Why are you able to edit an article in Wikipedia?

I found out the other day that anyone can edit a article in Wikipedia. Is this really the case and if so, what is to prevent abuse. I know of one case where the bio of a somewhat famous person was altered. It was somewhat innocent, it was changed as a joke but nonetheless the content was altered about the individual.

There are two competing philosophies.

Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations extolled the virtues of the free market.

The other view is bureaucratic and experts some annointed regulator to know what is best.

Wikipedia uses a seemingly anarchic process to acquire input. It uses the same process to filter and validate the data.

You can find errors but you can also find a vast amount of pretty good stuff.

That raises another question; when you find a mistake, how do you know it's a mistake?

If you can identify an error, then Wikipedia offers an opportunity to add your specific knowledge and quite possibly remedy the error.

Some people call it democracy. I think it is much closer to the libertarian model. Or possibly, in biology, the beehive model.

Some bees bring the honey. Some bees clean it, process it, store it, and retrieve it.

Thats the entire point of wikipedia, everyone can share there knowlegde. It's also the reason why i never trust anything on there. It's one of the most unreliable sources out there, because of that fact, ANYONE CAN CHANGE ANYTHING. All of my teachers disallowed sourcing from wikipedia for that reason aswel.

Yes, it's true...and yes, sometimes people take advantage of it. You have to use your own judgement. I wouldn't trust it as much when looking up celebrities b/c people like to play around with those. But the idea is, several million minds are better then one. Everyone works together to put the info out there. Is it always reliable? No. But still interesting to check out.

Nowdays its not that easy anymore.
I have heard that you have to create an account.
When creating an account u have to send in 3 or more type articles to have them review it so u can join or u have to be a professor.

Wikipedia is pretty much just a dictionary that anyone can add to; there's not really a way to monitor it. A lot of schools aren't allowing students to use the web page for information anymore because it's so difficult to get information that's true. The only way you can get rid of information is to go and edit the page yourself, and even then it might not delete the misinformative section.

Wikipedia is an encyclopedia collaboratively written by many of its readers. It is a special type of website, called a wiki, that makes collaboration easy. Many people are constantly improving Wikipedia, making thousands of changes an hour, all of which are recorded on article histories and recent changes. Inappropriate changes are usually removed quickly, and repeat offenders can be blocked from editing.

That's what they say. However, your edits fall under the scrutiny of the Wikipedia Admins, and if they don't like what you write (even if it is true and accurate) they delete it.

The "anyone can edit" is really fake. You can edit - they delete.

And, the Wikipedia Admins, are like those 300 pound fat guys you see on TV that sit on the Internet 24/7 as "keyboard warriors" - They live solely to delete your Wiki edits.

Therefore, I don't believe everything I read on Wikipedia. It's really just what the Wiki Admins want the world to believe is true. a.k.a. A cult .

Because it's the whole point of Wikipedia.

But don't bother adding something without credible resources, they'll delete ur stuff with no warning and no question.

The moderators over there SUCK big time.

It's the point of Wikipedia. Everyone edit what their knowledge knows. However, when you research about things, you should always research on more than one website and choose ones you think is more reliable.