Wikipedia to Unlock Protected Articles

[Logan Westbrook]

Wikipedia to Unlock Protected Articles

The online encyclopedia Wikipedia is opening up some of its most divisive and controversial articles.

Wikipedia will open around two thousand "protected" or "semi-protected" articles up to the public to edit as part of a trial. Currently, new or anonymous users can only make suggestions for edits in the discussion section of a protected article, but during the trial any user will be able to submit an edit to a selected article.

These articles will not be completely open however, as any changes will have to be approved by one of the site's senior editors.

Articles that currently hold "protected" or "semi-protected" status include topics such as Iceland, David Cameron, George W Bush and even homework. "These [articles] have had to be semi-protected for years just because they are too tempting for naughty people to try something funny," said Wikipedia Jimmy Wales. "But semi-protection has prevented thoughtful and sincere newcomers from making good changes."

During the trial selected articles, which have been picked by the site's community, will have a magnifying glass icon displayed rather than a padlock. "This tool should help reduce disruptive edits or errors to these pages while maintaining open, collaborative editing from anyone who wants to contribute," said Wales.

The trial starts tonight at 11PM GMT and lasts for the next two months.

Source: BBC [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/10312095.stm]


Permalink

 

[WrongSprite]

David Cameron's page is going down. I have nothing to do with that _>

 

[Rainboq]

Huh, well, I hope this works out better than simply locking an article..

 

[300lb. Samoan]

CHAOS ENSUES AT WIKIPEDIA HEADQUARTERS - Inundated with thousands of requests submitted by 'channers' to place pictures of 'cocks' all over articles on W. Bush, Dick Cheney, James Cameron and others, Wikipedia has given up on its vision of open-sourced knowledge and has placed the entirety of its content on 'permanent protection' and replaced the from page logo with a sign that says "Fuck it."

 

[Antiparticle]

I wish their moderating team good luck. They'll need it.

 

[thethingthatlurks]

Wow, I feel so very sorry for the editors. The "suggestions" will be obscene and numerous...

 

[HK_01]

Sounds a little risky. I hope there won't be too much vandalism(as in changing it to make one side look better in controversial issues).

Off-topic: Is this new design going to be permanent? Or just because this week's issue is called "The Day After"?

 

[Jared]

I imagine this will be better for general integrity...but still, I am sure vandalism will still occur somewhere...especilly with political leaders and such...

 

[Soxafloppin]

I remember a few years ago i was on the wiki page for Hitler and the first thing it said was "HILTER WAS GEY AND BUKED HIS MA AHAHAHA".

Needless to say my mind was blown.

 

[Lizardon]

If the senior editors plan to check every change to this pages there going to have there got cut out for them.
I'm fairly sure this trial will prove that this trial will prove that the pages were locked for reason.

 

[Irridium]

I wish their moderating team good luck. They'll need it.

Agreed.

Editors, good luck, and Godspeed.
In relation to God, I can't imagine what the religion pages will be like >.>

 

[Jack and Calumon]

Articles that currently hold "protected" or "semi-protected" status include topics such as Iceland

Now that made me chuckle.

Calumon: All together now...

Spoiler: I Hate...

Jack: I'm sure Iceland's a nice place to live you know. Hot springs, no pollution, frozen fish. Shame bout the volcanoes though.

 

[CuddlyCombine]

As one of said 'senior members', I'm not looking forward to this. You'd be amazed at how funny some people think vandalizing is.

I'm fairly sure this trial will prove that this trial will prove that the pages were locked for reason.

The biggest problem is that people who make edits that the reviewing admin isn't sure about will have to wait for their stuff to get checked (or, unfortunately, will have their content rejected out of laziness). Other than that, it should run smoothly.

 

[Orcus The Ultimate]

Wikipedia has never and will never be completely Neutral, it's just another corporation.

 

[Therumancer]

I'm not a big fan of Wikipedia's political slant, though admittedly it isn't as obnoxious as so called alternatives like "Conservapedia" or whatever.

That said, protected article are protected for a reason at this point, and with 2000 articles being unprotected undoing the damage that is almost definatly going to occur will probably be nearly impossible.

 

[CuddlyCombine]

Wikipedia has never and will never be completely Neutral, it's just another corporation.

Yeah, damn them corporations who don't profit from anything but still force bias.

That said, protected article are protected for a reason at this point, and with 2000 articles being unprotected undoing the damage that is almost definatly going to occur will probably be nearly impossible.

We're not unprotecting anything. Read the full post above and you will see this.

A note to everyone who's interested; the thing that the media are talking about (and getting wrong quite a bit) has existed for a while, but never been implemented before. See here [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Flagged_revisions]. They're called Flagged Revisions, and they scare me.

 

[thekohser]

I wish the mainstream media would do its homework. The "Pending Changes" interface was developed under the money granted by the Ruth and Frank Stanton Fund. What was one of the first things that the Wikimedia Foundation did with that money?

Sent it in the form of rent checks to Wikia, Inc. -- the for-profit business of Wikipedia shill Jimmy Wales -- after a highly uncompetitive review of potential landlords.

As Wikia CEO Gil Penchina told me:

"They [the Wikimedia Foundation] approached us and asked if they could rent space on a temporary basis.. and I think it ended up being 4-6 months give or take. I thought about giving it to them for free and I wasn't sure which was worse... getting accused of bribing a non-profit for giving it away, or getting accused of stealing for a non-profit for charging... so we ended up asking them to get competitng (sic) quotes from other landlords so that THEY could feel comfortable with the decision."

Does that sound like a truly competitive search for office space, or does that sound like a wired deal to you?

Definition of "wired deal": http://www.mywikibiz.com/Wired_deal

 

[TerribleAssassin]

If the senior editors plan to check every change to this pages there going to have there got cut out for them.
I'm fairly sure this trial will prove that this trial will prove that the pages were locked for reason.

Oh the terrorism page will get anally spammed.

As well as David Cameron


Good luck the Wikipedia Team.

 

[Zenode]

So i heard /b/ was planning a raid???