Meta Discussion Wikipedia Questions - Weekly Thread of September 07, 2026

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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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1 comment

r/wikipedia • u/greatpartyisntit • 5h ago

Right-wing politicians have attempted to legitimize anti-trans legislation by falsely claiming trans people commit disproportionately higher rates of violence. In reality, trans people are substantially more likely to be victims than perpetrators of violence.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misinformation_about_violence_by_transgender_people

19 comments

r/wikipedia • u/Sebastianlim • 8h ago

"Spontaneous human combustion" is a supposed phenomenon in which a living or deceased human body spontaneously combusts seemingly without any external source of ignition. Scientists believe that reports of this phenomenon may have had an ignition source which was overlooked.

en.wikipedia.org

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67 comments

r/wikipedia • u/funnylib • 17h ago

The 2024 South Korean martial law crisis was an attempted a self-coup by declaring martial law by Yoon Suk Yeol, the then-president of South Korea. The attempted coup failed, resulting in the impeachment and arrest of Yoon, who was later sentenced to life in prison for insurrection.

en.wikipedia.org

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43 comments

r/wikipedia • u/CharacterPolicy4689 • 4h ago

Qatari involvement in US higher education - $62.4 billion in funding has been disclosed, making Qatar the largest foreign funder of U.S. higher education. This involvement has been questioned extensively, particularly due to Qatari support of terrorist organizations, including Hamas and Al-Qaeda

en.wikipedia.org

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31 comments

r/wikipedia • u/Pupikal • 12h ago

Trump Covid Communication#Light and disinfectants: Upon hearing the two techniques kill the virus, he asked if shining light internally could treat it, or if surface disinfectants could be used "by injection", "almost a cleaning". Lysol issued a warning amid increased poison control center calls.

en.wikipedia.org

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16 comments

r/wikipedia • u/CatPooedInMyShoe • 7h ago

“Behavioral sink” is a term invented by ethologist John B. Calhoun to describe a collapse in behavior that can result from overpopulation. The term and concept derive from a series of overpopulation experiments Calhoun conducted on brown rats between 1958 and 1962.

en.wikipedia.org

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10 comments

r/wikipedia • u/slinkslowdown • 3h ago

Chimney sweeps' cancer is a squamous cell carcinoma of the scrotum. It has the distinction of being the first reported form of occupational cancer, noticed as being prevalent amongst chimney sweeps. NSFW

en.wikipedia.org

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4 comments

r/wikipedia • u/RedHeadedSicilian52 • 16h ago

Boudica was a queen of the ancient British Iceni tribe, who led a failed uprising against the conquering forces of the Roman Empire in AD 60 or 61. She is considered a British national heroine and a symbol of the struggle for justice and independence.

en.wikipedia.org

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38 comments

r/wikipedia • u/slinkslowdown • 3h ago

Ni'matnāmah Naṣir al-Dīn Shāhī: A medieval Indian cookbook of delicacies and recipes, some with paintings illustrating the preparation of the dishes. In addition to food, it also contains recipes for perfumes, lotions, incense, cosmetics, ailments, aphrodisiacs, and even a section on hunting.

en.wikipedia.org

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0 comments

r/wikipedia • u/BabylonianWeeb • 1d ago

Welsh, Irish, Latin, Thai, and Chinese lack words for “yes” and “no,” using echo responses instead to avoid ambiguity in negative questions, For example, in Welsh ydw (“I am”) gives a clear answer to “You don’t like strawberries?” while in English "yes" gives an unclear answer.

en.wikipedia.org

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91 comments

r/wikipedia • u/Future_Interest_3649 • 12h ago

"Same Here" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music singer Brad Paisley, featuring a spoken interlude by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine. Paisley's royalties from the song were donated to United24.

en.wikipedia.org

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0 comments

r/wikipedia • u/CatPooedInMyShoe • 7h ago

The Hamburg massacre occurred in Hamburg, South Carolina, in July 1876. It was the first of a series of civil disturbances by white Democrats in the majority-black Republican Edgefield District, with the goal of suppressing black Americans' civil rights and voting rights through violence.

en.wikipedia.org

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0 comments

r/wikipedia • u/lightiggy • 18h ago

According to advertising executive Dan Wieden, Nike's slogan "Just Do It" was inspired by the last words of convicted murderer Gary Gilmore before his execution in 1977: "Let's do it."

en.wikipedia.org

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4 comments

r/wikipedia • u/MrMojoFomo • 13h ago

The Istanbul pogrom against ethnic Greeks took place in Sept 1955. After a bomb exploded at the house where Ataturk was born, a wave of attacks against ethnic Greek left dozens dead and hundreds injured, raped, and assaulted women and boys

en.wikipedia.org

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1 comment

r/wikipedia • u/laybs1 • 20h ago

For several decades, the team's owners and management, NFL commissioners, and most fans sought to keep the name of the Washington Redskins (1933-2020), claiming that it honored the achievements and virtues of Native Americans and was not intended disparagingly.

en.wikipedia.org

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32 comments

r/wikipedia • u/TropicalPunch • 1h ago

Geography of firefighting

en.wikipedia.org

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0 comments

r/wikipedia • u/ilst78 • 19h ago

Saturn’s hexagon is a persistent cloud pattern around the north pole of the planet Saturn. Its diameter is more than twice the width of Earth. There are several hypotheses for why it exists.

en.wikipedia.org

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It was imaged by the Voyager and Cassini missions. Super cool!

10 comments

r/wikipedia • u/CatPooedInMyShoe • 1d ago

Based on Abraham Lincoln's unusual physical appearance, a doctor proposed in 1962 that Lincoln had Marfan syndrome. Lincoln's unremarkable cardiovascular history and his normal visual acuity have been the chief objections to the hypothesis, and today geneticists consider the diagnosis unlikely.

en.wikipedia.org

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22 comments

r/wikipedia • u/Piyh • 1d ago

Kapu is the ancient Hawaiian code of conduct of laws and regulations. The kapu system was universal in lifestyle, gender roles, politics and religion. Breaking one, even unintentionally, often meant immediate death.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapu_(Hawaiian_culture)

I really wanted an excuse to post this picture of the cat from the page, but the article is very interesting. I also learned that Kamehameha is a person in addition to a DBZ energy blast.

35 comments

r/wikipedia • u/InedibleBurger • 1d ago

The Sharpeville massacre occurred on 21 March 1960, when police opened fire on about 5,000 unarmed protesters against apartheid pass laws in Sharpeville, killing at least 91 and wounding over 238. The massacre became a turning point in South Africa’s struggle against apartheid.

en.wikipedia.org

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1 comment

r/wikipedia • u/Sebastianlim • 1d ago

"Ghostwatch" was a supernatural horror pseudo-documentary which broadcast on BBC One on Halloween, 1992. Made to appear like a live broadcast documentary, the programme attracted significant controversy, due to audiences believing it was real. Because of this, it had never been broadcast again.

en.wikipedia.org

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13 comments

r/wikipedia • u/No-Strawberry7 • 1d ago

Constance Fisher drowned her three young children in 1954 and was subsequently committed to a psychiatric hospital. She was released five years later and went on to have three more children. In 1966, Fisher drowned those three children as well, repeating the same horrific act years later.

en.wikipedia.org

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155 comments

r/wikipedia • u/Future_Interest_3649 • 5h ago

Naked writing is a creative writing process which allows readers to observe the writing as it happens, before final edits are made by parties including the writer, agents, editors or publishers. This is claimed to heighten the connection between the reader and the writer.

en.wikipedia.org

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2 comments

r/wikipedia • u/GustavoistSoldier • 19h ago

The Romanian revolution was a period of violent civil unrest in the Socialist Republic of Romania that culminated in the drumhead trial and execution of longtime Romanian Communist Party (PCR) General Secretary Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife Elena.

en.wikipedia.org

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3 comments

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