Wednesday, February 4, 2009

The new school for Wiki

The Fast Company blog reported last week on the new changes happening at Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia "that anyone can edit."

Wiki-lovers may see stricter editorial control including an edit process that may slow updates and freezes to questionable pages, like say a Star Wars character superimposed over The Pope's headshot on his Wiki entry:
"This move stems from founder Jimmy Wales' desire to prevent vandalism of the information on the site. He cites a recent example of a vandal replacing Pope Benedict's photo with the evil emperor from Star Wars on the Wikipedia site. The issue here is who defines undisputed? A "commission" set up to determine "undisputed content" is being discussed as a viable option."
- Fast Company staff blog
Apparently, they've seen it all, including prematurely posted obituaries. The new rules would mean a bit of gate-keeping for click-happy and ill-willed Wikis, and means a real over-haul in the way Wiki operates.

What do you think: are the proposed changes good or bad for Wiki as we know it?

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