June 17, 2010 by Andre
Wikipedia has announced that it will soon be relaxing the strict editing rules which apply to its more divisive pages. Currently, there are rigid guidelines for the editing of potentially subversive content, which means that a number of pages which could incite inappropriate comments have been locked down.
Examples of pages which have previously incurred malicious comments include the page on George W Bush, which was regularly subjected to inappropriate content published by Wikipedia editors across the globe.
This step has been taken to comply more with Wikipedia’s aim to be socially inclusive, enabling free speech, democracy and liberal publishing. The entire Wikipedia site is based on the premise that it is created by people globally, and thus should not be subjected to political censorship.
As an online encyclopedia, Wikipedia depends upon a broad range of people posting and editing documents, to create holistic views on particular subjects. By censoring certain pages, it has undermined its overall ethos of social inclusion. The information giant has announced that 2,000 articles which currently undergo strict censorship are now to be opened up for public comment and submission.
The change will now enable users to submit edited versions of selected pages, which will then be submitted for review by Wikipedia’s senior editors. This move is one of a number of measures deisgned to curb vandalism of pages within the site.
The founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, reported that the new system, pending changes, “will enable the site to open up articles for general editing that have been protected or semi-protected for years. That’s what’s exciting about this.”
Wikipedia has suffered from a number of problems since its launch, including the malicious alteration of pages and repeated ongoing changes to controversial documents. The problem is some pages prove to be just too tempting for individuals to resist posting inflammatory edits.
The new editing rules will open up Wikipedia’s pages to the public globally, inviting a more democratic process in line with the site’s original ethos of social inclusion. Changes were introduced at 11pm GMT, two days ago.
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