“I did not realize that this was such a visceral issue for so many people …” — Wikipedia community member Msnicki.

Second only to the vitriol reserved for raging against the war on drugs, marijuana/cannabis aficionados can sometimes be caught maniacally debating what to call this drug, especially as American voters usher legalization onto the world stage.

To some, “cannabis” is more professional, medical, scientific … sophisticated and more likely to be taken seriously.

To others, “marijuana” is the most relevant name because it captures in the common vernacular all things weed; and, to them, “cannabis” sounds like something a dentist would do in your mouth.

(Both sides agree, for goodness sake, do not call it “pot.”)

This debate is currently raging on behind the scenes between editors of Wikipedia to the level (absurdly?) of something you might hear at an international human rights hearing.

And it all started when a search-engine developer from Redmond, who spends some of her spare time cleaning up and adding to Wikipedia, noticed that the Wiki page for this drug was labeled “Cannabis (drug).” She then set out to have the page renamed “Marijuana.”

“When I first proposed the move, it seemed to me that the data and the guidelines were so clear, I wondered why no one had fixed this. I still think the data and the guidelines make this super obvious, but it’s sure taken a lot more work to chase down every counterargument than I ever expected,” said software entrepreneur and UW Bothell instructor Nicole Hamilton.

On Wikipedia, she goes by the username Msnicki. Also of note, Hamilton was the 9th member of the team that created Bing. She said she wrote the code that figures out what you are looking for when you enter a search term, and also the code that puts those search results into a particular order.

Search-engine guru starts Wiki debate

Search “marijuana” in Google, Bing and Yahoo and the first search result or the key result on the righthand side of the browser window will be the “Cannabis (drug)” link to Wikipedia.

Then search the two key and, apparently, controversial words for what is also known as pot, weed, ganja etc. and see how many results you get. Here’s what we got in one search each in Google:

Cannabis = 19 million results

Marijuana = 34 million results

So why, we wonder (and so did Hamilton, though as you’ll see her analysis was much more in-depth) does Wikipedia — the crowd-sourced, United Nations style (though some would say Soviet-era-politburo style) encyclopedia of everything online — label its page on the drug and redirect all searches to “Cannabis”?

Clearly, the most popular name for it is in fact “marijuana.”

Here’s the first table Hamilton presented as evidence (… the numbers will be slightly different as you either click through or run your own searches):

Let the fight begin

The biggest argument against shifting the Wiki page from “cannabis” to “marijuana” centered on Europeans dislike of allowing what they consider to be a parochial Americanism to dictate what the English-speaking world would find as the definitive label on Wikipedia.

Strong oppose. I would strongly oppose this. Its essentially an American term for cannabis but we are an international encyclopedia and the international term is cannabis. There is no evidence of this term being widely used outside the Americas except in some instances as a slang term for herbal cannabis. Using statistics from an American search engine to justify your wish doesnt seem like other a weak argument. For instance if you want to catch news stories from google alerts in English marijuana will give North America stories and cannabis stories from everywhere else. Given this isnt an American theme article we dont want to use a term just cos its American. Please dont even think about moving without going through the proper RM process first so a wide debate can be generated. ♫ SqueakBox talk contribs 20:00, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

The debate rages on for what would amount to a nearly a full ream of typing paper written in single-spaced tiny type. So, go there and skim through to get a feel for it.

“What’s really going on is an on-going tension at Wikipedia between European and American editors,” Hamilton wrote us. “We have one English-language encyclopedia for the whole world and the Brits and others don’t like thinking about how Americans dominate the sources discussing certain topics, just like we dominate lots of other things in ways they don’t like.”

The debate then took an even stranger and more arcane turn when essentially two debates over the same topic were going on in two different kinds of forums on Wikipedia. One of the debates was stopped by an editor who didn’t really have the kind of cred on Wiki to do what he did, which was to make the call in favor of “marijuana.”

That might have worked except for the fact that the current page “marijuana” that redirects to “cannabis” is protected, which means only an admin (a superuser voted in by Wikipedia users) can change it. So, the person who closed the debate asked an admin to carry out his decision.

Instead what happened was an admin came along, spotted there were two debates going on and overturned the ruling in favor of marijuana and sent everyone to the other debate for a final showdown.

“This has been an interesting debate. And it’s not over,” Hamilton said.

My attitude is that I won the debate the first time and that I won it again the second time. Our guidelines for article titles are at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Article_titles and they ask that we prefer the most common names for things and that we prefer natural disambiguation. All the evidence shows that marijuana is now the more common name in reliable sources, largely because of the tidal wave of sources coming out of the US due to events here and in CO and elsewhere.

Now, Hamilton explained, everyone is cooling their heals waiting for an admin or someone with juice to come along and close the second debate and make a decision. That decision, whoever makes it and whatever it is, will undoubtedly be challenged. Then the issue will “bounce up and down through the ‘courts’ for a while,” Hamilton said.

“It will be very interesting to see how the (second debate) closes. As I said, I think I won based on the arguments, evidence and what our guidelines ask. But we’ll see what happens.”

What do you think?

Wikipedia should call its page ... Cannabis

Marijuana View Results

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Gallery: Slang names for marijuana









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Photo: Target Presse Agentur Gmbh / Getty Images Image 1 of / 50 Caption Close Image 2 of 50 Blow a stick Blow a stick Photo: iTopher Flickr Image 3 of 50 Bo-Bo Tommy Chong, Shelby Chong and Josh Gilbert during Marijuana Policy Project Celebrity Fundraiser. Bo-Bo Tommy Chong, Shelby Chong and Josh Gilbert during Marijuana Policy Project Celebrity Fundraiser. Photo: Jesse Grant / WireImage Image 4 of 50 Grass Grass Photo: UniversalImagesGroup / UIG via Getty Images Image 5 of 50 Image 6 of 50 Giggle Smoke Kenan Thompson as Skooch, Jason Sudeikis as Mando during "Prom Committee" skit on Saturday Night Live. Giggle Smoke Kenan Thompson as Skooch, Jason Sudeikis as Mando during "Prom Committee" skit on Saturday Night Live. Photo: NBC / NBC via Getty Images Image 7 of 50 Herb Handcoloured copperplate engraving from Dr. Friedrich Gottlob Hayne's Getreue Darstellung und Beschreibung der in der Arzneykunde Gebrauchilchen Gewachse (Medical Botany) Berlin 1822. Hayne (1763-1832) was a German botanist apothecary and from 1814 professor of pharmaceutical botany at Berlin University. less Herb Handcoloured copperplate engraving from Dr. Friedrich Gottlob Hayne's Getreue Darstellung und Beschreibung der in der Arzneykunde Gebrauchilchen Gewachse (Medical Botany) Berlin 1822. Hayne (1763-1832) ... more Photo: Florilegius / SSPL via Getty Images Image 8 of 50 Hot Stick Hot Stick Photo: Ingolf Pompe / Getty Images/LOOK Image 9 of 50 Reefer Fast Eddy Aki'a of Hawaii smokes a joint as thousands gathered to celebrate the state's medicinal marijuana laws and collectively light up at 4:20 p.m. in Civic Center Park April 20, 2012 in Denver, Colorado. less Reefer Fast Eddy Aki'a of Hawaii smokes a joint as thousands gathered to celebrate the state's medicinal marijuana laws and collectively light up at 4:20 p.m. in Civic Center Park April 20, 2012 in ... more Photo: Marc Piscotty / Getty Images Image 10 of 50 Image 11 of 50 Bomber Bomber Photo: Marc Piscotty / Getty Images Image 12 of 50 Broccoli Broccoli Photo: Diverse Images/UIG / Getty Images/Universal Images Gr Image 13 of 50 Ganja Ganja Faeries dance during Nimbin's Mardi Grass parade protesting marijuana's prohibition. Ganja Ganja Faeries dance during Nimbin's Mardi Grass parade protesting marijuana's prohibition. Photo: Peter Ptschelinzew / Getty Images/Lonely Planet Image Image 14 of 50 The Green A bud of Maui Afghooey medical marijuana. The Green A bud of Maui Afghooey medical marijuana. Photo: FREDERIC J. BROWN / AFP/Getty Images Image 15 of 50 Image 16 of 50 Skunk Skunk Photo: RAUL ARBOLEDA / AFP/Getty Images Image 17 of 50 Stuff Stuff Photo: Kathryn Scott Osler / Denver Post via Getty Images Image 18 of 50 Bud Bud Photo: Kathryn Scott Osler / Denver Post via Getty Images Image 19 of 50 Hoochie Hoochie Photo: Miquel Benitez / Getty Images Image 20 of 50 Image 21 of 50 Boom Boom Photo: PRAKASH MATHEMA / AFP/Getty Images Image 22 of 50 Assassin of Youth Assassin of Youth Photo: sturti / Getty Images Image 23 of 50 Mexican floorboard Mexican floorboard Photo: Yulia Popkova / Getty Images/Vetta Image 24 of 50 Medicine Medicine Photo: The Washington Post / The Washington Post/Getty Images Image 25 of 50 Image 26 of 50 Ditch Weed Ditch Weed Photo: egeeksen / Getty Images Image 27 of 50 Sh*t Sh*t Photo: John Moore / Getty Images Image 28 of 50 Bammy Bammy Photo: JayPeg21 Filckr Image 29 of 50 Stink Weed Stink Weed Photo: Dr. Brainfish flickr Image 30 of 50 Image 31 of 50 mj mj Photo: Torben Bjørn Hansen flickr Image 32 of 50 Wacky Tobacky Greek dancing sensation Lili Berde performs her erotic number 'The Marijuana.' Wacky Tobacky Greek dancing sensation Lili Berde performs her erotic number 'The Marijuana.' Photo: Juliette Lasserre / Getty Images Image 33 of 50 Polio Polio Photo: miss.libertine flickr Image 34 of 50 Weed Weed Photo: Eggrole flickr / eggrole flickr Image 35 of 50 Image 36 of 50 Mary Jane Mary Jane Photo: arohasilhouettes flickr Image 37 of 50 Chronic Chronic Photo: Joseph Adams Flickr Image 38 of 50 Blunt Actor and rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg attends The 3rd Annual Stonys presented by High Times magazine. Blunt Actor and rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg attends The 3rd Annual Stonys presented by High Times magazine. Photo: George De Sota / Getty Images Image 39 of 50 Cheeba Cheech Marin (L) and Tommy Chong emerge from a prop bag of marijuana as they arrive for their roast at The Comedy Festival at Caesars Palace November 21, 2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Cheeba Cheech Marin (L) and Tommy Chong emerge from a prop bag of marijuana as they arrive for their roast at The Comedy Festival at Caesars Palace November 21, 2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo: Ethan Miller / Getty Images Image 40 of 50 Image 41 of 50 Pot Singer Robert Plant, later of Led Zeppelin (center), and fellow Band Of Joy members John Elson (far left), Steve Taylor (2nd left), and Dave Evans (far right) pose with a group of drugs protesters holding pro-pot banners, circa late 1967 in England. less Pot Singer Robert Plant, later of Led Zeppelin (center), and fellow Band Of Joy members John Elson (far left), Steve Taylor (2nd left), and Dave Evans (far right) pose with a group of drugs protesters ... more Photo: GAB Archive / Redferns Image 42 of 50 3 Finger 3 Finger Photo: Jupiterimages / www.jupiterimages.com Image 43 of 50 Maryj Maryj Photo: Dennis Hallinan / www.jupiterimages.com Image 44 of 50 Jolly Green Jolly Green Photo: Michael Bezjian / WireImage Image 45 of 50 Image 46 of 50 Brain Candy Computer-generated space-filling molecular model of tetrahydrocannabinol or THC. Brain Candy Computer-generated space-filling molecular model of tetrahydrocannabinol or THC. Photo: Kallista Images / Getty Images/Kallista Images Image 47 of 50 4/20 4/20 Photo: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images Image 48 of 50 Spliff Spliff Photo: RAUL ARBOLEDA / AFP/Getty Images Image 49 of 50 Tea American actor Dennis Hopper sharing a pipe in a scene from 'The Trip.' Tea American actor Dennis Hopper sharing a pipe in a scene from 'The Trip.' Photo: American International Pictures / Getty Images Image 50 of 50 Poll: Redmond geek fires up international Wikipedia debate: 'cannabis' vs. 'marijuana' 1 / 50 Back to Gallery

Jake Ellison can be reached at 206-448-8334 or jakeellison@seattlepi.com. Follow Jake on Twitter at twitter.com/Jake_News. Also, swing by and *LIKE* his page on Facebook.

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