I’ve got an amazing announcement: Wordie is going to become part of Wordnik.com, as am I. Wordnik is built by and for word freaks and is teh alsome; it’s hard to imagine a better partner for Wordie. I’m ecstatic about this, and I’m sure we’ll fit right in*.
For the time being what this means to you, the social word lover, is… nothing. Both sites will chug along while we plan their integration. Then in the not-too-distant future Wordnik will receive a facelift, and either as part of that or immediately subsequent to it Wordie will be formally incorporated into Wordnik.
Making lists, adding words to lists, and commenting on lists and words will remain core features and free, from now until the sun expands into a red giant, extinguishing all earthly life that hasn’t escaped the bounds of the solar system. Your Wordie identity will travel with you into Wordnik, as will your lists, your words, and your comments**. We will go to extreme lengths to ensure that Wordnik is infused with all that is good about Wordie.
Integration will be greatly eased by the fact that the two sites are eerily well-aligned: Wordie has few real lexicographic features (hi Weirdnet!) and will greatly benefit from the corpus humongous and sprawling lexicographical fantasia that is Wordnik. And Wordnik’s social features are, at the moment, few.
Hey kids, let’s build a dictionary!
The most exciting aspect of this is that we will now get a voice in building the mother and father of all dictionaries. Wordnik already has a tremendous amount of data, but it’s still at the beginning stages of an audacious project: to catalog all the English words that ever were and ever will be, to watch and listen to the language as it is created and evolves, and to talk about it while that happens. Because we’re joining forces early in the process of figuring out what a lexicographically rich, highly social dictionary-of-the-future can be, it gives those of us who care the opportunity to have our voices heard. You can start talking about what you’d like to see Wordnik become and how Wordie should fit into it in the comments below, or anywhere on Wordie (like Wordnik, for instance). And of course you can always email me.
Thank you.
I’m weak in the knees that I’ll now get to spend all day doing what I’ve previously had to relegate to nights and weekends, and I want to thank my new best friends at Wordnik for inviting me to the party. But most of all I’d like to thank all the Wordie regulars for turning Wordie from a small joke into a place I love, an avocation, and now something bigger. It’s amazing: I launched a very crude container and you guys filled it not just with words and lists, but with wit and erudition and good cheer. I am eternally, profoundly grateful.
You can email your thoughts, concerns, and suggestions to john@wordnik.com (john@wordie.org will always work too). I think this is going to be fun.
* Here’s Erin’s post on Wordnik.
** We’re working on a feature that lets you bring them with you into the afterlife.
