Wikipedia's future in doubt? 49,000 volunteers leave site

by Yommie | November 25, 2009 at 11:13 am

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Wikipedia’s future has been put in doubt as 49,000 volunteer editors left the site in the space of three months. By comparison, only 4,900 volunteers left the site last year in the same period of time.
The online encyclopaedia is the fifth most visited site in the world, and is maintained on the backs of volunteers that write and edit the site every day.
Filipe Ortega, a researcher that compiled this data at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid, believes that the mass exodus is a result of the increased bureaucracy put in place to avoid errors.
Ortega told The Times that the current situation isn’t fatal, but if it continues unchecked it could spell the end for Wikipedia. “If you don’t have enough people to take care of the project it could vanish quickly.

I am not a fan of Wikipedia. It reminds me of Animal Farm where history was easily changed to suit the whims of ruling powers and such. Wikipedia has the power to become that because of the easy of update and the ready availability to all - even to the most unscrupulous mind.
Wikipedia is one of the reasons software manufacturers such as Microsoft are finding it difficult to continue in this day and age where information (whether true of false) is at your finder tips. For example, Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 2009 is going to be the last in the franchise and that is a sad news.
It doens't matter if Wikipedia fails or not - another site may easily replace it. But false information exist online, and we must be careful how we take it in.