Wikipedia loses 49,000 editors

Posted on 26 Nov 2009 at 11:30

A study has revealed that Wikipedia lost 49,000 of its contributors in the first three months of 2009.

The figure comes courtesy of the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid, which created software to track the edits made by three million active Wikipedia contributors in ten different languages.

The findings are particularly alarming, as the study claims that in same period of 2008 the online encyclopædia lost only 4,900 people.

Contributors are the lifeblood of Wikipedia, which depends on people using their own knowledge to edit and add articles to the site. Unsurprisingly, the author of the report, Felipe Ortega, claims the the site could face significant difficulties ahead.

“If you don’t have enough people to take care of the project it could vanish quickly,” Ortega told The Times. “We’re not in that situation yet. But eventually, if the negative trends follow, we could be in that situation.”

According to Ortega, the diminishing numbers can be attributed to the increasing number of rules governing edits made on the site. He also suggests that it could simply be a result of the number of articles already on the site.

However, Wikipedia denies that it’s in trouble.

“We’re trying to engage a bit more at the moment with people who are very knowledgeable, people who are experts,” said Michael Peel of Wikimedia UK. “Wikipedia is definitely not dying.”

Author: Stuart Turton

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