"An encyclopedia (also spelled encyclopaedia or encyclopædia) is a type of reference work, a compendium holding a summary of information from either all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge." (Wikipedia)

The domain "autopedia.com" was registered on October 3, 1995 .

AutoPedia® - the Automotive Encyclopedia went online in November, 1995. The earliest independent third-party documentation of AutoPedia online is found in Archive.org's "Wayback Machine" - with a date of October 29, 1996. However, when you click on the October 29, 1996 archive link and then click on the "Honored Guest Registry" or the "Tire BBS," there are archived entries from users dating from June 12, 1996. (Note: The Archive.org's "Wayback Machine" started in 1996 and the earliest listings begin in October, 1996 - AutoPedia® precedes even the Wayback Machine by nearly a year!)

The Wikipedia discussion of online encyclopedias is limited to "free wiki-type academic encyclopedias created by users" and mentions various projects including these:

"The concept of a new free encyclopedia began with the Interpedia proposal on Usenet in 1993, which outlined an Internet-based online encyclopedia to which anyone could submit content and that would be freely accessible. Early projects in this vein included Everything2 and Open Site. In 1999, Richard Stallman proposed the GNUPedia, an online encyclopedia which, similar to the GNU operating system, would be a "generic" resource. The concept was very similar to Interpedia, but more in line with Stallman's GNU philosophy."

AutoPedia^® on the other hand, is primarily a "consumer encyclopedia" providing consumers with faster, easier access to the information, products and services they want. Although AutoPedia^® has always accepted "user generated content and information," it has always been primarily a "consumer encyclopedia" that assists Internet users who are seeking information in order to do a transaction.

The following shows earliest "pedia" domain registration dates (listed first) and earliest listings in Archive.org's Wayback Machine (listed second in RED):

• ENCYBERPEDIA.COM - June 25, 1996 (10/24/1997)
• WINE-ENCYCLOPEDIA.COM - September 4, 1996 (Site was never online through 2005)
• GEOPEDIA.COM - October 9, 1996 (12/26/1996)
• INFOPEDIA.com - October 25, 1996 (Site not online until at least 2001.)
• ATLAPEDIA.COM - November 5, 1996 (7/14/1997)
• ELEKTRAPEDIA.COM - December 12, 1996 (2/29/2000)
  
• WORLDBOOKONLINE.COM - April, 15, 1999 (11/11/1999)
• NUPEDIA.com - October 29, 1999 (3/4/2000)
• OPENSITE.ORG - January 28, 2000 (3/1/2003)
• GNUPEDIA.com - February 10, 2000 (5/19/2001)
• WIKIPEDIA.com - January 12, 2001 (3/31/2001)


• WORLDBOOK.COM - April 20, 1995 (12/23/1996) - The site was created to sell the printed version of World Book Encyclopedia. An online version of the World Book was never available except for paid subscriptions to various reference guides.
  
• BRITANNICA.COM - June 14, 1995 (04/27/1999) - This site was not the online version of Encyclopedia Britannica. It was essentially a site that kept track of online articles and news.
  

Although there are unsubstantiated claims of "discussing," "coining," and "planning" various PEDIA suffix sites as early as 1990, the independent records of the dates of domain registration and the date of an actual working website being online and indexed by Archive.org's Wayback Machine are documented above.

Even the most conservative AutoPedia^® online date from Archive.org's Wayback Machine taken from the Guest Registry or Tire BBS, is BEFORE the domain registration date of any other online encyclopedia site.