Wikipedia Alters Editing Policies On a Few Exceptions

[DudeAsInCool]

...At its core, Wikipedia is not just a reference work but also an online community that has built itself a bureaucracy of sorts — one that, in response to well-publicized problems with some entries, has recently grown more elaborate. It has a clear power structure that gives volunteer administrators the authority to exercise editorial control, delete unsuitable articles and protect those that are vulnerable to vandalism.

Those measures can put some entries outside of the "anyone can edit" realm. The list changes rapidly, but as of yesterday, the entries for Einstein and Ms. Aguilera were among 82 that administrators had "protected" from all editing, mostly because of repeated vandalism or disputes over what should be said. Another 179 entries — including those for George W. Bush, Islam and Adolf Hitler — were "semi-protected," open to editing only by people who had been registered at the site for at least four days....

Read more at the:

NY Times

[Malicious Intent]

Beginning of the end stuff? First block a few, then a few more. How long until the key 1,000 are the only ones allowed to edit and we are back to a normal reference book?

[method77]

actually it's not blocking. It's changing a bit the way the edit is done but still it is open source. I see nothing wrong with it. Some issues are very fragile and should not be used by trolls

[Malicious Intent]

Oh yeah, we are a long way from trouble yet - if there is any trouble at all in the future.

Wikipedia was built on a belief and it seems that the belief is slowly being eroded. If the owners lose faith and try to stop all vogue entries, then they may lose site of what made it great to begin with.

[method77]

I know what you mean but if wikipedia goes away then some other wikipedia-style project will pop up from the ashes but not going to happen if you ask me.

I really don't think this is bad. I agree with the decision.

Whether we admit it or not, we all know that some subjects are not to be read like this. Politics and religion that is. Want to read about Bush while some republican just edited it? Or wanting to read about EU while some Turkish far-right supporter edited it? Let's be realistic

I have an excellent vid that shows how the London bombings page was edited, live in fast forward. Complete with Massive Attack music and at some point, some nutcase posts a kill warning against muslims. That is what the admins are trying to prevent.