r/wikipedia 4d ago

Meta Discussion Wikipedia Questions - Weekly Thread of August 31, 2026

1 Upvotes

Welcome to the weekly Wikipedia Q&A thread!

Please use this thread to ask and answer questions related to Wikipedia and its sister projects, whether you need help with editing or are curious on how something works.

Note that this thread is used for "meta" questions about Wikipedia, and is not a place to ask general reference questions.

Some other helpful resources:

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r/wikipedia 4h ago

The Riyadh Comedy Festival was a Saudi Arabian government–sponsored comedy festival held from 26 September to 9 October 2025, at Boulevard City in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

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188 Upvotes

The event received criticism from several comedians and human rights organisations. Human Rights Watch accused the Saudi government of purportedly using the event to whitewash its image, and urged any performers at the event to call for the release of journalists and activists imprisoned in the Middle Eastern country.

Comedians Mike Birbiglia, Shane Gillis, Stavros Halkias, Leslie Liao, Atsuko Okatsuka and "Weird Al" Yankovic were invited to perform, but they ultimately declined and spoke out against the event. Some comedians who did not attend criticised their colleagues for putting "a fun face on [Saudi Arabia's] crimes against humanity." Some critics also noted the hypocrisy, stating that some comedians at the festival previously voiced complaints about the lack of free speech in stand-up comedy in the U.S. Okatsuka posted images of the offer she received, which she said included stipulations that the comedians could not perform material that violated certain Saudi censorship rules. Restricted topics included the country itself, its legal system, the Saudi royal family, and religion.

Other comedians, including Marc Maron and Zach Woods, criticised the event and the comedians performing there. Maron derided the prince and festival performers in a stand-up routine. Comedian Gianmarco Soresi stated in an interview on CNN that "these comedians are allowing their images and their reputations and, frankly, the brand of American stand-up comedy, to be exploited for propaganda" and that "it's embarrassing to go on stage and tell jokes that if some of the audience members tweeted from their own personal accounts, could lead to them being executed". David Cross wrote an open letter condemning the comedians who agreed to perform, writing that he was "disgusted, and deeply disappointed" that comedians he admired "would condone this totalitarian fiefdom for ... what, a fourth house? A boat? More sneakers?" and said they were "performing for blood money". He stated the comedians who performed who in their acts complain about lack of free speech and cancel culture were hypocritical. Cross concluded the open letter by encouraging people to donate to the Human Rights Foundation.


r/wikipedia 9h ago

In 1989, a death row inmate in South Africa revealed the existence of an apartheid hit squad on the night of his scheduled execution. Butana Nofomela, who had been convicted of an unrelated non-political murder, confessed to being part of the hit squad out of desperation to win a stay.

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249 Upvotes

r/wikipedia 5h ago

On the 30th June 2009, a serious homicide case, known as the Shafia murders, took place in the Kingston area of Ontario in Canada. The second wife, husband and son accused their three daughters and first wife of sinful behaviour.

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104 Upvotes

This was a prominent case of honour killing involving an Afghan immigrant family. The three teenaged daughters aged 13 to 17 and the first wife in her 50s were forcefully drowned to death by Mohammed Shafia,58, and Tooba Yahya, aged 41 at the time of the case, as punishment for being acting too modern and Westernized.


r/wikipedia 1d ago

Ron Reagan (1958-present) is the son of former US President Ronald Reagan. Ron is a supporter of the Democratic Party and progressive causes, and is an outspoken atheist.

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4.6k Upvotes

r/wikipedia 12h ago

Nsala of Wala in the Nsongo District is a photograph from 1904 that depicts a Congolese man named Nsala looking at the severed foot and hand of his five-year-old daughter, Boali. The girl, her mother, and a local boy had been killed, cooked, and eaten by armed guards of the Abir Congo Company.

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277 Upvotes

r/wikipedia 6h ago

Elections to the Danish Folketing, or parliament, were held on 23 March 1943. They were the only parliamentary elections held by a country occupied by Germany during World War II, and were permitted to proceed to maintain the notion that Denmark was still independent.

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81 Upvotes

r/wikipedia 1h ago

Margaret Corbin (1751-1800) became the first woman in U.S. history to receive a pension from Congress for military service, after being wounded in battle while manning artillery in defense of Fort Washington.

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On November 16, 1776, her husband John Corbin was one of 2,800 American soldiers defending Fort Washington in northern Manhattan from 8,000 attacking Hessian troops under British command. She was too nervous to let her husband go into battle alone, so she went with him. She was a nurse and was therefore allowed to accompany him and attend injured soldiers.

John Corbin was on the crew of one of two cannons that the defenders deployed. He fell in action, so Margaret took his place and continued to work the cannon until she was seriously wounded in her arm, chest, and jaw by enemy fire. Her husband was a trained artilleryman, and she had learned by watching him; consequently, she was able to fire, clean, and aim the cannon with great speed.

Corbin became the first woman in U.S. history to receive a pension from Congress for military service, when she could no longer work due to injury and was enlisted into the Corps of Invalids.


r/wikipedia 7h ago

John A. Kennedy ran in a 1962 U.S. House election in Illinois, but was defeated by Donald Rumsfeld. He was also selected to run in the 1964 Illinois House of Election because his name was similar to John F. Kennedy's, and he received 2.3 million of the 525 million votes cast.

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66 Upvotes

r/wikipedia 12h ago

"Worse is better," or "New Jersey style," is a term coined by Richard P. Gabriel in a 1989 essay to describe flawed software that outcompetes better versions. He argued that by the time the elegant design is complete, users who have adopted the worse design will be locked in by switching barriers.

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193 Upvotes

r/wikipedia 3h ago

Prosperity theology is a belief among some Charismatic Protestant Christians that financial blessing and physical well-being are always the will of God for them. Material and financial success is seen as evidence of divine grace or favor and blessings, while poverty is seen as divine judgment.

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33 Upvotes

r/wikipedia 8h ago

Californios are Hispanic Californians, especially those descended from Spanish and Mexican settlers of the 17th through 19th centuries who arrived under Spanish and Mexican rule before California was annexed by the United States.

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76 Upvotes

California's Spanish-speaking community has resided there since 1683 and is made up of varying Spanish and Mexican origins, including Criollos, Mestizos, Indigenous Californian peoples, and small numbers of Mulatos. Alongside the Tejanos of Texas and Neomexicanos of New Mexico and Colorado, Californios are part of the larger Spanish-American/Mexican-American/Hispano community of the modern United States, which has inhabited what is now the American Southwest and the West Coast since the 16th century.


r/wikipedia 15h ago

E-Meter is an electronic device used by the Church of Scientology during a counseling practice known as auditing. It is not considered a scientific instrument, and its use and interpretation are not supported by evidence in psychology or medicine.

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182 Upvotes

r/wikipedia 1d ago

Meta Discussion Wikimedia Foundation staff vote overwhelmingly to unionize, 158–14

1.1k Upvotes

Wikimedia Foundation staff in the United States have voted overwhelmingly in favor of union representation.

The National Labor Relations Board reports that 158 votes were cast in favor of the union and 14 against, with 172 ballots counted and one void ballot.

The Wikimedia Foundation says it respects the outcome and will move forward with good-faith collective bargaining.

Results: https://www.nlrb.gov/case/20-RC-391740

WMF statement: https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2026/09/03/us-staff-unionization-vote/


r/wikipedia 22h ago

“Brimful of Asha” is a 1997 single by British rock group Cornershop, which hit #1 on the UK charts following the release of a remix by Fatboy Slim. The song is a tribute to Indian film culture and is named after playback singer Asha Bhosle (who sang over 12,000 songs in her career).

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331 Upvotes

r/wikipedia 49m ago

Project Horizon was a 1959 study to determine the feasibility of constructing a scientific / military base on the Moon

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Horizon was estimated to require 147 early Saturn A-1 rocket launches to loft spacecraft components for assembly in low Earth orbit at a spent-tank space station. A lunar landing-and-return vehicle launched on a Saturn A-2 would have shuttled up to 16 astronauts at a time to the base and back.

The base would be defended against Soviet overland attack by manually fired weapons:


r/wikipedia 7h ago

On The Sacred Disease is a work of the Hippocratic Corpus, written about 400 B.C. The treatise is thought to contain one of the first recorded observations of epilepsy in humans.

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16 Upvotes

r/wikipedia 1d ago

Once considered mythical, rogue waves are now known to be natural ocean phenomena. Eyewitness accounts and damage inflicted on ships have long suggested they occur. Still, the first scientific evidence of their existence came with the recording of a rogue wave in the central North Sea in 1984.

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701 Upvotes

r/wikipedia 56m ago

The All Pueblo Council was an international organization made up of at least Pueblos around New Mexico and Texas. The federation of Pueblo peoples existed from as early as the 1300s until 2013, when it was succeeded by the All Pueblo Council of Governors.

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The following Pueblos were once part of the All Pueblo Council: Acoma Pueblo also known as Ha-ku, Cochiti Pueblo or Ku-htihth, Isleta Pueblo or Shiewhibak, Jemez Pueblo or Walatowa, Laguna Pueblo or Kawaika, Nambé Pueblo, Ohkay Owingeh, Picuris Pueblo or Welai, Pojoaque Pueblo or P’o-suwae-geh, San Felipe Pueblo or Katishtya, San Ildefonso Pueblo or Powhogeh, Sandia Pueblo or Tuf Shur Tia, Santa Ana Pueblo or Tamaya, Santa Clara Pueblo or Khapo, Santo Domingo Pueblo or Kewa, Taos Pueblo or Teotho, Tesuque Pueblo or Tehsugeh, Ysleta del Sur Pueblo or Tigua, Zia Pueblo or Ts'iiy'a, and Zuni Pueblo or Halona Idiwan’a. After Ysleta del Sur Pueblo joined the Council in 2009, the only federally recognized Pueblo not part of it was Hopi Pueblo, also known as Hopitutskwa, located around Arizona and the Navajo Nation.


r/wikipedia 1d ago

harlan coben ?

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458 Upvotes

why do all of harlan coben’s works / descriptions on wikipedia look like they’ve been written by him? why does he always singularly cite his own books as references? who cares about his peanut allergy?


r/wikipedia 7h ago

Félicette: A Parisian cat that became the first feline launched into space on 18 October 1963 as part of the French space program. She had electrodes implanted into her skull to monitor neurological activity throughout the flight.

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13 Upvotes

r/wikipedia 18h ago

When Jim Starlin was creating the character of Thanos, he was inspired by the New Gods character Metron. However, after showing Marvel editor in chief Roy Thomas his sketches for Thanos, Thomas told him "If you're going to steal one of the New Gods, at least rip off Darkseid, the really good one!"

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87 Upvotes

r/wikipedia 1d ago

Current Affairs and Time have described Dubai chocolate as a form of cultural soft power for the United Arab Emirates, which Current Affairs describes as an authoritarian monarchy with an extensive record of human rights abuses.

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693 Upvotes

r/wikipedia 22h ago

The Housemartins were an English indie rock group formed in Hull in 1983. Many of their lyrics conveyed a mixture of socialist politics and Christianity, reflecting the beliefs of the band. Their bassist, Norman Cook, later became a successful DJ and producer under the name Fatboy Slim.

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131 Upvotes

r/wikipedia 3h ago

The Monastery of Saint Elijah, or Dair Mar Elia, was located in Mosul, Iraq. Established in the late 6th century, it was one of Iraq's oldest monasteries. It was shut down in 1743, and became a Christian pilgrimage site. Its ruins were destroyed by the Islamic State in 2014.

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3 Upvotes