Bob HymanNov 22, 2023
Waldo Jaquith
In “So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish,” Douglas Adams wrote that the Hitchhikers’s Guide to the Galaxy is 5,973,509 pages long. English-language Wikipedia currently contains 6,747,777 entries. That means that the size of Wikipedia has now surpassed the size of the Hitchhikers’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Nov 21, 2023 at 3:59amIvory for iOS
Show threadBrian DearNov 21, 2023

@waldoj

I’d so much rather read a 5.9MM-page HGTTG than Wikipedia. Far better writing and much more witty for sure.

Show threadFalx CerebriNov 21, 2023
@brianstorms @waldoj Yeah... hate to say it, but Wikipedia's got much more Encyclopedia Galactica vibes. 😂
Show threadStefan SonnenbergNov 22, 2023
@falxcerebri @brianstorms @waldoj Especially the German division.
Show threadRep. Eric Gallager (no "h"!)Nov 21, 2023
@waldoj Makes sense, considering that the Guide was shown to be not very comprehensive (its entry for Earth was only 1 word at first, to be updated to 2, after all)
Show threadPaul LalondeNov 23, 2023
@egallager @waldoj "mostly" was doing a lot of work there.
Show threadJulie GoldbergNov 21, 2023
@waldoj And yet, my panic persists.
Show threadPēteris KrišjānisNov 24, 2023
@Julie @waldoj that is why "don't panic" will be ever green 😌
Show threadjon crowcroftNov 21, 2023
@waldoj how does that compare with the Young Lady's Illustrated Primer?
Show threadPhilip C JamesNov 21, 2023

@waldoj

Ah, but Adam's H2G2 page size is A4 whereas Wikipedia's page size is US Letter. A4 is both longer and has a larger area than US Letter, so you're going to have to calculate the page areas of both to compare dicks properly 🤔 😂

Show threadAsh_CrowNov 24, 2023
@PhilipCJames @waldoj why would Wikipedia page size be US letter specifically? 🤔
Show threadPhilip C JamesNov 24, 2023

@Ash_Crow @waldoj

That 🤔 emoji - that's the one for 'overthinking this' ain't it? 😊

Show threadSheogorathNov 21, 2023
@waldoj yet it's missing the big, friendly letters that say "Don't panic" on it.
Show threadTechnotionalNov 21, 2023
@waldoj wonder if those are Imperial pages or metric pages?
Show threadMike Taylor 🦕Nov 21, 2023
@waldoj Nice, but this is not in So Long and Thanks for All The Fish.
Show threadWaldo JaquithNov 21, 2023
@mike It is in the copy that I am holding right now and looking at with my eyeballs.
Show threadMike Taylor 🦕Nov 21, 2023

@waldoj How strange. It's not in the copy I've read maybe a dozen times, nor in the one that I just downloaded from libgen.is.

I wonder if there's an American edition with changes? Would you please send a photo of the relevant page? (You can do this as a private message if you don't want to do it publicly.)

Show threadDaniel M KarlssonNov 21, 2023
@waldoj Nice.
Show threadCoolBlenderKittenNov 21, 2023

@waldoj

These are the things we need to know and what I am here for!
Thanks 😂👍

Show threadbarstewardNov 22, 2023
@waldoj Needs citation.
Show threadGaborNov 22, 2023

@waldoj a fun thing I occasionally ponder is that "page" does not mean a page on paper, like in a book, or even an A4 page.

It's a distinct entry. Or at least I hope that's what "page" means here, in the web sense.

Show threadWaldo JaquithNov 22, 2023
@javorszky I was left wondering what DNA meant when he used the word in that description.
Show threadGaborNov 22, 2023
@waldoj yeah, you're right, what do words even mean, I mean it's not like some words have different meanings depending on context? Everyone always knows the exact meaning of all words all the time. Language is truly amazing
Show threadGoldy Nov 22, 2023
@waldoj I always thought that number was a real low-ball. In another book, he says that the book was published in electronic form because a print edition would require several inconveniently-sized buildings. Without doing the math, I *feel* like you could fit 5 million pages in one large room, tops.
Show threadvv 💫 [follow my new artist profile!]Nov 22, 2023
@waldoj what's funny is i remember reading this and thinking how mind bogglingly big and impractical that would be to create... before wikipedia really caught on
Show threadAthena L.M.Nov 26, 2023
@vv @waldoj *presses print*
Show threadAtkelarNov 22, 2023
@waldoj I should check, but I dare say the article about earth is longer than "mostly harmless" on wikipedia... 😊
Show threadwebhatNov 22, 2023

@waldoj

"Although the Guide contained at least 5,973,509 contributions..."

https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy_(travel_guide)

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (travel guide)

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, also known simply as the Guide or the book, was a guidebook for hitch-hikers throughout the Universe which featured heavily in the sci-fi series of the same name. It was produced by Megadodo Publications, which employed Ford Prefect as one of its researchers; eventually leading him to become stranded on planet Earth for fifteen years while writing a Guide entry about Earth. The Guide served in the original radio series as a plot device; giving the listeners'

Hitchhikers
Show threadhuklNov 22, 2023
@waldoj @joergm What’s the ratio of stub articles vs non stub articles in both?
Show threadGreg JohnsonNov 22, 2023
@waldoj but how many pages of HGTTG are on software packages that only ten people use?
Show threadmartijnNov 22, 2023
@waldoj So, time for the Wikimedia Foundation to start focussing on putting fish in people's ear? 😉
Show threadNathanNov 23, 2023
@waldoj
☝
[citation needed] 😉
Show threadsynlogicNov 23, 2023
@waldoj yes but only one has DONT PANIC in a large comforting font on its cover
Show threadThe Gneech! Awww YeahNov 23, 2023
@waldoj Keep in mind, those are digital pages, each holding quintillions of pieces of information...
Show threadaardvarkNov 24, 2023
@waldoj and in only the thirty years since he shook my hand in an elevator (going up, btw)
Show threadHarald KlinkeNov 25, 2023

@waldoj

But it has also received updates since then, don't you think? You're comparing today's Wikipedia with the Hitchhikers’ Guide of that time.

Show threadAlerta! Alerta!Nov 26, 2023

@waldoj Though so far I haven't seen a wikipedia page that just reads "Harmless".

And the entry about pangalactic gargleblasters is also rather ... dry

Show threadRené FouquetNov 26, 2023
@waldoj That’s all due to Megadodo Publications’ rigorous notability criteria. “Mostly harmless”. Pfff.
Show threadBear Jew 2.0 Nov 26, 2023
@waldoj Assuming every entry fills at least a page.
Show threadMoved to @[email protected]Nov 26, 2023

@waldoj

Earth: Mostly Harmless