

Wikipedia: Swap “en” with “simple” in the URL - csomar
http://thenextweb.com/lifehacks/2012/08/17/heres-simple-trick-help-understand-complex-wikipedia-articles/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=share+button&utm_content=Did+you+know+about+this+little+Wikipedia+trick%3F+Swap+%E2%80%9Cen%E2%80%9D+with+%E2%80%9Csimple%E2%80%9D+in+the+URL&utm_campaign=social+media

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mcherm
Or, of course, you could work to raise your English reading level. (For
instance, after reading simple.wikipedia.com, go read the same article on
en.wikipedia.com now that you know what it means.) Ultimately, a larger
vocabulary is _better_ \-- it allows one to convey information in
_significantly_ more compact form including subtle shades of meaning that
would otherwise not be conveyed at all.

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p4bl0
I don't see how this is a "trick". Moreover it won't work most of the time.
Simple English is just another Wikipedia lang, just like French or Spanish.
There can be articles existing in Simple English but not in English and vice
versa.

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Karunamon
An old trick but a neat one, especially on the more technical articles where
you want to explain something to friends but the article is jargonized to the
point of being useless outside of that specific domain.

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delinka
I feel an anti-intellectualism tinge when I read this. _This_ is what
hyperlinking was invented for. _This_ is why we have search engines. Don't
understand something? Digress with a new tab, open the extra links, use your
favorite search engine ... get some answers and learn something. Finally,
return to the original equipped with your newfound powers of understanding.

I've had these habits from the moment I had access to the Internet. It lets me
_quickly_ learn new things. I think the people around me see this and want the
same thing. Well, you can't have it-- you can't read and understand that
quickly unless you're willing to put in the time to learn to operate like
this.

It's going to take time, so stop being lazy and invest the time.

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feor
Why not just go to the sidebar and click on 'Simplified English'?

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dazzawazza
My kids apparently use this all the time. They thought I was simple for even
bringing it up!

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enr
Obligatory <http://xkcd.com/547/>

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metalruler
I've seen forum participants give matter-of-fact, state-the-obvious replies
which I'm pretty sure must have come from simple.wiki. I don't think it's a
bot, just someone copying and pasting, however the simplified language could
be very useful for genuine AI development.

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cema
A link to the Simple English version of an article will appear, if available,
in the "Languages" menu on the left margin of the article.

(True for any language.)

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SpikedCola
Cool, but old news.

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thinkingisfun
One thing I just don't understand, is how "show any page" is a better than
"show random page". Other than that I love it.

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mherdeg
The Simple English Wikipedia has a preference (not a rule) that words be
chosen from the Basic English lexicon where possible. See
[http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Simple_English_Wi...](http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Simple_English_Wikipedia#Simple_English).

It may come as a surprise that the word "random" does not show up in even the
quite inclusive Basic English combined wordlist,
[http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Basic_English_com...](http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Basic_English_combined_wordlist).

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ThePherocity
I wish my girlfriend had a simple flag, I seldom understand why she's mad, and
when she explains it, I just get more confused.

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davedda
aha, I second that

