Can Anyone Edit a Wiki Without Permission?

[Cyrus]

Heh,

I clicked on one of the edit tabs on wiki and all the text showed up. Then it said click to save changes! WTF! Can anyone go in there and actually change someone's work!? I didn't save any changes, but that was scary. I thought anyone can edit it, but they have to have a password or something given by an admin of some sort. Yikes, I'm surprised kids don’t go in there and just write things like 'wikipedia is for (expletive)'.

 

[Pengwuino]

Anyone can edit wikipedia... at least they could up until a few weeks ago. I think they've put in some better regulations (but I think its only you needing to make an account real quick before doing it).

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Heh,
I clicked on one of the edit tabs on wiki and all the text showed up. Then it said click to save changes! WTF! Can anyone go in there and actually change someone's work!? I didn't save any changes, but that was scary. I thought anyone can edit it, but they have to have a password or something given by an admin of some sort. Yikes, I'm surprised kids don’t go in there and just write things like 'wikipedia is for (expletive)'.

They have people who "patrol" the site to remove "vandalism" and others who check up on dubious or contestable edits.

 

[moose]

Well Pengwuino, yesterday I edited a page just fine.

EDIT: We've had almost this exact thread a few times before BTW. Just search for wikipedia

 

[Cyrus]

...dough!

 

[Jelfish]

I believe they cache the whole site regularly in case something really bad happens.

 

[mattmns]

Yes, you can read previous edits of a page.

 

[chroot]

Wikipedia is, in fact, vandalized regularly. Most of it doesn't last long, however:

A 2002 study by IBM found that most vandalism on the English Wikipedia is reverted within five minutes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Vandalism

- Warren

 

[Mk]

They have people who "patrol" the site to remove "vandalism" and others who check up on dubious or contestable edits.

Wikipedia is, in fact, vandalized regularly. Most of it doesn't last long

Actually I am in the counter-vandalism unit. I hate those losers who are wasting their time deleting pages, spamming them, adding in obscene material, the list goes on . Sometimes we have to ban their IP, because all they do is mess it up.

I did some heavy vandal-fighting last week, and found that none of the articles' vandalisms lasted over two minutes. Most took only about 30 seconds or a minute until it was fixed. GO TEAM! I'm proud of my job. Too bad I don't get paid.

I got an angry comment from a vandal two days ago.

 

[Hurkyl]

...dough!

Actually, it's .[/URL]

 

[Cyrus]

Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try. ~Homer

 

[Ouabache]

D'oh!

Actually, it's .[/URL]

You probably know where this expression came from. It was a favorite of Mr. Cucumber (played by James Finlayson) in the Laurel and Hardy movies (made from 1929-52). In slapstick exasperation, he would often exclaim Do-o-o-o! and slap his forehead for emphasis. If you're not familiar with these movies, you gottah catch some on DVD.
(Hmmmm i see this reference confirms my recall.