Editing rules or Wikipedia – What Most People Don’t Know

What is Wikipedia?

Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia which was founded by Jimmy Wale and supported by the Wikimedia Foundation. This is the English language version of Wiki which contains nearly 5 million articles and has millions of users.

Who writes the entries? 

The answer is so simple- anyone is open to and all can edit but however the Wikipedia administrator protects some of the pages from direct editing if they see vandalism.

Who checks for accuracy and quality?

It is great to know that Wikipedia is a self policy and its release on its community of volunteer editors who improve the accuracy as well as the quality of the pages. The writers are encouraged to take down factual statements with variable references and go through the sources almost every time. If you are unsure how to use Wikipedia, you can always take professional help. Wikioo is such highly recommended Wikipedia service provider. 

How easy is it to make up stuff about people?

Wikipedia too has a lot of rules and one of them is not being dishonest. And another one is avoiding opinions and sticking to the actual facts. It is also possible to set up a user account with a false name to allow you to edit. But, using an anonymous account can cause misrepresentation and puffery. Due to which the offending content is removed by the editors.

People and companies use Wikipedia for self-promotion-Don’t they?

Self-promotions are from the community and viewed as a conflict of interest. Pages need not to be controlled by you, less flattering information can be added by others.

How do I become an editor?

You need to set up an account and register yourself to create your own pages and upload contents and edits without any internet protocol address. You did not need to login to the site for reading or editing the articles. The number which will be identified as a mobile phone or computer network that will be visible to the public.

Punishment for misbehaving.

There are 13,00 Wiki administrators who can actually identify the IP address of anyone editing the articles and they can be tracked to a rough location that enables them to spot the suspicious patterns of the behaviour. The accounts showing vulnerable behaviour are suspended.

Can you set up a new account after suspension?

Yes, only if the IP address is different , which means that you are using a different computer or phone that was not used before and you are moving your location to do your edits. There are plenty of services which allow the internet users to hide their IP addresses as well.

So how does Wikipedia stop repeat “sock puppet” offenders?

If someone tries too long to hide their IP addresses sometimes comes to the notice of the administrators and the pattern of behaviour also matters like the form of adoption of similar usernames which focuses on specific topics and the types of edit can also reveal a lot about the motivations as well as the personalities. Using several accounts can also often be tracked to an individual. But every collaborative system will always be open to abuse.