Who or what is Webster 1913?
In late 1999, shortly after Everything2 came online, the content of the Project Gutenberg edition of the 1913 Webster's Unabridged Dictionary were imported into Everything2. Webster 1913 is used to refer both to this dictionary and the bot which was used to node these entries.
Webby's writeups exist to fill content holes so that people don't go around submitting short writeups with the definitions of common English words.
Special privileges of the Webster 1913 account
You can't do an Everything User Search on Webster 1913. He has over 100,000 writeups; the database strain would be too great.
Webster 1913 writeups always appear last in a given node. (Ordinarily, writeups appear in order of creation.)
Webster 1913 writeups cannot be voted on, though they can be C!ed.
Webster 1913 does not appear in Everything's Best Users. Again, he has over 100,000 writeups, which puts him at a huge unfair advantage.
What should I do if I find a mistake or formatting problem in a Webster 1913 definition?
Post the details under Broken nodes, or /msg Webster 1913 directly. His messages are checked periodically.
Why 1913 and not a more recent dictionary?
Copyright. Almost all works published before 1923 are in the public domain, as the intellectual property rights have legally expired. The 1913 edition of Webster was the last revision made before 1923, so it's free for anyone to use however they wish. All the various types of modern dictionaries are copyrighted by their publishers.
Webster 1913 elsewhere on the internet
The Webster 1913 dictionary is also available at:
Some versions are newer than what was used on Everything2.
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