Wikipedia:Wikipedia holidays

This page is about festivals and holidays observed by the Wikipedia community. For Wikipedians' off-duty from Wikiwork, see Wikipedia:Wikibreak.

Order of the Day
"Jimbo medal" insignia with Jimmy "Jimbo" Wales in relief.
Awarded by Jimmy "Jimbo" Wales
Type	Wikipedia award order
Established	15 January 2001
Motto	We make the Internet not suck
Criteria	Honoris causa
Founder	Jimmy "Jimbo" Wales
Classes	1: Wikipedia holiday designation
Statistics
First induction	15 January 2001
Last induction	20 April 2012
Total inductees	5
Precedence
Next (higher)	None
Next (lower)	Wikipedian of the Year

Wikipedia holidays, or the Order of the Day, consist of Wikipedia's founding day of January 15 and four Wikipedia awards bestowed honoris causa by Jimmy "Jimbo" Wales, the site's 2001 co-founder. With the motto "We make the Internet not suck" derived from a 2005 interview with Wales, four of the five holidays celebrate specific developers and editors and their exceptional service to the community.

History

For the first four years of Wikipedia's existence, at random times known only to him, Jimbo decreed an official Wikipedia holiday. These are to be celebrated annually in the manner described in the proclamation. After a long break, the tradition was briefly resumed in 2012. Please note that each proclamation begins with Jimbo proclaiming "in his usual authoritarian and bossy manner"—meant to poke fun at the general impression that he is somehow the "GodKing of Wikipedia", which he proclaims in his usual authoritarian and bossy manner that he is not, in a tradition of general amusement.

Wikipedia holidays

• January 15 since 2001: Wikipedia Day, the day Wikipedia went public (not actually proclaimed by Jimbo, just universally acknowledged by the Wikipedia community)
• January 25 since 2002: Magnus Manske Day, "when Wikipedia switched to the Phase II software, the precursor to MediaWiki"
• October 31 since 2003: Tim Starling Day, for "the new parsing algorithm"
• June 1 since 2004: Brooke Vibber Day, for their "incredible dedication and hard work, without which the project should have collapsed a long time ago"
• April 20 since 2012: Justin Knapp Day, to "the first person to ever make 1,000,000 edits"

Gallery

• 
  Wikipedia Day cupcakes, Washington, D.C. event, 2011.

See also

• Wikipedia:Awards