Wikipedia:Wikipedia clones

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Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

A Wikipedia clone, also called a Wikipedia mirror site, is a web site that uses information derived wholly or in large part from Wikipedia. The information displayed on the site either may come from an older version of one or more Wikipedia articles that the site has never updated, or may be designed to update the information each time the respective Wikipedia article(s) are edited. Some Wikipedia clones are robotically created without human inspection to verify their accuracy. Most run advertisements to generate revenue.

Wikipedia cannot be used as a source for itself, and therefore, information found on such clone sites cannot be considered a

external links
in any articles.

Very often (but not always), information is removed from Wikipedia because it has been found to be inaccurate. Many

web search
. In some cases, false information was later reintroduced into Wikipedia, cited to clone sites, by an editor who was unaware of the past and mistook the clone site for a reliable source.

Also, some sources that seem on first glance reliable may have information directly quoted or obviously paraphrased in large part from Wikipedia. Information obviously originating in Wikipedia should not be used to reference an article.

See also