The Urban Dictionary

Urban Dictionary is a crowdsourced online dictionary of slang words and phrases that was founded in 1999 as a parody of Dictionary.com by then-college freshman Aaron Peckham. At the start of 2014, the dictionary featured over seven million definitions, while 2,000 new daily entries were being added. In November 2014, the Advertise page of the website states that, on a monthly basis, Urban Dictionary averages 72 million impressions and 18 million unique readers. Anyone with either a Facebook or Gmail account can make a submission to the dictionary, and it is claimed that all entries are reviewed by volunteers. Site visitors may agree/disagree with definitions by an up/down vote system.

Content

In the context of Urban Dictionary, "definitions" include not only literal definitions, but also descriptions. As such, "to define" a word or phrase on Urban Dictionary does not necessarily entail providing a strict definition; merely a description of some aspect of the word or phrase could suffice for inclusion in the dictionary.

Originally, Urban Dictionary was intended as a dictionary of slang, or cultural words or phrases, not typically found in standard dictionaries, but it is now used to define any word or phrase. Words or phrases on Urban Dictionary may have multiple definitions, usage examples, and tags. Some examples include, but are not limited to "Angry Hitler" or "Russian Candy Cane."

Visitors to Urban Dictionary may submit definitions without registering, but they must provide a valid email address. Before new definitions are included in the dictionary, they must be approved by voluntary editors. Editors are not given any guidelines to use when approving or rejecting definitions.

Although the explicit nature of many definitions on the site has led to objections, the site contains many non-explicit definitions. For example, the word "massive" is Jamaican in origin and is used to describe a group or collective. Peckham responded to the issue, stating that people may not be able to understand the meaning of such words without the aid of Urban Dictionary.

Quality Control

By default, each definition is automatically accepted or rejected based on the number of "Publish" or "Don't Publish" votes it receives from volunteer editors, who are members of the public. The editors are not bound by any criteria for the approval or rejection of definitions. Editors previously needed a valid email address, but it is no longer required, as three options are provided for new words: "Add It!," "Keep Out!," and "I Can't Decide." However, a Facebook or Gmail account is required to post a new definition.

Editors are distinguished by their IP address, and the site's usage of HTTP cookies limits each editor from voting on any particular definition too many times. If a definition is initially rejected, it is automatically rejected if it is resubmitted in the same form at a future time. If a definition is published, it is immediately displayed on the site. The definition can then be voted "up" or "down" by site visitors. In late 2011, the site was reviewed by about 20,000 editors on a monthly basis.

Usage

Since 1999 Urban Dictionary has exploded with popularity. Over one million people visit Urban Dictionary every day. Within the first ten years of Urban Dictionary’s existence, it received over five million definitions. At the start of 2014, the dictionary had over seven million definitions, while 2,000 new entries were being added daily.  In November 2014, the Advertise page of the website stated that, on a monthly basis, Urban Dictionary averages 72 million impressions and 18 million unique readers. According to Peckham in January 2014, just under 40 percent of the site’s traffic is international, while the site's audience was predominantly male and aged between 15 and 24.

Use By IBM’s “Watson”

IBM had programmed Watson to use Urban Dictionary. After having all the words and definitions incorporated into Watson, he began responding to researchers' questions with profanity, leading the programmers to remove it from its memory and adding an additional filter to prevent it from swearing in the future.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_Dictionary