Why Wikipedia works
Under the hood of an underrated gem
Wikipedia is the largest peer-reviewed bank of human knowledge. Anyone can edit and publish content on Wikipedia, provided there’s a source they can cite for everything they’re saying. It’s also surprisingly accurate.
That’s because it’s the first model of crowdsourcing. It’s one of the best models of peer production. The word was invented for Wikipedia specifically.
Trying to rigidly produce and vet knowledge in a top-down approach didn’t work at scale, not with Brittanica. Experts and academicians didn’t want to contribute to a common pool.
Wikipedia, on the other hand, always finds its equilibrium because everyone is contributing. The bigger the topic, the more accurate the pages are. Because thousands of people are vetting, editing and publishing at the same time.
People contribute and maintain this collective encyclopaedia mainly because it’s fun. They enjoy it, some are even addicted to it. They take up admin tasks, find more sources, moderate conflicts and clean up vandalism. They do it because interest is the engine