Memory Alpha
Template:Short description Template:About Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox website Memory Alpha is a wiki encyclopedia for topics related to the Star Trek fictional universe. Created by Harry Doddema and Dan Carlson, it uses the wiki model<ref name="EAS">Template:Cite web</ref> and is hosted by Fandom on the MediaWiki software.<ref name="Memory Alpha:History">Template:Cite web</ref> Template:As of, Memory Alpha contains over 63,000 articles in its English language edition.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The site is also available in several other languages.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
History
In 1995, Dan Carlson created a personal Star Trek starship database called Starfleet Ship Registry. By 2000, he had expanded the database's scope and renamed it Starfleet Reference Database, including it as one of the five basic sections of his newly-launched website The Gigantic Collection of Star Trek Minutiae.<ref name="History of Star Trek Minutiae">Template:Cite web</ref>
In the fall of 2003, Harry Doddema proposed the creation of a Star Trek wiki in a post on the Flare Sci-Fi Forums. Carlson was interested in the concept and the two of them went to work. Using Starfleet Reference Database as a framework, they named the project Memory Alpha, after the Federation's central library from the TOS episode "The Lights of Zetar".<ref name="The Story of Vokaya">Template:Cite web</ref> Memory Alpha officially launched on December 5, 2003, as a section of the Star Trek Minutiae website.<ref name="History of Star Trek Minutiae"/>
In April 2004, Memory Alpha was launched as its own website. In February 2005, Memory Alpha joined Wikicities (now known as Fandom).<ref name="Memory Alpha:History"/> By September, it was the largest project on Wikicities and a central hub for Trekkies.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> That month, Memory Alpha received the Ex Astris Excellentia award from Ex Astris Scientia, a Star Trek reference site.<ref name="EAS"/> The site was featured as the Sci-Fi Channel's Site of the Week for the week of October 10.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Blogger Will Richardson called the site "one of the most impressive [wikis] out there."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> By October 5, 2006, Memory Alpha had reached the 20,000 article mark.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On June 20, 2007, Memory Alpha reached 25,000 articles.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2007, Entertainment Weekly named Memory Alpha one of the 25 Essential Fansites.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Simon Pegg, actor and writer for Star Trek Beyond, used Memory Alpha as a resource in the writing process of the film,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> even asking the community's founders to name and establish etymology for vokaya, a Vulcan mineral that enables Spock to locate Nyota Uhura.<ref name="The Story of Vokaya"/> Star Trek: DiscoveryTemplate:'s showrunners have described Memory Alpha as "an amazing resource."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>