A rabbit hole, referring to the phrase "down the rabbit hole" from its use in Alice in Wonderland, is a metaphor for entry into the unknown; stumbling into a bizarre and disorienting alternate reality. [1]
In modern terms, "falling into a rabbit hole" means getting interested in something to the point of distraction—usually by accident, and usually to a degree that the subject in question might not seem to merit. [1] Platforms like 📝Wikipedia—where 60% of linking is internal, to other pages on the same domain—create walkable neighborhoods of articles. [2]
This 📝Xkcd (🏷️#relevant-xkcd) encapsulates the public sentiment of this phenomenon quite well.
References
- The Rabbit-Hole Rabbit Hole, newyorker.com
- Dataset Shows Where People Fall Into Wikipedia Rabbit Holes, wikimedia.org
- The Problem with Wikipedia, xkcd.com