Jimmy Wales has often described himself as the constitutional monarch of Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia written and edited by volunteers. Queen Elizabeth II of England and other constitutional monarchs can only intervene in affairs of state on rare occasions of great crisis. Wales, who co-founded the non-profit Wikipedia in 2001, exercised his royal power last week. But he only took a tiny step in the midst of a crisis where bolder leadership is required.
Wikipedia keeps getting in trouble because its open model -- where anyone can write and edit entries -- is an invitation for character assassination, ideological crusades and outright vandalism, as well as legitimate scholarship. The latest flap involves retired newspaper editor and civil-rights crusader John Seigenthaler Sr., the subject of an anonymously written defamatory entry that lived on Wikipedia for six months earlier this year. Wales added paper-thin safeguards in response.
They're not enough to resolve Wikipedia's fundamental dilemma: It can't meet what Wales calls the project's primary goal -- producing ``a free, high-quality encyclopedia'' -- while also clinging to the utopian concept that anyone can contribute without restrictions.
How this crisis plays out will reverberate across the emerging landscape of ``social media,'' where loose groups -- such as Wikipedia's volunteer contributors -- come together through the Web to create news, community forums and information.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/13382496.htm
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