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For Wikipedia's non-encyclopedic visitor introduction, see Wikipedia:About.

Wikipedia (i// or i// WIK-i-PEE-dee-) is a free-access, free content Internet encyclopedia, supported and hosted by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Almost anyone who can access the site[5] can edit almost any of its articles. Wikipedia is the sixth-most popular website[4] and constitutes the Internet's largest and most popular general reference work.[6][7][8] As of 2014, it has 18 billion page views and nearly 500 million unique visitors each month.[9]

Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger launched Wikipedia on January 15, 2001. Sanger[10] coined its name,[11] a portmanteau of wiki (from the Hawaiian word for "quick")[12] and encyclopedia. Although Wikipedia's content was initially only in English, it quickly became multilingual, through the launch of versions in different languages. All versions of Wikipedia are similar, but important differences exist in content and in editing practices. The English Wikipedia is now one of more than 200 Wikipedias, but remains the largest one, with over 4.5 million articles.

Wikipedia has earned a reputation as a news source because of its rapid updating of articles related to breaking news.[13][14][15] In addition, Wikipedia's high openness compared to previous encyclopedias and its inclusion of much unacademic content have received extensive media attention.

Wikipedia's high openness has also led to some concerns, such as the quality of its writing,[16]vandalism and the accuracy of its information.[17][18] However, while some articles contain unverified or inconsistent information,[19] a 2005 survey of Wikipedia published in Nature based on a comparison of 42 science articles with Encyclopdia Britannica found that Wikipedia's level of accuracy approached Encyclopdia Britannica's and both had similar low rates of "serious errors".[20] As of 2012, the English Wikipedia contained nearly four million articles, over thirty times more than Britannica (about 120,000).[21]

Unlike traditional encyclopedias, Wikipedia follows the procrastination principle regarding the security of its content;[22] it started almost entirely open anyone could create articles, and any Wikipedia article could be edited by any reader, even those who did not have a Wikipedia account. Modifications to all articles would immediately become available. As a result, all articles could contain inaccuracies, ideological biases, and nonsensical or irrelevant text until an editor would correct these issues.

Over time, the English Wikipedia and some other Wikipedias gradually restricted modifications. For example, in the English Wikipedia and some other language editions, only registered users may create a new article.[23] On the English Wikipedia and some others, some particularly sensitive and/or vandalism-prone pages are now "protected" to some degree.[24] A frequently vandalized article can be semi-protected, meaning that only certain editors are able to modify it.[25] A particularly contentious article may be locked so that only administrators are able to make changes.[26]

In certain cases, all editors are allowed to submit modifications, but review is required for some editors. For example, the German Wikipedia maintains "stable versions" of articles,[27] which have passed certain reviews. Following protracted trials and community discussion, the English Wikipedia introduced the "pending changes" system in December 2012.[28] Under this system, new users' edits to certain controversial or vandalism-prone articles are "subject to review from an established Wikipedia editor before publication".[29]

Although changes are not systematically reviewed, the software that powers Wikipedia provides certain tools allowing anyone to review changes made by others. The "History" page of each article links to each revision.[notes 2][30] On most articles, anyone can undo others' changes by clicking a link on the article's history page. Anyone can view the latest changes to articles, and anyone may maintain a "watchlist" of articles that interest them so they can be notified of any changes. "New pages patrol" is a process whereby newly created articles are checked for obvious problems.[31]

In 2003, economics PhD student Andrea Ciffolilli argued that the low transaction costs of participating in a wiki create a catalyst for collaborative development, and that features such as easy access to past versions of a page favor "creative construction" over "creative destruction".[32]

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