Wikipedia changes functionality: changes moderated by trusted editors

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Wikipedia clamps down on 'unreliable' editors
By Nicole Martin, Digital and Media Correspondent
Last Updated: 1:02am GMT 21/01/2008

Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia compiled by computer users, is to stop people from editing entries after a series of questionable updates cast a shadow over its accuracy and reliability.

Ordinary users will no longer be able to edit information and to see those changes appear instantly on the screen.
Under plans being considered they will have to submit changes to a team of “trusted editors” who would then decide whether to update the entries.
The move follows complaints that the site is open to abuse from individuals and organisations wanting to slander their rivals or competitors.
Under the current system, anyone can edit an entry at any time, which means that people often post inaccurate and sometime malicious information.
There have already been some highly embarrassing changes.


Employees of the CIA have been found altering the biographical information on former presidents including Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon.
A worker at the Labour Party HQ was also found to have tweaked an entry on Labour Students to remove suggestions the group was being overtaken by careerist politicians at the expense of grassroots radicals.


Under the proposed changes, a group of editors will moderate the entries and decide what should be posted.
These trusted editors will have to have proved their commitment to Wikipedia by posting 30 reliable changes within 30 days.
The German-language version of the site has been chosen to test the changes first because of its high regard for accuracy, but if the feedback is positive they might also be applied to the English-language one.


Wikipedia, the internet’s most popular encyclopaedia, has become an online phenomenon since it was launched six years ago.
Seven per cent of all internet users now visit the site every day.


“The changes could help transform the encyclopaedia from a rough guide into a trusted authority. But they might also erode the very freedoms that encourage people to contribute to the encyclopaedia in the first place,” said Jim Giles, from the New Scientist magazine.
The changes would also alter the ethos surrounding Wikipedia where everyone should be free to contribute to the creation of the encyclopedia.
David Gerard, a Wikipedia spokesman, said that the Wikipedia Foundation was discussing ways to make the site more reliable.
“Depending on how the trial goes, we will consider applying them to the English-language version,” he said.


People making malicious changes to entries face being caught by a new device, the WikiScanner, which allows users to trace the source of millions of changes to entries, even those done anonymously. The scanner has unearthed a host of entry fiddling ranging from the Vatican to Disney.

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