Reading Response #2

This article is about Wikipedia and how its popularity has decreased in the last few years. Wikipedia was started in 2001, in 2007it hit the 2 million-article mark but it took all the way till August of 2009 to hit the 3 million mark. Why is this? Well in 2007 people for some reason have decided not to create new articles, add information, or even edit errors on already existing pages. Some of the volunteers that edit, add, and go over articles on Wikipedia have recently began trying to improve Wikipedia’s image. By taking off untrue information about living people and adding editorial controls they hope to improve Wikipedia’s trustworthiness. Now before someone’s edit will be posted to Wikipedia it will first be inspected for accuracy by Wikipedia’s administrators. Ed Chi, a computer scientist at California’s Palo Alto Research Center notes that the reason for the slump is because Wikipedia used to thrive on chaos and now with all the controls that monitor accuracy installed it is no longer chaos but rather structured and boring. Another factor that could be adding to the slump is the fact that after so long what information is there left to add or alter. There is no longer the thrill of posting something new only for it to appear either completely altered or for people to pick it apart because it was cited incorrectly. As of right now they have not yet figured out how to attract new editors for the free encyclopedia. So what does this mean for the future of this site? I guess only time will tell.
I think this article was really interesting. I personally have never added or edited anything on Wikipedia so I did not know that there are these controls set up and that you need to follow certain guidelines. I think that the fact that they have established controls over what is posted and its accuracy is a good thing. When in school we all know never to sight Wikipedia as a source because it is considered unreliable due to the fact that anyone can post things. With these controls however it may become a possibility to one-day use Wikipedia as a reliable source. What I do not understand is why controls for credibility and accuracy of information are turning people away from posting or editing? I mean if what you post is wrong and they tell you or someone edits it isn’t that a good thing so that you now know what the right thing is?