Question:
What if someone edits a professional article on Wikipedia, with bad info or deleting, Is that possible???
2007-05-17 09:59:43 UTC
How does that work, all their articles have non-repeating info, what if 100 people added the same info there simultaniously? how does it choose what to show, or does someone actually review the inputs?? automatic??
Nine answers:
tw0cl0n3m3
2007-05-17 10:02:38 UTC
It is possible, but the misleading/damaging information will likely be replaced and the person editing will be asked to please mind their manners.
2007-05-18 16:44:27 UTC
Well, this would only be possible if the 100 people worked under different IP addresses and user names (if they are logged in). The number of edits by a single user/ip is restricted to, as far as I remember, 6 or 8. But however, you're right, such attacks could happen and they in fact happen. But on the English language Wikipedia, for instance, there are a few bots (little computer programs running on Wikipedia) that automatically revert obvious vandalism. If a user removes all content from a page, this will be reverted by an anti-vandal bot after just a few seconds. The same happens if you add well-known insults or nonsense ... (you can't imagine how many people think it's funny to add "penis" to articles ...). Besides of that, on en.wikipedia there are more than 1200 administrators (users with the ability to block users, delete pages and protect pages against editing). You can be sure that someone will notice such attacks.



Indeed, changes are displayed immediately after they're made. There are, however, many users (not only administrators) who go through the recent changes and "review" them. For less obvious mistakes, users have personal article watchlists. For example, a user who is skilled in English history puts articles on his watchlist that refer to this topic. When he checks his watchlist, he will notice that someone has changed the article and he can review the change by one click.



You see, vandalising Wikipedia is not that easy as many immagine.
?
2007-05-21 07:13:05 UTC
No matter if you're a member or not. No, its not possible. no way!. I tried that few times before. somehow, they have special people who work for wikipedia to review the inputs and edits the article professionally.
Angel A
2007-05-17 10:12:40 UTC
It automatically changes it. So it's completely possible for a professional article to be changed or deleted.
afflatus
2007-05-17 10:11:19 UTC
Never never never trust wikipedia. Take it as a starting point, and use the references instead.

I don't think the people editing the content are doing a good job, if they are actually editing the content. The lucky one gets listed, I guess.
?
2016-10-18 12:34:11 UTC
convinced. Condelisa Rice article, why she wasn't operating for president. The words "Hell no, I belong contained in the kitchen. a lady would purely run this us of a into the floor" were extra.
2007-05-17 10:11:55 UTC
yes it is possible but at least a few sysops and admins are looking at the resent changes (not to mention the countless normal users) and checking for vandalism.
Andrew
2007-05-18 05:41:24 UTC
Yes it can happen, and those people would have their IP address blocked for editing.
cathy m
2007-05-17 10:04:41 UTC
No I do not think it is possible


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