The Standards of Wikipedia

Zittrain's article, Lessons of Wikipedia, discusses how rules and standards are used differently to achieve similar goals.Wikipedia is run by administrators who can block or change what people have submitted to the page, but users are still encouraged to submit correct facts to their site. Wikipedia has submission provisions that state the guidelines for users submissions, but other than that it is a free-range for users to post. In Zittrain's article, he states that there is a difference between rules and standards. "Rules are less subject to ambiguity, and if crafted well, inform people exactly what they can do, even if individual situations render impractical, or worse, dangerous" (Zittrain 128). He then goes on to say, "Standards allow people to tailor their actions to a particular situation" (Zittrain 128). Wikipedia's guidelines for submission can be see as standards for what they expect in the content on their site.

Wikipedia has given their administrators certain veto rights to keep the content true and well written. They have a "three-revert rule" which is defined as, "An editor should not undo someone else's edits to an article more than three times in one day" (Zittrain 135). This rule keeps the users from continuously changing the content back and forth until someone gives up. The content can then be discussed by other users to come up with which idea is the correct idea. The examples given on Hood's website show how diverse a page can look just because of the type of language that is being used.

In the photos by Hook, it is showing examples of a correct Wikipedia article and of an incorrect article. In the before photo, the page shows unpleasant language use and description, plus some surely untrue facts. The first paragraph starts out seeming as if it will be a regular article and then quickly changes to something completely different. The after photo then uses a wider range of language to explain the correct topic. The editor corrected the facts and terminology on this page. The second photo is an example of what they do want for their site, true facts in a well written manner. This would be a great example for someone who was considering submitting, to show them what is expected from them as authors.

Zittrain's article continues on to talk about cyber space and the unspoken cyber laws. "In modern cyberspace, an absence of rules (or at least enforcement) has lead both to a generative blossoming and to a new round of challenges at multiple layers" (Zittrain 129). By this I believe he means that while yes the internet has opened doors and given users access to all kinds of information, it has also created a place that can be difficult to monitor. There are so many different aspects of the internet, that it is hard to keep track of every single thing that is going on. If users can follow these "cyber laws" then everything will run smoothly, but if not it can create chaos on the internet.

"Although different users have different levels of capabilities, anyone can register and anyone, if dedicated enough, can rise to the status of administrator" (Zittrain 142). This opportunity gives the community a sense of fairness. This policy style allows articles to be edited and then reedited again. It relies on active editors and contributors, constantly checking the site for incorrect information. It requires extensive amount of work and effort to do such a task, but Wikipedia has faith in it's community and editors to keep this information true.

Throughout Lessons of Wikipedia, Zittrain explains this community of Wikipedians, or the people who use and contribute to Wikipedia often. Through these people, as well as the administrators of the site, the content put in these articles is created and discussed by users everywhere. He explains where the content on their site comes from, but also the hardships that come from having such an open website. With these examples from Hook and the different topics discussed in Zittrain's article, readers get a clear view of how Wikipedia is run and what goes into the content on the website. It creates a community in which people can gather information as well as discuss various topics. It also shows that a website can run without "rules" but rather just overall etiquette standards that are known by users.





Hood, Carra Leah. "Editing Out Obscenity: Wikipedia and Writing Pedagogy." Editing Out Obscenity: Wikipedia and Writing Pedagogy. Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. Web. 29 Oct 2014.

Zittrain, Jonathan. "After the Stall" The Lessons of Wikipedia. Print.