Wiki Walk: Difference between revisions

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If there is a database involved it will usually overlap with an [[Archive Binge]], and is one of the reasons [[Tropes Will Ruin Your Life]].

A [[Sub Trope]] of this is the [[Halfway Plot Switch]], when the plot seems to do this.

A [[Sub-Trope]] of this is the [[Halfway Plot Switch]], when the plot seems to do this.

Named for the ability of anybody to start out on a page and, two or three links later, find himself reading a totally unrelated trope. Definitely an example of [[Truth in Television]]. Often cannot be recreated, as anyone who has spotted an interesting trope en route, planned to come back to it, and then forgotten what it was, will attest. Doing it intentionally for fun is known as "playing Wiki Tag."

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{{quote| "Ichigo... there were so many things I wanted to do. Become a teacher... or an astronaut... or open a pastry shop... or go to Mr. Donuts and say 'Give me one of each!'... or go to Baskin Robbins and say 'Give me one of each!' If only there were five of me! Then I could be born in five different towns, and eat five different meals, and have five different jobs. And all five of me... [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|could fall in love with the same guy.]] ... Ichigo. Thank you. [[Tear Jerker|Goodbye.]]"}}

* Yuuki from ''[[Kanamemo]]'' at one points starts rambling about sneezing caused by curses, straw dolls and wood shortage, indicating that something is not quite right with the usually quiet woman -- and she indeed collapses from high fever shortly after.

* [[Occidental Otaku|Patty]] from ''[[Lucky Star (Anime)|Lucky Star]]'' mentions [~~http://en.~~wikipedia~~.org/wiki/Otome_Road~~ Otome (Maiden's) Road] and launches into a description. The screen then [[Split Screen|splits]] to show the [[Wiki Walk]] one of her ([[The Ingenue|naive]]) classmates took when she heard her say "Otome Road" and interpreted it literally.

* [[Occidental Otaku|Patty]] from ''[[Lucky Star (Anime)|Lucky Star]]'' mentions [[wikipedia:Otome Road|Otome (Maiden's) Road]] and launches into a description. The screen then [[Split Screen|splits]] to show the [[Wiki Walk]] one of her ([[The Ingenue|naive]]) classmates took when she heard her say "Otome Road" and interpreted it literally.

* An old man in ''[[Nichijou]]'' manages an impressive one about how miserable his life is starting with how nobody came to his online chat party, to people leaving the bus when he got on, to a goof up on a school trip, to insomnia, to gaining weight, and ending on how his last birthday present was a roll.

* In ''[[Durarara]]'', Shizuo decides to ask his new Russian [[Sempai-Kohai|Kohai]]/human encyclopedia, Vorona, about Siberia. This somehow morphs into a lecture on cakes.

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** The Discworld [[GURPS]] supplement has a special ability for the above: every time you create something there's a chance you might create something revolutionary but unrelated.

** Lord Vetinari has, in fact, spent many a long afternoon speculating on the fate of the world and if Leonard should ever maintain his focus on any one thing for longer than an hour.

** The man sketched instructions for a nuclear weapon in the margins of a sketch of a flower. He thought it might make a good mining tool, but had no military application because no-one would be willing to use it (a [[Shout Out]] to Nobel and dynamite).

** The man sketched instructions for a nuclear weapon in the margins of a sketch of a flower. He thought it might make a good mining tool, but had no military application because no-one would be willing to use it (a [[Shout-Out]] to Nobel and dynamite).

** "Bloody Stupid" Johnson had the same habit, except he tended to mix up his links mid-Walk and end up with stuff like a pipe organ that interlocks with a bathroom's plumbing.

* In "[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2147/2147-h/2147-h.htm#2H_4_0009 The Murders in the Rue Morgue]" by [[Edgar Allan Poe]], Auguste Dupin shows off his general awesomeness by tracking the narrator's train of thought through fifteen minutes of silent walking and several mental topic shifts, and saying exactly the right thing at the end.

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* [http://xkcd.com/214/ This] [[Xkcd (Webcomic)|Xkcd]] shows us the danger of falling into these. (The image is reproduced above, but, as usual with Munroe, the punch line is in the alt-text.)

** And as if that weren't enough... [http://xkcd.com/609/ he made the point again regarding a certain other Wiki].

** He makes the point again in the alt-text of [http://xkcd.com/903/ this] comic. Apparently if start with any article and click the first non-italicized link not in parentheses in every subsequent article, you'll eventually end up at philosophy. One route that works is to start with [[The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy]] [~~http://en.~~wikipedia~~.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy_%28radio_series%29~~ radio series].

** He makes the point again in the alt-text of [http://xkcd.com/903/ this] comic. Apparently if start with any article and click the first non-italicized link not in parentheses in every subsequent article, you'll eventually end up at philosophy. One route that works is to start with [[The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy]] [[wikipedia:The Hitchhikerchr(27)s Guide to the Galaxy chr(28)radio serieschr(29)|radio series]].

** If that's not enough, there's the matter of [http://xkcd.com/1051/ being embarrassed by what you have and haven't Wiki Walked to].

* The [[Bungling Inventor]] of ''[[RPG World]]'' started repairing a broken appliance (IIRC, a toaster, please confirm), and ended up building a time machine.

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* Certain adult video websites that function in a similar way to [[YouTube]] can also cause this effect. Not like you would notice.

* A website, [http://www.netsoc.tcd.ie/~mu/wiki/ the Six Degrees of Wikipedia], has been coded that will allow you to put in two pages in Wikipedia, and find the shortest path from one to the other. thus taking a Wiki Walk for you.

* In [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDemYnCLDpA this] Natalie Tran video, one of the featured comments from the pervious video claims it takes three clicks to get from the Wikipedia page about her to the one about [[Godwin's Law|Hitler]]. She says she'd like to see proof of this. Viewers were only too happy to oblige. [[Tropes Will Ruin Your Life|You are hereby challenged]] to [~~http://en.~~wikipedia~~.org/wiki/Natalie_Tran~~ try] without first looking at [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OHm_W8Qf9Q the multiple solutions].

* In [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDemYnCLDpA this] Natalie Tran video, one of the featured comments from the pervious video claims it takes three clicks to get from the Wikipedia page about her to the one about [[Godwin's Law|Hitler]]. She says she'd like to see proof of this. Viewers were only too happy to oblige. [[Tropes Will Ruin Your Life|You are hereby challenged]] to [[wikipedia:Natalie Tran|try]] without first looking at [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OHm_W8Qf9Q the multiple solutions].

* ''[[The Salvation War]]'' has a gorgon in "Armageddon" (Book 1 of 3) learn of the "invocations of 'goo gul' and 'wiccan pee-dee-ah'" only to fall victim to this effect:

{{quote| "The last was protected by an insidious spell that caused her to constantly lose track of what she was looking for, flipping from page to page until she was reading irrelevant nonsense about 'collectible card games' and 'sonic the hedgehog'."}}

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* The game Wikiball (starting at random page and getting to another) is basically one giant Wiki Walk. Nabhani (disambiguation) to [[Avatar: The Last Airbender (Animation)|Avatar]]? Nabhani----> Oman----> Education----> Humanities ----> Internet ----> BBC----> Broadcasting----> DVD----> video----> Film----> Animation----> Anime----> [[Animesque|Anime-influenced animation]]----> [[Avatar: The Last Airbender (Animation)|Avatar: The Last Airbender]]

** Variants on this game put restrictions on what you're allowed to click on. It is also known as wikiracing, when it is played in a competitive form, with the aim being to get from one page to another either in less time or less clicks than your competitors.

* [~~http://en.~~wikipedia~~.org/wiki/Free_association~~ Free association] is a form of psychotherapy that, at least in one form, is essentially a mental Wiki Walk. (The game "word association" is a multi-player version of this.)

* [[wikipedia:Free association|Free association]] is a form of psychotherapy that, at least in one form, is essentially a mental Wiki Walk. (The game "word association" is a multi-player version of this.)

* [http://www.imaginaryyear.com/raccoon/wikipedian_tag.html Wikipedian Tag], which is what happens when you combine Wiki Walking with the game of Tag. Considering the rules have leeway as far as "victory conditions" for the runner(s) go, one could easily append a [[Godwin's Law|runner victory for reaching Hitler]].

* In the [[SoCalization|SoCal]] region, this is generally referred to as "Wiki Surfing."

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[[Category:Truth in Television]]

[[Category:Wiki Walk]]

[[Category:Trope]]