Online experiment supports Wikipedia

March 4, 2008 12:15 am

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BY HIGH SCHOOL, we've all been told by most, if not all, of our teachers that Wikipedia is "not a reliable source because anyone can edit it." Just like that, the vast wealth of free knowledge on the Internet is deemed unusable for anything and nearly everything curricular.

I've always fought these claims with the argument that monitoring the edits on Wikipedia is something that the site's staff members get paid to do 24-7. Recently, I decided to clear up once and for all whether "the free encyclopedia" was to be trusted or not.

My first test was to create a random page about myself. It read "Gordon Phillips is the best thing ever, hands down." I added the page to my account's "watch list," which notifies the user of any change made to the page. Within moments--I'd say less than a minute later--the page was deleted under the reason "G1: Patent nonsense, meaningless, or incomprehensible." The staff obviously wastes no time in removing any article that does not fully cite sources or that is completely irrelevant.

For my second test, I thought I'd change a fairly well-used, popular page. After adding it to my watch page, I edited the "Early Life" section of the Hillary Rodham Clinton page to include "Hillary was always the fastest kid on the playground and was never picked last when it came to Red Rover." This edit lasted an impressive 31 seconds by the Wikipedia clock until it was completely removed by the Wikipedia administration. The more popular pages seem to be under close watch for any kind of editing.

For my third and final test, I thought I would try a less-traveled page. I chose the "Working Dog" page. I edited the "Jobs Performed by Dogs" section to say, "Some breeds of dogs, especially Dachshunds, have been employed as tutors for math-based sciences such as physics." These edits were almost instantly removed, and the article was "reverted" to its original form. I thought this would be a less-used page, and maybe my edit would go unnoticed for at least a brief period of time, but Wikipedia leaves no article behind.

After these tests, I have come to the conclusion that Wikipedia is very closely monitored. Using the argument that "anyone can edit it" is simply wrong. I highly doubt my teachers will simply allow me to use Wiki-pedia now, but I feel I have done my share in the fight for the acceptance of the free encyclopedia.

Gordon Phillips is a junior at Stafford High School.