Very Important Pedia

April 30, 2015 2:38 AM

The Open Wikipedia Ranking lets you browse Wikipedia pages "by importance". Their primary ranking system is called "Harmonic Centrality", but you can select other methods, including PageRank and raw Page Views. Type an inquiry into the search box or choose from one of the rather whimsically selected front page categories.

Yes, one of those front page categories is currently "Brangelina" ( cast:brad_pitt | cast:angelina_jolie ).
Caveat: "Wikidata is not perfect", as evidenced by the category "Inventors"... first listing is Albert Einstein, who, while he was the most brilliant of scientists, he did not INVENT Relativity, and the last on the front page Top 10 is James Cameron?!?!?

posted by oneswellfoop (9 comments total)

My Wikipedia categories: Unreliable, very unreliable, thoroughly biased, patently wrong, advertising, propaganda, crazy person ranting, and lolwhut?
posted by spitbull at 4:07 AM on April 30, 2015 [5 favorites]

Wikipedia Top Ten: 1. Things disproportionately liked by rules-lawyering nerdboys, 2. Things disproportionately liked by rules-lawyering nerd boys .... etc. etc.
posted by jonp72 at 8:43 AM on April 30, 2015

"Moths" - number 9 by PageRank.
posted by cromagnon at 9:29 AM on April 30, 2015

Harmonic Centrality sounds like an anime organization that is devoted to the destruction of the human race.
posted by symbioid at 9:50 AM on April 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

The top answers from most of the categories are pretty much the most American thing ever:

Humans and men: Barack Obama
Bands: The Beatles
Paintings: The Declaration of Independence
Pop singers: Michael Jackson
Italians: Christopher Columbus
Food: Chocolate (then apple pie)
Countries: United States
Fashion Designers: Lady Gaga
Films: Wizard of Oz
Inventors: Albert Einstein
Brangelina: Enough said

Given that you can learn about things you never even knew existed from Wikipedia, I think it's funny that such a thorough set of superficially American things is topping the list. Even if the primary readership of Wikipedia is in America, are people really searching for Brangelina, the Beatles and apple pie THAT much?
posted by Imogenetic at 2:18 PM on April 30, 2015

if I understand this correctly, it isn't based on searching behavior at all, it is based on linkage structure
posted by idiopath at 2:31 PM on April 30, 2015

This is just for en.wikipedia.org, the English language subsite, and Americans outnumber the other English-speaking countrymenandwomen.

Still, it's reason #47 for me why Wikipedia shouldn't be such a monopoly as a general knowledge website. We need other -pedias, or did people of good intent give up after people of bad intent made Conservapedia?
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:02 PM on April 30, 2015

I already achieved Harmonic Centrality shortly after reading Dianetics.
posted by mmoncur at 3:23 PM on April 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

Poor Christopher Wood (Australian cricketer), the least important Human being (in the subset of human beings with wikipedia pages...)
posted by miguelcervantes at 2:03 PM on May 1, 2015