiki structure into Nupedia, not to create Wikipedia. "We would not integrate the Nupedia wiki into the rest of Nupedia (though wiki pages could link to regular Nupedia pages, there wouldn't be links back)." "On the front page of the Nupedia wiki we'd make it ABSOLUTELY clear that this is experimental". "As to Nupedia's use of a wiki, this is the ULTIMATE "open" and simple format for developing content. We have occasionally bandied about ideas for simpler, more open projects to either replace or supplement Nupedia." "'Jimmy Wales thinks that many people might find the idea objectionable, but I think not".
• Wed, 10 Jan 2001 22:29:58 +0000 = Wed UTC 22:29:58 Ruth Ifcher (handle: Rosa Parks), member of the Nupedia Advisory Board, supports the idea.
• Wed, 10 Jan 2001 17:20:10 -0800 = Wed UTC 25:20:10 Larry announces the URL for the Nupedia wiki on http://www.nupedia.com/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?NupediaWikiHomePage. "Told you we could make it fast. It hasn't yet been linked from the website, so if you're very concerned that we're going to make utter jackasses of ourselves and you want to stop us from doing this, speak up!"
• From lsanger@nupedia.com Wed Jan 10 17:25:00 2001 / cobrand.bomis.com ed, 10 Jan 2001 20:25:00 -0500 (EST = Wed 25:25:00) Larry "Here's the URL for Nupedia's wiki: http://www.nupedia.com/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?NupediaWikiHomePage Told you we could make it fast. It hasn't yet been linked from the website, so if you're very concerned that we're going to make utter jackasses of ourselves and you want to stop us from doing this, speak up! :-)
• From mkulikow@email.smith.edu Wed Jan 10 19:31:59 2001 / cobrand.bomis.com Wed, 10 Jan 2001 22:31:59 -0500 (EST = Wed 27:31:59) Kulikowski "I think we're going to make utter jackasses of ourselves, as you eloquently put it. Gimmicks are no good substitute for the academic seriousness with which this whole project began. MK"
• Thu, 11 Jan 2001 13:48:39 -0600 = UTC 19:48:39 Cindy Lynn Seeley. "Larry, I think the idea of a Wiki is great...I just might end up wearing out my browser's "Back" button trying to keep from losing myself though. :-)) Cindy Lynn"
• From jwales@aristotle.bomis.com Thu Jan 11 16:11:22 2001 / cobrand.bomis.com Thu, 11 Jan 2001 19:11:22 -0500 (EST = Thu 24:11:22 UTC) Jimmy "Maybe we could install the wiki under a totally different brand name"
• Thu, 11 Jan 2001 16:22:39 -0800 = Thu UTC 24:22:39 Quoting a message on Advisory-l - "Maybe we could install the wiki under a totally different brand name, and just let people who sign up for Nupedia aware that lots of Nupedians tend to hang out there.", Larry says " That'd be fine with me; I'm not sure how exactly it would be connected to Nupedia, though. We wouldn't call it "the Nupedia wiki" though that's what it would be. We might have a question on the "about" page: "Q. Do you have a place where I can simply write down ideas, post articles, etc., for public consumption? A. Yes. Use the _wikipedia_!" On the "wikipedia" we would say that this is a supplementary project to Nupedia which operates entirely independently. Larry" This seems to be the first recorded use of the term 'Wikipedia'.
• From lsanger@nupedia.com Thu Jan 11 16:26:32 2001 / cobrand.bomis.com Thu, 11 Jan 2001 19:26:32 -0500 (EST = UTC 24:26:32) Larry Sanger "That'd be fine with me; I'm not sure how exactly it would be connected to Nupedia, though. We wouldn't call it "the Nupedia wiki" though that's what it would be."
• From ander100@msu.edu Fri Jan 12 05:28:14 2001 / cobrand.bomis.com Fri, 12 Jan 2001 05:30:07 -0800 (=Fri 13:30:07 UTC) Carl Anderson: "The question seems to me not whether we are stodgy--it is whether we want to invest our time in silliness."
• From jwales@aristotle.bomis.com Fri Jan 12 12:13:19 2001 / cobrand.bomis.com 15:13:19 -0500 (EST = Fri 20:13:19 UTC) "in this case, I tend to side with the conservatives".
• From mkulikow@email.smith.edu Fri Jan 12 12:13:19 2001 / cobrand.bomis.com Fri, 12 Jan 2001 12:20:46 -0800 (=Fri 20:20:46 UTC) "Jimmy's suggestion ["Maybe we could install the wiki under a totally different brand name"] is very reasonable and I think we should adopt it."
• From lsanger@nupedia.com Fri Jan 12 16:28:37 2001 / cobrand.bomis.com Fri, 12 Jan 2001 19:28:37 -0500 (EST = Fri 24:28:37 UTC) ‘Yes, we're going to register "wikipedia.com"’.
• Creation Date: 2001-01-12T16:12:14-0800 (= 24:12:14 UTC) http://whois.domaintools.com/wikipedia.com
• January 15 2001 They [Larry plus who?] relaunch the wiki under its own domain name. Larry came up with the name "Wikipedia," and the newly independent project was launched at Wikipedia.com on January 15, 2001. It was a ".com" at first because, at the time, we were contemplating selling ads to pay for me, programmers, and servers. (Sanger - A memoir)
• The earliest surviving edit was to the HomePage on 15 January 2001, reading "This is the new WikiPedia!"
• The oldest article still preserved is the article UuU, created on 16 January 2001, at 21:08 UTC. See also eiffel.demon.co.uk (talk) at 20:12, 16 January 2001 on Transport, consisting of four words "AirTransport RailTransport RoadTransport SeaTransport".
• Wed, 17 Jan 2001 15:16:25 -0800 Larry http://www.wikipedia.com/ Humor me. Go there and add a little article. It will take all of five or ten minutes. --Larry
• Sat, 20 Jan 2001 10:56:42 -0600 Jimmy Wales "Perhaps we could have a wikipedia mailing list over on wikipedia, so that people who are messing around over there can talk to each other like this?"
  • Sat, 20 Jan 2001 12:35:11 -0600 "I think that would be an excellent idea Jimmy! I'm afraid Nupedians who do "not" wish to participate in Wikipedia may end up withdrawing their participation from Nupedia as well, if Wikipedia continues to be addressed in Nupedia mailing lists. Best regards, Cindy Lynn :-)) "
• Mon Jan 22 00:02:42 UTC 2001 Sanger sets up separate Wikipedia mailing list.

Dispute over the origin

Jeremy Rosenfeld, a Bomis employee whom Jimmy claimed was the first to propose using a wiki for an online encyclopedia

In 2005 there was a dispute between Larry Sanger and Jimmy Wales about who came up with the idea of using a wiki to implement an online encyclopedia.

• Jimmy Wales jwales at bomis.com Tue Oct 30 22:02:03 UTC 2001 "[…] After a year or so of working on Nupedia, Larry had the idea to use Wiki software for a separate project specifically for people like you (and me!) who are intimidated and bored (sorry, Nupedia!) with the tedium of the process. [...]
• 18:52, 14 March 2005 (edit) (undo) Jimbo Wales Edit to the talk page of the article about himself. "4. It is not correct to say that "With Larry Sanger, Wales in 2001 founded..." I founded Wikipedia, Larry just worked for me. The idea for using a wiki orginally came to me from an employee -- Jeremy Rosenfeld. I am adding a note to the Bomis article's talk page about this one as well.--Jimbo Wales 18:52, 14 Mar 2005 (UTC)"
• Revision as of 18:54, 14 March 2005 (edit) (undo) Jimbo Wales "(I removed a lot of old talk.) I just wanted to comment here on the idea that Larry Sanger had the idea for Wikipedia. This is not correct. The original idea of using a wiki for the encyclopedia project came to me from Jeremy Rosenfeld, an employee at that time. The encyclopedia project itself was fully conceived by me alone, and I funded it, and I hired Larry to run it -- which he did of course with the Nupedia project.--Jimbo Wales 18:54, 14 Mar 2005 (UTC)"
  • Who is Rosenfeld? He is sitting on Sanger's right in this picture.
• In April 2005 there was a long and bitter debate on the Wikipedia-l mailing list about whether the proposal to use a wiki originated with Sanger, or with Rosenfeld.
  • He says on April 20 that he is bringing the issue up now "because we're having this interesting discussion about the history of Wikipedia, and I think it's interesting." This is odd, and does not explain why he brought up the Rosenfeld thing earlier in March.
  • Jimmy Wales jwales at wikia.com Thu Apr 21 05:24:17 UTC 2005 Appears to concede that Rosenfeld had any more than 'a fleeting role' in the idea. " > Nobody is denying that Larry had an extremely > important role in the early development of Wikipedia; and nobody is > claiming that Jeremy had more than a fleeting role in the idea. Precisely. –Jimbo"
• In May 2005, Wales emailed the editor of NewAssignment.net editor Jay Rosen, saying "Larry Sanger was my employee working under my direct supervision during the entire process of launching Wikipedia. He was not the originator of the proposal to use a wiki for the encyclopedia project – that was Jeremy Rosenfeld'." [1]
• 12:47, 28 October 2005 (view source) Jimbo Wales Removes reference to 'pornography' in Bomis, and removes the reference to Sanger in "On January 15, 2001, Wales and Sanger set up Wikipedia"
• Revision as of 05:10, 2 December 2005 (view source) Jimbo Wales Changes " Sanger initially came up with the idea to make the encylopedia wiki-based and coined the name 'wikipedia'." and alters 'Sanger' to ' Jeremy Rosenfeld'
  • 05:10, 2 December 2005 but then brings Sanger's name back in as inventing the name 'Wikipedia'.
• 5:09, 20 January 2006 Jimbo Wales (talk | contribs) deleted page Jeremy Rosenfeld (speedy delete, non-notable - not everyone I have had a conversation with in my life is notable)

Note The Wikipedia article about the history of Wikipedia April 2012 makes it clear that Sanger originated the idea of using a wiki to implement 'Wikipedia'.

See also

• Origin of the wiki
• Nupedia
• Nupedia-l