For those of you too young to remember January 2001 (or shortly after), when Wikipedia burst onto the internet’s stage, those of you who’ve grown up alongside a Wikipedia that’s just always been there, you might be amused to hear that in the 2000s, it was a joke, a punchline. Who would take such a website, editable by anyone, seriously?

Twenty-five years later, Wikipedia stands as one of the few bright spots left in an increasingly hostile web. Free for everybody, it’s largely lived up to its reputation as a democratic platform for the dissemination of knowledge to anyone with an internet connection or a cellular signal.

Here’s to you, Wikipedia.

a quarter of a century

After 25 years, Wikipedia says it’s grown to include more than seven million English-language articles alone. As part of the celebration, Wikipedia posted a docuseries that shares, as they put it, a “behind-the-scenes look at the lives and stories of Wikipedia volunteer editors around the world.”

They’ve also released a “25 Years of Wikipedia Time Capsule” that you’re free to check out. As part of the retrospective, Wikipedia also took a moment to be serious and consider the implications of AI in its announcement.

For as much as AI devours, repackages, and regurgitates, much of it, in my experience, is sourced from Wikipedia itself, which is, in turn, written by real-life humans. I don’t foresee AI unraveling Wikipedia’s importance in the immediate future. Where else would I dive down my internet rabbit holes if not for Wikipedia?

Notable Wikipedia rabbit holes I’ve plunged down this month, mostly unwillingly (at least, at first), include the history of pockets, the Citroën Dyane, the post-WWII Japanese art of butoh, and, well, rabbits. Who knew their little skeletons looked so different from hares?

I missed the official anniversary date of January 15 because of, well, life. But happy birthday, Wikipedia, you old lovable bas—d. Nobody can yank me down into a rabbit hole quite like you.