All Wikipedia links are now NOFOLLOW

Is it me or has Wikipedia just gone No Follow on external links. Strange thing is I'm only seeing this on certain pages like this one???

 

Thats interesting actually, they dont want to link to everyone

 

I've checked a couple of pages, and external links are normal (without nofollow),
but for me using "nofollow" on external links is the logical step to reduce spam.

 

There is nofollow on non english versions of Wikipedia.

 

I just checked a wiki page that I have a link on. Its gone nofollow too, along with all the other ones on the page too.

 

But people who need backlinks are losing them...

 

Wikipedia's not a directory.

 

It's seems to be either an update or perhaps even a new control that allows editors to switch it on and off on certain pages:

I'm seeing no follow here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesothelioma
But not here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephedra

 

Is this on en.wikipedia ? because I checked one of mine and it's still a "follow" link, as it used to be.

This is the opposite.

 

Is this for sites that may have links in an article?

 

Yep. Check the links on this page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_wise_monkeys

Edit. Weird. The nofollow is gone now. so confused.

 

so probably they are testing it or applying for articles that get link spammed alot... people removing competition and so on... never ending story

 

It was decided to switch on the nofollow attribute for all external links in the English Wikipedia. This has been an option for a while, and it was done now because of an influx of spam and talk of an SEO competition targeting Wikipedia. Whether it will stay this way for a while or indeed permanently, no one is really sure. If some links have not changed, I believe this is due to WP's caching system, and they will be nofollow soon.

In any case, adding links to Wikipedia to promote websites is strongly discouraged. They will most likely be removed, and if continued you can be blocked from editing.

Hope this helps to clarify.

the wub - Wikipedia admin

 

I see no reason wiki shouldn't do this. There is no reason to have anything but nofollow as was just said, wiki isn't there to promote external sites and I am all for it even though I lose a few very valuable links!

 

for all my wikipeida entries my links are not nofollowed, so I think it's just some of the pages

 

even if it is nofollow, if your link can stay in wiki, it will still bring nice traffic.

 

Now it's official wikipedia external links are "nofollowed".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipe...world_championship_--_expect_a_spam_onslaught.

http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2007-January/061137.html

And the reason is because of the SEO world championship for "globalwarming awareness2007"

 

oh my god . i want to believe my eyes . i have lost my strongest backlinks

 

I understand that they have to do something to stop SPAM, but those are bad news to some webmasters. Wikipedia link used to be quite valuable.

 

Really strange because it was no-follow all links since long months ago.