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How can I read Wikipedia during the blackout?

Daniel Kaszor | 12/01/18 | Last Updated: 12/01/18 11:52 AM ET
More from Daniel Kaszor | @dkaszor

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Google/National Post photo illustration

So you’ve gone to Wikipedia and noticed it’s blacked out today to protest anti-piracy legislation in the United States (you can read more about the legislation and the protest here). However, you really need to access Wikipedia right now to find out exactly who played that character on that show that one time. Here are the steps you need to go through:

1: Search Google
Go to Google and type in a search term with the word “Wikipedia” tacked on at the end of it.

2: Pop out the site preview
The top result of your search should be the relevant Wikipedia page. However, this link won’t work. Hover your mouse over the arrow tab next to the search result to pop up a preview of the page (see the first arrow in the illustration).

3: Click the “cached” option on the site preview
When you click the “cached” button on the site preview you bring up an old version of the page that’s been saved on Google servers (see the second arrow in the illustration). The cached version is usually just a few days old, so in most cases you have an up to date version of the Wikipedia page.

4: Revel in your secret knowledge
This step is fairly easy.

BUT WAIT! Doesn’t stepping around Wikipedia’s blackout defeat the purpose of the protest?
Not really. Since the point of the protest is to make you aware of the issues that Wikipedia is protesting, which you can do by going here, Wikipedia’s protest has succeeded even if you can get around the blackout.

In fact, there are some other ways to access Wikipedia that show making sure you can’t access the site isn’t really the point. For example:

  • The mobile version is still working: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/
  • You can disable JavaScript in your browser.
  • You can hit Esc. To stop the page from loading the “blackout” message before the site redirects you.
  • You can add ?banner=none to the end of any url, and it will disable the “blackout” message.

National Post with files from Jan Vykydal

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  • http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=130954 SOPA Blackout: WTF Wikipedia!? Twitter reacts to site’s takedown | News | National Post

    [...] A recurring theme of the tweets was that tweeters could no longer do their homework now that Wikipedia was down. Perhaps they should read our guide about how to read Wikipedia during the blackout. [...]

  • http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/01/18/wtf-wikipedia-twitter-reacts-to-the-sopa-protests/ SOPA Blackout: WTF Wikipedia!? Twitter reacts to site’s takedown | News | National Post

    [...] do their homework now that Wikipedia was down. Perhaps they should read our guide about how to read Wikipedia during the blackout. OMG WIKIPEDIA I NEED YOU NOWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO DO ME HOMEWORK!!!! [...]

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