Wikipedia’s Incentive Structure

Ahh, Wikipedia. The online encyclopedia, which according to United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, “everybody knows is never wrong,”^[1] has become the number one source for most high school research papers, as one study shows.^[2] Although other prominent figures, most notably the members of the Buena Vista Social Club^[3], have disputed the accuracy of its claims and the veracity of its writers, the general feeling is that Wikipedia represents the collective intelligence of all of its users, and is thus infallible, much in the same way that George W. Bush is.^[4]

But anyone who has tried to fix a Wikipedia article for minor (often careless) errors has without a doubt run into problems. Case in point: in 2007, Frank Huang attempted to fix the Wikipedia entry for “cheating” by appending “or what Marion Jones did” to the sentence, “Cheating is an act of lying, deception, fraud, trickery, imposture, or imposition.” Within an hour, some wily editor had found Frank’s upgrade and removed it.^[5]

Here’s another story. When asked how he felt about Wikipedia, one of my professors recounted the story of how he was unable to successfully edit an article in his area of expertise. As soon as he corrected some information that was blatantly false, a swarm of editors deleted his additions and reverted the Wikipedia entry to its flawed state.^[6]

Why is the response to alterations so fast and brutal? It’s the incentive structure. There are two types of editors on Wikipedia: “editors” and “administrators,” the latter being higher in rank — administrators supervise editors. And who do editors supervise? Us.

Okay, okay, that sounds fine. But how does one become an editor? You need a journalism degree before Wikipedia will allow you onto their payroll, right? Not really — you have the wrong idea. You see, editors are volunteers and there are no prerequisites to becoming one, aside from maybe an insatiable thirst for power and a few “your writing lacks intelligence” marks on your term papers.^[7]

I mentioned before that administrators are one step above editors. To become an administrator, an editor must do a lot of work to improve Wikipedia, be it through composing new articles, making corrections, citing sources, etc. Obviously, it is easier to destroy than to create.^[8] At this moment please take a break from my blog in order to read this other blog entry.

I especially like his “how to fix Wikipedia” section, which I will quote here for those who didn’t actually follow the link:

1. Dump WP:N (notability). Worry about verifiability and accuracy, but forget notability. It is too subjective, and the result of it is a loss of interesting, valuable information.
2. Make all adminships temporary. You get 1 year as an admin, and then you spend at least 1 year as a regular editor.
3. Stop deleting obscure or niche topics.
4. Hire a lot more paid staff to be your “real administrators.” These people need to be under constant review to prevent abuse, and their main job should be to patrol the volunteer administrators for inappropriate behavior. There should be a very low tolerance for suspicious behavior. Wikipedia has a huge pool of potential administrators. They can fire with impunity for questionable actions.
5. Call editors “users.” Call administrators “editors.” For both groups, it will take their egos down a notch.
6. Narrow it down to *1* way to report someone for bad behavior.

And I think I’ll leave it at that. So, what are your thoughts?

References

1. ^ My memory. Accessed 1 March 2010.
2. ^ Urban Dictionary. San Francisco, 1999-2010. Def.’n #2. Accessed 1 March 2010.
3. ^ Wikipedia entry on the Buena Vista Social Club. Accessed 1 March 2010.
4. ^ This blog post. Charlottesville, Virginia, 2010. Accessed 1 March 2010.
5. ^ Edit History on Wikipedia’s Cheating entry. You find it.
6. ^ My notebook from a class on Wagner’s Ring cycle. Accessed some time last semester.
7. ^ Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Rochester, Minnesota, Mayo Clinic. Updated 23 June 2009. Accessed 1 March 2010.
8. ^ Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Nicholas Meyer. 1982.

Tags: Gripe, Incentive, Wikipedia