Wikipedia editors to stop vandals messing with articles of the living

Wikipedia will soon be adding a feature to its English-language site that assigns an experienced editor to sign off on any changes to articles on living people, according to Wikimedia Foundation, the not-for-profit that runs the user-driven online encyclopaedia.

Confirming a story reported on Monday by The New York Times, a Wikimedia Foundation spokesman said the "flagged revisions" feature is already active on the German site but needs some fleshing out before it goes live to the public on the English site.

The plan is to deploy the feature on a test wiki soon so the Wikipedia community can play around with before it goes public. The test wiki is expected to go live soon but no specific time frame has been established, the spokesman said.

The feature was debated earlier this year in the aftermath of a false entry that was posted by a user, saying senators Ted Kennedy and Robert Byrd had died after an inaugural luncheon in January.

It's intended to provide some additional "protection" and to "prevent vandals" from messing with living-person articles, the spokesman said. Until approved by the volunteer editor, any changes to such articles will sit on Wikipedia's servers invisible to the public.

This is a big job, added the spokesman, and ultimately the community will decide whether to make it a permanent feature. It's bound to be controversial for those who passionately believe in the site's motto as "the free encyclopaedia anyone can edit".

CNET News.com's Daniel Terdiman contributed to this story

Original article: Wikipedia to add editing safeguard for the living from CNET News.com