Wikipedia tightens editorial rules after complaint

The popular reference site Wikipedia, which lets anyone create and edit entries, has tightened its editorial rules in an effort to stamp out vandalism and the posting of deliberate misinformation. The site will now require visitors to register before creating new entries.

The change follows complaints from a high-profile US journalist about an entry that falsely implicated him in the assassination of both US President John F. Kennedy and his brother Bobby Kennedy.

In an editorial published in USA Today on 21 November, John Seigenthaler Sr criticised Wikipedia for failing to spot and correct the error and for allowing its creator to remain anonymous. In the article, Seigenthaler said the error had remained on Wikipedia for several months and described the website as a "flawed and irresponsible research tool".

Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, has conceded that the site's in-built policing methods failed in this case. But he claims the article only slipped through the net because it received relatively little traffic. More popular pages are routinely reviewed by administrators, he points out.

Volunteer army

Unlike conventional reference websites, Wikipedia lets anyone create new entries or edit existing pages, providing their efforts survive the attention of a small group of volunteer administrators. The website takes its name from the software that powers it, known as a "wiki", which means "quick" in Hawaiian.

The army of contributors behind Wikipedia has enabled the site to grow into a popular online reference point. During October 2005 alone over 1500 new articles were created. However, the way the site works has also caused concern over its accuracy and accountability.

Attention was also drawn to Wikipedia's methods in July 2005, when the Los Angeles Times provided a Wikipedia-style online editorial that readers could freely modify. After just one day the page had been flooded with "inappropriate material".

Some experts have suggested technical solutions to the problem of defacement. Andrew McNab, a computer scientist at the University of Manchester in the UK, has developed a wiki called GridSiteWiki, which uses cryptographic signatures to authenticate all posts.

Others, however, suspect that Wikipedia's editorial methods make it fundamentally vulnerable. Yaman Akdeniz, director of UK campaign group Cyber-Rights and Cyber-Liberties, says technical and policy changes alone are unlikely to eradicate vandalism. He told New Scientist that users need to understand the weaknesses in how the information is generated: "You need to approach the information with caution."

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