# Jimmy Wales on Reddit (u/jimmywales1)

Part of Founders and CEOs on Reddit, researched with Autumn (https://www.autumn.ai) from public sources. Updated 2026-11-07. Interactive version: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/founders-on-reddit/jimmy-wales

Jimmy Wales: Founder of Wikipedia.

- Reddit account: [u/jimmywales1](https://www.reddit.com/user/jimmywales1/) (Personal account)
- How we know it's theirs: ["Jimmy Wales" flair from r/IAmA's moderators on his AMAs](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/67vbyo/)
- Where they post, in the records we retrieved: r/IAmA (14), r/worldnews (2), r/europe (1)
- Known activity in the posts we found: 2013 to 2019
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Wales

## Moments

### u/jimmywales1 in r/IAmA, Apr 27, 2017 · Funny

Replying to a redditor:

> Do you think you're more known as the (co-)founder of Wikipedia, or as the guy on Wikipedia always asking for money?

> Hahaha.  A few years ago a watch company surprised me by asking me to be a model in their advertisements.  The ads did very well in China for some reason.
>
> In my internal fantasy land, I like to pretend that I'm actually most known as a watch model in China:
> https://amotimes.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/untitled.jpg
>
> Ha!

Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/67vbyo/iama_jimmy_wales_from_wikipedia_and_as_of_this/dgtizy1/ · 1,357 points as of Nov 7, 2026

### u/jimmywales1 in r/IAmA, Dec 2, 2019 · Funny

Replying to a redditor:

> Is a hotdog a sandwich?

> I am a structure purist.  A hotdog is not a sandwich.
>
> I accept that there are other viewpoints in the world and I can live together with them harmoniously.  I may not invite them back to the 4th of July if they make a big issue out of it. :)

Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/e52r7u/iama_jimmy_wales_founder_of_wikipedia_now_trying/f9hb3fr/ · 559 points as of Nov 7, 2026

### u/jimmywales1 in r/IAmA, Dec 2, 2019 · The why

Replying to a redditor:

> While WT.Social sounds like a noble idea and I'm excited to check it out, are you at all worried that it will be held back by the fact that the name isn't fun or catchy? I admit it's silly, but sadly this kind of thing matters when trying to attract users.

> Well, it's short and memorable at least.  It's short for "WikiTribune Social" which was just a long thing to type and maybe not so memorable.
>
> I don't know.  Hard to find a great domain name these days.

Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/e52r7u/iama_jimmy_wales_founder_of_wikipedia_now_trying/f9hhsr5/ · 439 points as of Nov 7, 2026