Help! Wikipedia server in dictionary unavailable

Question

Level 1

9 points

Help! Wikipedia server in dictionary unavailable

For the last few days, the Wikipedia lookup function in the Dictionary application has become unresponsive.

After a minute or two of the spinning thingie, I get the message that "Wikipedia server is currently unavailable." I've tried unchecking and rechecking Wikipedia in the Dictionary preference, deleting the Dictionary pref files, repairing permissions, etc., but to no avail. Is anyone having a similar problem? Any advice on how to resolve this?

iMac Intel Core 2 Duo 2.66 GHz, Mac OS X (10.5.3)

Posted on Jun 27, 2008 9:13 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Jun 27, 2008 12:44 PM in response to vortec

I thought the Wiki addition to the Dictionary was pretty cool, that is until I tried using it, whereupon I discovered that sometimes it didn't work at all, sometimes it interfered with the Dictionary working, and it was always much much slower than just using Wikipedia in Safari. So I've given up on it. For what it's worth I just tried it and it worked. It took 12 seconds to retrieve the relevant page. Typing the word in Google search had the Wiki page as the top result, clicking it opened the same page instantly.
Francine

Francine
Schwieder

Reply

Answer 2

vortec Author

Level 1

9 points

Jun 28, 2008 4:18 AM in response to Francine Schwieder

Though I agree with you that it can be slow, the problem is more serious than that. Whatever Wikipedia server address is written into the Dictionary application is out of whack apparently since the message I get is that the Wikipedia server is unavailable.

I liked having the convenience of doing a Wikipedia lookup without opening up a browser window or launching the widget in Dashboard.

Does anyone have a clue as to how this problem could be resolved?

Reply

Answer 3

vortec Author

Level 1

9 points

Jul 5, 2008 7:38 PM in response to vortec

Apparently the Wikipedia is back and functioning in Dictionary. It's still a mystery why the server apparently went missing for a while and now is back, but I hope this won't recur!

Reply