Wikipedia Denies Rumours of Declining Editor Numbers
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Online encyclopaedia remains steady according to foundation owners.
Online encyclopaedia Wikipedia has denied claims that it is haemorrhaging editors and that the future of the website is uncertain.
In a blog post written by deputy director of the Wikimedia Foundation Erik Moeller, and data analyst Erik Zachte, the pair refuted a media story which began with the Wall Street Journal highlighting the number of editors leaving their posts.
“Volunteers have been departing the project… faster than new ones have been joining, and the net losses have accelerated over the past year,” according to the Wall Street Journal. Wikipedia is the fifth most popular website in the world with over 14 million articles in 10 languages and 344 million visitors each month.
The Wall Street Journal leapt on research by Dr Felipe Ortega which showed a net loss of 49,000 editors to Wikipedia in the first quarter of 2009, ten times the number the online institution lost in Q1 of 2008.
Doubts have apparently been raised concerning the breadth of Wikipedia’s data and accuracy of information. “Errors and deliberate insertions of false information by vandals have undermined its reliability,” wrote the Wall Street Journal.
Wikipedia’s defenders admitted that contributions and editing had dropped since the website peaked in 2007 but that since an initial dip writers and editors have remained stable and constant. “Every month, some people stop writing, and every month, they are replaced by new people,” the blog read.
The apparent discrepancy occurred because of confusion over what constituted an “editor” on Wikipedia. Dr Ortega counted any person who had edited a single article as an editor, whereas Wikipedia refined the definition to any person who had edited five or more articles.
By Wikipedia’s estimations, losing non-prolific editors is not a real problem, and the number of editors who regularly monitor articles has remained steady.
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