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SAN FRANCISCO â Wikipedia, the formerly free encyclopedia website, has announced a new paid subscription service that will now make users of the website pay money to read summaries of films.
âOh my god, Iâm ruined,â said Shawn Cameron, a Wikipedia user that was shocked by the announcement. âWhat am I gonna do now when I want to go to Wikipedia but I can’t go because I don’t want to pay for a 12th service right now? I canât believe theyâre pulling this shit. I miss the good old days of Wikipedia. Well, not the old old days, when you couldnât trust Wikipedia, but after that. And before right now. Right now sucks. This sucks.âÂ
Executives have defended their decision, going so far as to speculate that it may make users enjoy the average trip to the website more than they currently do.Â
âLook, we know every other time you go to Wiki weâre like totally hitting you up for cash,â said Keaton Howell, a chief executive at Wikipedia. âBut this will do away with that entirely. Now for just a few bucks a month you can enjoy our vast vaults that cover quite literally the annals of shared human knowledge accumulated over our vast collective experiences. And yes, you can look movies up on there, too.âÂ
In addition to unfettered access to newly gated off portions of the site, Wikipedia+ users will also be able to view video game release dates, cereal mascot history, and those charts that show you when people were in a band, all for $4.99 a month.Â
âSeems like a lot when IMDb is still free and technically better for that sort of thing,â said Casey Snow, who said they wouldnât be paying to use the new service when it launches this winter. âWikipedia will tell you the plot, sure, but donât you want to know what all the goofs are in Hoosiers? Donât you want to watch the trailer for Crank 2? It just seems weird to pay money for a service when all youâre going to do is just read different summaries of movies all the time. Thatâs already what I use Netflix for. Itâs called searching for a movie to watch and I hate it.â
As of press time, rascals had gotten onto the Wikipedia+ service and changed it so it said The Big Short was about a guyâs weiner.