1

A lot of these Wikipedia read-alouds have been creeping up on YouTube, all from an account called WikiPlays. And by “a lot”, I mean 94,369 videos as of writing, and it’s really starting to pollute search results.

It doesn’t really take going through a 2-hour-plus video of a reading (by automated voice – not unlike xtranormal – at that) of the Wikipedia article of the History of Palestine to realize how more efficient print is, so I’m not sure if there is a purpose to this. If it’s for blind people and illiterates, how do they get to search YouTube anyway? And what happens when someone edits the Wikipedia page? Do they reload a new video every time? (I’d like to see that.)

I’m sure a few good voice actors could work wonders by reading aloud a few of the more contentious discussions of controversial articles on Wikipedia, but not like this.

This isn’t to say that some of the WikiPlays aren’t hilarious. Try not to laugh listening to the 13-minute entry for “Hitler Has Only Got One Ball”. Not only when the voice goes through the entire lyrics, but also during that glorious moment when World War II is described as “double-u, double-u, aye, aye”.

So, if you find better ones, go nuts (no pun intended).

2

Probably one of those channels that tries to make money off of YouTube by spamming every video they can find. They’ll eventually get x million of view and get some piece of ad revenue.

3

Yep, and there’s nothing to stop it.

It has been in existence for six months, and it’s already close to 100,000 articles. And it’s not even trying to make sense of them, distill them, or focus on what’s important.

Here’s something from its recent releases: Ashfield Boys’ High School.

Here’s how the narration begins: “This article is about the school in Sydney, Australia. For the school in Belfast, Northern Ireland, see Ashfield Boys’ High School.”

Damn useful.

4

Reminds me of Qwiki, the guys that beat out CloudFlare in 2011 TechCrunch Disrupt.

5

Fart Lighting

My favorite part is a little before the 2 minute mark where it starts reading off the relevant chemistry. And lol @ “making an awesome.”

6

I thought the Cher entry would be endlessly entertaining but unfortunately it pronounces her name correctly. Stephen Hawking is uniquely appropriate for this format.