
Wikipedia editing rules in a nutshell - SimplyUseless
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-32412121
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tokenadult
I read this brief article in question-and-answer format (not actually an
interview) immediately after it was kindly submitted here. I was editing
Wikipedia and reading Wikipedia dispute resolution forum pages just before
coming to Hacker News today. The last Q and A paragraph of this article sums
up the truth about Wikipedia:

"So how does Wikipedia stop repeat 'sock puppet' offenders?

"Someone going to great lengths to hide their IP address is sometimes enough
to arouse suspicion amongst the site's administrators. And patterns of
behaviour - from the adoption of similar usernames to a focus on specific
topics and types of edit - can reveal a lot about motivations and personality.
Multiple accounts can often be tracked to one individual - we're never as
anonymous as we like to believe. But any open and collaborative system will
always be open to abuse."

Translated into English, Wikipedia has no effective defense against persistent
socks, who waste a lot of the time of other Wikipedians. That is my experience
as a Wikipedian who has brought two high-page-view articles up to good article
status. (In other words, I have won two "Million Award" recognitions on
Wikipedia.) It's an ongoing slog to improve article content on Wikipedia. The
operative rule is _anyone_ can edit.

