第三十篇 Wikipedia1 Imposes New Curbs on Editing Articles
Wikipedia, the famous online encyclopedia, is looking to impose morediscipline with new restrictions on the editing of articles.
The latest changes come as Wikipedia tries to balance a need for credibility and a desire for openness.
While anyone can still edit entries, the site is testing pages that won't register changes until they are approved by an experienced Wikipedia editor.
If the site's users respond well to the test run, the new restrictions will apply to all entries for living people in the next few weeks.
The idea is to block the kind of high-profile vandalism that has marred some pages.
In one of the most recent embarrassments, US Democratic Senators Robert Byrd was prematurely declared dead by rogue editors.
Still, Wikipedia risks discouraging legitimate editing if restrictions on changes or additions become too burdensome, keeping articles from getting better or keeping up with events. That may be especially true on more obscure pages with fewer active volunteers to approve edits timely.
Aware of the risks, Wikipedia ha s set the criteria for "experienced editor" status relatively low. Users who are registered for a few days can give changes the OK, said Jay Walsh, a spokesman for the nonprofit
Wikimedia Foundation, which runs the site.
A more uniform system for filtering changes on Wikipedia represents a step back from the site's original philosophy, which called for harnessing the collective knowledge of volunteer editors without any major restrictions.
But it is not the first time Wikipedia has attached some strings.
The same flagging process, for example, has been imposed on all entries in the German-language Wikipedia for more than a year.
On the English site, too, high, profile pages that are likely to be defaced, such as Michael Jackson's, have been tightly restricted.
Some observers believe Wikipedia must continue tightening editing policies if it wants to gain credibility.
"I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop," said Erie Goldman, director of the High Tech Law Institute at the Santa Clara University School of Law.
Goldman envisions a future Wikipedia crated by a relatively small group of dedicated editors. Under the current model, he said, there simply aren't enough volunteers to catch all errors.
词汇：
curb n. 约束；限制
high-profile adj. 引人注目的
vandalism n. 故意破坏
mar vt. 损坏（某事物）；毁坏（公共财产等）的行为
rogue adj. 刁滑的；喜欢制造麻烦的
deface n. 损坏（某物）的外观
veneer n. 虚假的外表；装饰
drawbridge n. 吊桥
philanthropic adj. 博爱的；与慈善事业有关的
注释：
1. Wikipedia：中文名为维基百科，是全世界最大的网络百科全书。
2. 该句意为维基百科仍然没有对网民关闭，人们仍然可以参与编纂词条。
练习：
1. What is the latest change of Wikipcdia7
A) Now not everybody can edit entries in Wikipedia.
B) Fewer restrictions will be posed on the edition of entries.
C) Some of the pages will not register changes without the approval of an experienced Wikipedia editor.
D) All entries for living people will not be edited from now on.
2. Why has Wikipedia set the criteria for "experienced editor" status relatively low?
A) Because experienced editors are rare.
B) Because a lot of people are interested in the editing of entries.
C) Because stricter criteria may discourage legitimate editing.
D) Because people receive no pay for their editing.
3. Which statement about Robert Byrd is false?
A) He is a member of American Democratic Party.
B) He is a member of the Senate.
C) He was wrongly declared dead by Wikipedia.
D) He used to edits entries in Wikipedia.
4. Which of the following statements about Wikipedia is true?
A) This is the first time that Wikipedia imposes restrictions on the editing of entries.
B) People can still edit all the entries on the English site freely.
C) The current discipline imposed on the editing of articles is too lax so that a lot of embarrassments have been caused.
D) Wikipedia is now firmly sticking to its original philosophy.
5. Pierre Omidyar is
A) a senator
B) a spokesman of Wikipedia
C) a university professor
D) an enterpriser
答案与题解：
1．C 从前三段可知，虽然现在每个人仍然都能编辑维基百科中的词条，但其中的一些页面在得到一个“经验丰富”的编辑批准前不会变化。
2．C 第七段说，维基百科新近出台的限制条件冒着降低网民合法编辑词条的积极性这一风险，为了规避这一风险，维基百科把所谓的“经验丰富的编辑”标准设定得很低。
3．D Robert Byrd 是美国民主党的参议员，最近维基百科中关于他的词条被人篡改，错误地宣布他已经死亡。
4．C 从文中可知维基百科现在的对编辑词条的限制条件过于宽松，以致造成了许多尴尬情况发生。
5．D 从最后一段可知，Pierre Omidyar 是eBay 的创始人，因此D 为正确答案。
"My hope is that Wikipedia still exists and is still considered a useful site," Goldman said. "But it will be at that point a very tightly controlled site. It won't have that veneer of a site that anyone can contribute to. They haven't closed the drawbridge2. People can still get in. But it keeps going up and up and up."
Separately, the Omidyar Network, a philanthropic investment group started by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, said on Tuesday it is committing $2 million over two years to the Wikimedia Foundation. Omidyar Network's grant will support Wikimedia's goals of bringing free educational content to people around the world and supporting more people to help create that content.