Wikipedia:Don't abbreviate "Wikipedia" as "Wiki"!

Wikipe-tan reprimands a foul-mouthed Wikipedian.
See also meta:Wikipedia is not Wiki.

"Wiki" is usually not a proper name and, when it is, it does not refer to Wikipedia. Please understand that "wiki" is a generic term that describes a type of website or software.

The term "wiki" refers to a type of site patterned after C2 Wiki, the original site to use the term "wiki" (an abbreviation of WikiWikiWeb). There are in fact many such wikis in existence, of which Wikipedia is only one. Therefore, referring to any one of them (except perhaps the original C2 Wiki) using the capitalized "Wiki" is incorrect at best, and to a somewhat experienced Internet user, can be painful to hear.

Although your intentions may be obvious, such a blatant misuse of language is nevertheless painful.

To illustrate, imagine seeing someone say this:

"Tree's leaves are turning pretty colors. I think Tree looks nice today."

See how odd that sounds? That's what a lot of Wikipedia users feel when people use "Wiki" to refer to "Wikipedia".

For the health and well-being of the community, when referring to this encyclopedia, either type out the entire word, "Wikipedia", or, when unambiguous (when it's clear that e.g. WordPress is not being referenced), use the abbreviation "WP".