Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia that is written and maintained by a group of volunteers. It is the largest and most widely used encyclopedia in the world and is regularly at the top of the most popular websites on the internet. It contains information on almost every topic on all branches of knowledge. Even though it is the most read reference work in the world, schools and institutions cite Wikipedia as an unreliable source because anyone can edit the articles within it.
As the largest available collection of knowledge in the digital world, there’s a mind-blowing amount of data and information within it that can be extracted for a variety of purposes. Manually scraping each individual Wikipedia web page though would take a lot of time and effort. In fact, with over 56 million articles on Wikipedia, it is near impossible for a single person to scrape those pages one-by-one. This is why users utilize a Wikipedia scraper bot.
A Wikipedia bot will automatically scrape through the Wikipedia pages and gather all that information for you. A Wikipedia bot alone isn’t enough though, as you need to pair it with a Wikipedia proxy. Most websites have a strict restriction against the use of bots on their website and would immediately ban any account caught using one. A Wikipedia proxy would disguise your bot to appear as if it were a real user which prevents you from getting banned and lets you scrape any website you want.
This is possible because a Wikipedia proxy will hide your IP address from any website you visit. All of your bot’s requests would be done through the proxy server. This means that websites will only see the IP address of the proxy server and not your own. Through rotating proxies, you can continuously change the IP address of the proxy server and make all of your bot’s requests as if it came from different people.
Let’s set up a Wikipedia proxy server.
Note: Make sure that the web browser you’re using for Wikipedia is set to automatically copy your computer’s proxy settings. Google Chrome automatically does this, so it’s recommended to use it.
For Windows:
To set up proxies in Windows, simply search for “Proxy Settings” in your windows search bar and open the search result.
You are then given two options to choose from: Automatic proxy setup or Manual proxy setup. If you want windows to automatically detect your proxy settings, choose the first option. Choose the second option if you want to utilize a specific ip address and port number.
If you chose the first option, then:
- Turn on Automatically detect Settings
- Turn on Use setup script
- Enter the script address
- Click Save
If you chose the second option, then:
- Turn on Use a proxy server
- Input both server address and port number
- If you have any addresses you would like to visit without a proxy, enter them here
- Turn on Don’t use the proxy server for local addresses check box if you want to access a local server without a proxy
- Click Save
For Mac.
To start configuring your proxy settings in MacOS, simply:
Step 1. Click on the Apple Icon.
Step 2. On the drop down menu, click on “System Preferences”.
Step 3. Click on “Network”
Step 4. Click on “Advanced”
Note: Make sure to connect to your wi-fi first.
Step 5. Click on “Proxies”
This should then redirect you to MacOS proxy settings. MacOS is more straightforward compared to windows. You only have one option which is to manually configure your proxy server.
Here are the steps to follow:
- Select which proxy IP protocol you want to configure. This depends on which protocols your proxy service provider offers.
- Turn on Secure Web Proxy
- Input the Proxy Server Address and Port Number
- Click OK to save the configurations
Note: You may be prompted for your Mac user password to save your settings.
For Mobile:
To set up a Wikipedia proxy server for your mobile device, simply change your phone’s proxy settings. The web browser you’re using for Wikipedia will automatically copy your phone’s proxy settings whenever you use it. This is applicable for both Android and iOS. Here’s a thorough guide for Android and another one for iPhone.
Congratulations! You have now finished configuring a Wikipedia proxy server. Note that the first time you visit it, there will be a pop up asking for your login credentials.
