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April 5

Popularity of the reference desk compared to other sites

I would think that because Wikipedia is one of the top 10 websites in the world by popularity, its reference desk would be extremely popular to ask questions. However, it doesn't get as much traffic as other areas of Wikipedia like the Main Page and certain articles. I would like to know why that is and are there any sites similar in functionality to the reference desk that are more popular and why. Interstellarity (talk) 15:37, 5 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Quora and Stack Exchange are certainly two big contenders. CactiStaccingCrane (talk) 17:52, 5 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@CactiStaccingCrane: Thank you for answering part of my question. I may be wrong about this, but maybe Reddit is popular, although it is a broader site. It doesn't look like you answered my question on why the reference desk doesn't get as much traffic as the rest of Wikipedia. I wasn't sure if you know or have an educated guess on what causes the discrepancy. I was just here to point that out. Interstellarity (talk) 21:08, 5 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I would assume that it's because people view Wikipedia as an encyclopaedia and nothing else. They probably just don't realise that it has a reference desk, as it isn't exactly advertised that much. I, for one, did not realise that there is a reference desk until I had passed about 200 hours of editing articles. —Panamitsu (talk) 21:27, 5 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

(edit conflict) Because WP just isn't well-known for answering live questions: the other sites already mentioned are. Other dedicated sites like Tom's Hardware do a good job. The ref desks are almost a by-product of WP's main job, namely to provide encyclopaedic articles which tend to provide ready-written information. I'm not sure that a rash of inquiries such as found on Quora would necessarily improve WP's standing. Others may disagree. MinorProphet (talk) 21:28, 5 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

One big difference is that incorrect statements on the reference desk tend to be handled with references. On other forums, everyone has their own "facts" and throws them around without any verification. Imagine if I posted here that the reason the reference desk isn't as popular is because it tends to be limited to people with a college degree. Anywhere else, that would get copied and reposted and eventually become a new "fact." Here, there would be a quick request for a reference followed by references refuting the statement.

Another big difference is that it is very very difficult to locate old questions and answers here. On other forums, a question that is five years old pops up alongside questions asked in the last ten minutes. I find it difficult to find new questions on many forums. Because the longevity of easily available content is so short here, it appears search engines don't index it and don't direct users to it. 75.136.148.8 (talk) 11:33, 6 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]