r/wikipedia 3d ago

Meta Discussion Wikipedia Questions - Weekly Thread of July 13, 2026

3 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.

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r/wikipedia 5h ago

Gaëtan Dugas, long scapegoated as the “Patient Zero” of the AIDS epidemic in the United States, was actually designated “Patient O,” meaning “outside of California,” because that’s where he lived. In reality, HIV had been present in the United States for at least a decade, and possibly longer.

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302 Upvotes

r/wikipedia 17h ago

The 1980 October Surprise theory refers to the claim that members of Ronald Reagan's presidential campaign covertly negotiated with Iranian leaders to undermine incumbent President Jimmy Carter by delaying the release of 66 American hostages detained in Iran.

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1.2k Upvotes

r/wikipedia 22h ago

In 1954, Israeli military intelligence recruited Egyptian Jews to place bombs in American and British owned civilian targets as a false flag operation, but the plan failed. Israel denied the operation until 2005, when the president awarded the surviving operatives with certificates of appreciation.

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1.4k Upvotes

r/wikipedia 35m ago

In August 2021, Belarus's president Lukashenko threatened to "flood" the EU with "drugs and migrants". The government of Belarus began sponsoring an influx of migrants, mostly from the Middle East and North Africa. Tens of thousands of unauthorized border crossing attempts have been recorded.

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r/wikipedia 6h ago

Ivan the Terrible was a 900-pound (410 kg) male polar bear who lived in the Griffith Park Zoo in Los Angeles, California in the 1950s and 60s. He killed three other polar bears in his enclosure during this time. In 1966 he was moved to the Los Angeles Zoo when it opened.

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24 Upvotes

r/wikipedia 3h ago

The Poisonwood Bible is a 1998 novel by Barbara Kingsolver, which tells the story of a missionary family, the Prices, who in 1959 move from the U.S. state of Georgia to the village of Kilanga in the Belgian Congo, close to the Kwilu River. The novel's title refers to Bible errata.

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12 Upvotes

r/wikipedia 20h ago

The 2026 Finalissima, in which faced both Spain and Argentina -winners of the previous South American and European championships- and was planned to be set in Qatar, was cancelled due to the Iran war. Both teams will face each other in the 2026 World Cup final.

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310 Upvotes

r/wikipedia 1h ago

"The Gideons International", an organization which spreads as many copies of the Bible as possible worldwide, in places such as hotel rooms, medical centres, and schools. Starting in 1908, the organization distributed over 2.5 million copies as of 2015, and distributes a further 70 million annually.

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r/wikipedia 23h ago

Faggots are traditional British meatballs made of pig offal and bread crumbs and wrapped in caul fat. They have historically been popular with the working classes of the English Midlands and Wales.

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305 Upvotes

r/wikipedia 2h ago

Vilbrun Sam was President of Haiti. Sam acted harshly against his political opponents culminating in his ordering the execution of 167 political prisoners, which outraged many. Soon after Sam fled to the French embassy but was dragged out and beaten to death on July 28th 1915.

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6 Upvotes

r/wikipedia 23h ago

Kirk/Spock is the term for the romantic pairing of Star Trek characters James T. Kirk and Spock by fans. Fanfiction historians have suggested that Kirk/Spock may have been the first "slash" pairing, a term that focuses on romantic or sexual pairings of characters who are the same sex.

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212 Upvotes

r/wikipedia 23h ago

Tung Tung Tung Sahur is an AI-generated character created by Indonesian TikToker @noxaasht. The character is based on a kentongan (a traditional Indonesian drum) and is holding a pentungan, which are used during Ramadan as a wake-up call for the pre-dawn meal of Sahur.

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155 Upvotes

r/wikipedia 15m ago

Asia Booth Clarke was a century American writer and the sister of John Wilkes Booth. Originally, her father wished to name her "Ayesha" after Muhammad's wife, or "Frigga" after the Norse goddess. After 1965 she and her husband moved to England for the rest of her life.

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r/wikipedia 20h ago

Beijing, capital of China. With >21.8M residents, it is the world's most populous national capital. It is one of the oldest cities in the world, is 1 of 10 Alpha+ or higher cities, houses the most Fortune Global 500 companies, and is the only city ever to host both the Summer and Winter Olympics.

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71 Upvotes

r/wikipedia 9h ago

Winklepickers are a style of shoe or boot worn from the 1950s onward, especially popular with British rock and roll fans. The feature that gives both the boot and shoe their name is the very sharp and long pointed toe, likened to pins used to extract the edible parts from “winkle” (snail) shells.

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7 Upvotes

r/wikipedia 1d ago

Since its inception in 1901, Nobel Peace Prize caused various controversies. Controversial winners include Roosevelt, Kissinger, Mother Teresa, Aung San Suu Kyi, European Union and Jimmy Carter.

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212 Upvotes

r/wikipedia 17h ago

Crack Spread is a term that refers to the difference in value between crude oil and refined oil

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34 Upvotes

r/wikipedia 6h ago

Blue John is rare form of fluorite with bands of a purple-blue or yellowish color. In the UK it is found only at Blue John Cavern and Treak Cliff Cavern at Castleton in Derbyshire. During the 1800s, it was mined for its ornamental value, and mining continues on a small scale.

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4 Upvotes

r/wikipedia 1d ago

Since 2020, Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince has been the site of an ongoing conflict. The government of Haiti and Haitian security forces have struggled to maintain their control of Port-au-Prince amid this conflict, with anti-government forces speculated to control up to 90% of the city by 2023.

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152 Upvotes

On 2 October 2023, United Nations Security Council Resolution 2699 was approved, authorizing a Kenya-led "multinational security support mission" to Haiti. The last Kenyan-led Multinational Security Support personnel have departed, handing off to the UN-backed Gang Suppression Force (GSF) — but only ~800 GSF troops from Chad, Guatemala and El Salvador have deployed toward a planned 5,500, under new Mongolian force commander Maj. Gen. Erdenebat Batsuuri, with the force's first operations expected in the coming weeks.

Until 2024, the war was between two major groups and their allies: the Revolutionary Forces of the G9 Family and Allies and the G-Pèp. However, in February 2024 the two rival groups formed a coalition opposing the government and the UN mission.

 UN Secretary-General Guterres visited on 16–17 June, warning that more than 1 in 10 Haitians are now homeless — displacement has reached 1.5M and 2,300 have been killed in 2026. Erik Prince's Vectus Global is operating in parallel with explosive-laden drones. The PM has cast doubt on holding a presidential vote by August as clashes spread, displace hundreds more, and suspend medical services. GBV surged in early 2026 (nearly 21 documented cases/day, 70%+ rape, up 43% from Q4 2025). Over 1.4M are displaced — about half children — and 5.7M+ face severe food insecurity. The gap between gang capability and the GSF's footprint is widening, not closing.


r/wikipedia 1d ago

The Hollywood Freeway chickens are a colony of feral chickens that live under the Vineland Avenue off-ramp of the Hollywood Freeway (U.S. Route 101) in Los Angeles, California. News stories generally ascribe them to an overturned poultry truck. The colony has been there about 56 years.

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1.4k Upvotes

r/wikipedia 1d ago

Practical atheism is the view that one should live life without concern about a god, without rejecting or accepting claims about god(s). Since practical atheism doesn't address the god claim, one can be both a theist and a practical atheist.

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595 Upvotes

r/wikipedia 1d ago

Warren John "Jack" Nutter Jr. (June 30, 1937 – December 8, 2021) was the longest-serving inmate in Iowa history. Convicted of murder at 18 for killing a police officer in 1956, he spent 65 years, 9 months, and 28 days in the Iowa State Penitentiary before dying in custody at age 84.

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240 Upvotes

r/wikipedia 21h ago

Meta Discussion How would you site a fallout shelter license?

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25 Upvotes

I have this and would like to cite it (no, a cave is not a valid fallout shelter at all)


r/wikipedia 4h ago

Meta Discussion Creating wiki page for notable association

0 Upvotes

Hi, I would like to know if it is possible to create a Wikipedia page for an association which has grown notable and reputable. We do have several sources and credentials we could use but I understand it is against the rules to create your own Wiki page. In that case, who could create one? Is it possible to still create one if we have sufficient credentials and disclose that it has been done by a member of such association?

Thanks!