Best Wikipedia Jokes

Get ready, kids! It is time to log into your Wikipedia author profile and troll Jimmy Wales. Why? Because making fun of websites more successful than anything we could hope to create is awesome! Also, laughter helps to push away the tears of bitter envy that fall every time you see a new report on monthly Wikipedia visitors.

Here are my favorite Wikipedia funny screenshots, jokes and fails.

Jimmy Wales - Psychopath

I am not in any way against Jimmy Wales, though other wikis seem to have a bizarre affinity for dissing him. Even those little reminder banners around fundraising time every year don't bother me, and I have given more than once since I am such an avid user of the site. But this is one of the funniest fails I have ever seen, and I could never keep it off a list like this.

During one of those money-begging months on the site, the customary photo of Wikipedia's founder was seen hovering over a less than flattering title. According to the article, our dear Mr Wales was a serial killer. I always knew it!

Some other funny ones from the same month listed him as Abraham Lincoln, an astronaut and, somehow hilarious of all, ranch dressing.

Albert Einstein the Rapper

This excellent article by Speed of Creativity tackled a topic a lot of users who don't contribute probably don't know: Wikipedia is monitored like a hawk. Long lasting vandalism is almost unheard of, usually only existing for any real length of time if it is very well hidden, or if it is on a page less frequently visited. Popular pages are usually revised or reverted to previous versions within seconds of an inappropriate edit occurring.

Wesley Fryer gives several examples of this in the article, but the funniest is a portion written on Albert Einstein. In it, he is described as being born in a 'hoodlum' area of L.A to Swedish parents. He was taken under wing by some rappers who taught him the art of throwing it down. But when his mother was attacked by thugs, he gave up his potential career in laying sick beats and instead became a scientist.

Seems legit to me...

North Carolina Tar Heels Football

The person who posted this claims it is the only ever funny vandalism joke on Wikipedia. I would disagree, as I think quite a lot of vandalism done there can be humorous. But this one was simple, elegantly done, and very insulting. All three fantastic elements that make the perfect joke.

From what can be seem of the original text, it does seem a bit biased. So when someone posted "This whole entire page was copied and pasted from an eleven-year-old's essay", it was sure to elicit laughs.

President Mitt Romney

Shortly after the results of the 2012 election were announced, a temporal wormhole opened and merged together to form a single alternate dimension in which Mitt Romney didn't epically fail to become the American president. Or someone with a bias got a little eager and didn't properly predict the end of the race. One of those things definitely happened.

I suppose it could also be that whoever wrote this was just angry at Obama's win. Either way, their wishful thinking never came to pass, and the edit didn't last. Which just makes it an even sadder attempt at maliciousness.

Conclusion

As long as Wikipedia is around, there will be vandalism, innocent fails and jokes. In my opinion, that can only make the internet a better place to be. But let it be a constant reminder to students reading this post: Wikipedia is not an appropriate academic source. Learn that lesson before you get points docked for citing Joe Biden as a professional velociraptor impersonator.

Know any other Wikipedia jokes? Let us know in the comments!