Wikipedia:Mascot
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The "Miwiki" (ant) -
The "Wikipede" (centipede or millipede) -
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Puzzly
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2002 Mascot competition
[edit]Wikipedia had voted for a mascot late in 2002, before the new logo contest.[citation needed] While many people supported the notion of a mascot, others also argued against it, and the idea stayed where it was. The "contest" for the mascot was hosted at meta:Mascot.
Only two ideas have been consistently at the top — both neck-and neck for over two years. The "Wikipede" (centipede) and the "Miwiki" (ant) are distinct designs with very different characters.
- The Wikipede
- The Wikipede needs a personal name (current suggestions are Kip and Alder). He is male, bookish, and an individualist. He hangs around the picture help page a lot.
- Miwiki ant
- The Miwiki ant is innocent, wide-eyed, androgynous, and collectivist.
All that being said, they seem to be essentially the same creature, both having six legs (unfaithful to the centipede), wide eyes, round head and torso, and antennae. People liked the character of the Wikipede, but disliked the idea of a centipede as "too creepy". The ant was likewise popular since it presented numerous design alternatives, but it lacked the individualist character.
Other mascots
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Since then, several informal Wikipedia mascots have been developed; among the most popular is Wikipe-tan, originally the logo of the Anime and Manga WikiProject. The -tan in "Wikipe-tan" is a hypocoristic suffix, in the form of a Japanese honorific. Like the OS-tans, she is a product of moe anthropomorphism. She sometimes uses sock puppets, but only for good. (Or so we've been told)