MicroWikiDictionary
 The entry for micronation on MicroWikiDictionary | |
Type of site | Dictionary |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Dissolved | Before 28 June 2022 |
| Owner | MicroWiki Foundation |
| Created by | Volunteer contributors |
| Founder(s) | Karl "Luxor" Friedrich Zabëlle "Zed" Skye |
| Website | dictionary |
| Registration | Required for contributing |
| Launched | 7 April 2019 |
MicroWikiDictionary was an online micronational dictionary owned by MicroWiki (later known formally as the MicroWiki Foundation)[a] that existed between 7 April 2019 until at least 28 June 2022. A wiki, it was maintained and edited by volunteer contributors. The dictionary had about 50 entries by the time it went offline. The website was launched by Karl "Luxor" Friedrich, head technical administrator of MicroWiki, after being given the idea by Zabëlle "Zed" Skye, who ultimately contributed most of the website's entries.
MicroWikiDictionary was considered by several MicroWiki editors as a failed project. Largely because of its poor advertising, most editors of MicroWiki were unaware that the website existed. As such, MicroWikiDictionary never received any long-term active contributors outside of Skye, nor did it ever see an active community like MicroWiki. It lacked even a logo, recycling the one originally used for MicroWikiBase, a former repository of machine readable data.
By 28 June 2022, MicroWikiDictionary's domain had inexplicably become a mirror of MicroCommons, another sister project of MicroWiki. By 10 August, it had instead become a mirror of az.micronations.wiki, an Azerbaijani-language edition of MicroWiki—which was not intended to exist. It was later discovered that every subdomain of MicroWiki which does not exist automatically becomes a mirror of the Azerbaijani wiki. According to Luxor, the reason for this is unknown. The obscurity behind this technical glitch has resulted in the macronation of Azerbaijan becoming a minor meme in the MicroWiki sector, with users calling it "cursed" and jokingly accusing Azerbaijan of being responsible for any technical faults that arise on MicroWiki.
History
Background
- See also: History of MicroWiki (website) and Micronational dictionary
MicroWiki, founded on 27 May 2005 and now the largest micronational wiki and encyclopaedia, has launched several sister projects throughout its existence. However, many of these were short-lived and seldom utilised. Excluding different language-editions, two exceptions to the aforementioned include the MicroWiki forums that existed between 22 December 2010 and 9 January 2021, and the satirical unMicroWiki—containing humorous articles which parodied those on MicroWiki—between 27 January 2011 and 20 October 2013. To make the creation of the website simpler, MicroWikiDictionary replaced MicroWikiBase, originally hosted at base.micronations.wiki. Similar to Wikibase, the website was intended as a repository of machine readable data. Karl Friedrich (more commonly known as Luxor), the head technical administrator of MicroWiki, said that while it "sort of worked," he did not trust anyone enough to grant them access to the database. He also stated that he did not have enough time to work on improving MicroWikibase.
Before the launch of MicroWikiDictionary, there were three known dictionaries of micronational slang created before it. The earliest-known dictionary of micronational jargon was a webpage entitled a glossary of micronational terms, created in January 2001 and last updated on 20 May 2003. It contained 52 entries, including proper nouns, although many entries were without any additional information beyond a listing—lacking even a definition. This was followed by the Dictionary for Micronationalism computer freeware on 1 November 2002 with 34 entries, including political terms not strictly related to micronationalism, and The Micronational Dictionary website between 30 November 2009 and 10 June 2011 by the Organisation of Active Micronations, which had 20 entries.
Creation and failure
In late March 2019, while working for his erstwhile micronational research company Statistic-Fire (now Statistic-Dime), micropatriologist Zabëlle Skye—then known more commonly as Zed—conceived the idea for a dictionary of micronational jargon.[b] After presenting his idea to the MicroWiki@Discord discussion venue on 6 April, Luxor stated that he could host a micronational dictionary as a subdomain of MicroWiki. Similar to MicroWiki, it would run on MediaWiki and operate with a wiki-based editing system. Skye opted to abandon their dictionary in favour of this project instead, believing that it would be more easily accessible on an already established website. Thus, on 7 April, MicroWikiDictionary was created. It replaced MicroWikiBase, and moved domains to dictionary.micronations.wiki. However, it retained MicroWikiBase's logo, as one for MicroWikiDictionary was proposed but never created.
Additions of new entries were slow; by 17 May, only ten articles had been created, but by 10 May 2020, this number had risen to 43 entries—the majority created by Skye. However, at this point, MicroWikiDictionary was largely considered by several MicroWiki editors as a failed project. Due to its poor advertising, many were unaware that the website existed; additionally, not many editors were interested in etymology nor micronational jargon. As such, MicroWikiDictionary never received any active contributors, nor did it ever see an active community. Although, one editor, Eshaan Bhargav Patel, Great Emperor of the Timonoucitiland, created a number of entries between late September and late October 2020. On 3 April 2021, Jayden Lycon proposed several new, redesigned logos for MicroWiki and its sister projects, including one for MicroWikiDictionary. However, his proposal was politely rejected.
Corruption of the domain
By 28 June 2022, the domain for MicroWikiDictionary had inexplicably become a mirror of MicroCommons, another sister project of MicroWiki intended as a repository of micronational documentation, records, transcripts, images, quotations and source material. By 10 August, it had instead become a mirror of az.micronations.wiki, an Azerbaijani-language edition of MicroWiki—which was not intended to exist. As such, this Azerbaijani-language edition had no articles. Patel first discovered this technical glitch on 11 December, and created two dictionary entries, utilising the Azerbaijani wiki as if it was still MicroWikiDictionary. He even created the main page, and wrote a welcome message to MicroWikiDictionary, writing "MicroWiki Dictionary [sic] is a catalogue of definitions of different words and phrases relating to micronationalism". In actuality, every subdomain of MicroWiki which does not exist automatically becomes a mirror of the Azerbaijani wiki; this indicates that the MicroWikiDictionary domain may have been deleted by 10 August, or possibly 28 June as it was a mirror of MicroCommons. According to Luxor, the reason for this is unknown.
The obscurity behind this mirror has resulted in the macronation of Azerbaijan becoming a minor meme in the MicroWiki sector, especially on MicroWiki@Discord, with users calling it "cursed" and jokingly accusing Azerbaijan of being responsible for any technical difficulties that arise on MicroWiki. In October 2023, Luxor added the map of Azerbaijan to the MicroMaps project, an in-development cartographic wiki website intended for mapping micronational claims, in reference to this meme.
Entries
MicroWikiDictionary had over 50 entries by the time it went offline around June 2022. A complete list of entries does not exist; however, it is known to have lacked several important micronational words, such as simulationism and secessionism.[c] Upon Luxor's suggestion, the formatting of entries was based on that of Wiktionary, a Wikimedia dictionary project. There was no formal inclusion criteria, but proper nouns were excluded. Entries from other languages, concluding constructed languages based around micronations, were also allowed. At least one entry was nominated for deletion for being regarded as an obscure inside joke, although it was never deleted as MicroWikiDictionary only had a single administrator, Luxor, who himself was not active on the wiki. Most entries contained only a definition and a see also section, while a handful had a pronunciation guide; the majority lacked an etymology. None of the entries had any citations or quotations.
Aftermath
There have been proposals to revive MicroWikiDictionary, including by Skye. Luxor has proposed for it to have a focus on being a free hosting service for words in micronational constructed languages. However, the demand for such a utility is low. After MicroWikiDictionary's dissolution, Skye created his own micronational dictionary and wiki on the wiki-hosting service Miraheze, Microtionary, on 6 September 2022. According to him, it was not directly inspired by MicroWikiDictionary. With 259 entries as of August 2024, Skye has, however, neglected the wiki in favour of his print dictionary, the Micronational Dictionary, which he first published on 18 October 2022.
See also
Explanatory footnotes
- ↑ MicroWikiDictionary was a sister project of MicroWiki, the micronational wiki and encyclopaedia, and de jure owned by MicroWiki, the company that owns the wiki of the same name. This company was informally named the MicroWiki Foundation in December 2021.
- ↑ Skye had previously created an article on MicroWiki entitled "list of micronational terms" on 21 February 2019.
- ↑ Based on snapshots of the website on the Internet Archive, which show these to be red links (i.e. without an article).