s a collaboratively edited, multilingual, free Internet encyclopedia that the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation supports.

Volunteers worldwide collaboratively write Wikipedia's ! million articles in "#$ languages, including over %.% million in the &nglish Wikipedia. 'nyone who can access the site can edit almost any of its articles, which on the Internet comprise(%) the largest and most popular general reference work,(*)(+)($)(#)(,) ranking si-th globally among all websites on 'le-a with an estimated +* million readers.(*)(.!) /immy Wales and 0arry 1anger launched Wikipedia on /anuary .*, "!!., the latter(..) creating its name Wikipedia,(.") from a portmanteau of wiki 2a type of collaborative website, from the 3awaiian word wiki, meaning 45uick46(. ) and encyclopedia. Wikipedia's departure from the e-pert-driven style of encyclopedia-building and the presence of much unacademic content have received e-tensive attention in print media. In "!!+, Time maga7ine recogni7ed Wikipedia's participation in the rapid growth of online collaboration and interaction by millions of people around the world, in addition to 8ou9ube, :eddit, ;y1pace, and Facebook.(.%) Wikipedia has also become known as a news source because of the rapid update of articles related to breaking news.(.*)(.+)(.$) 9he open nature of Wikipedia has caused concerns about its writing,(.#)(.,) the amount of vandalism,("!)(".) and the accuracy of information. 1ome articles contain unverified or inconsistent information,("") though a "!!* investigation in Nature showed that the science articles they compared came close to the level of accuracy of Encyclopdia Britannica.(" ) <nlike traditional encyclopedias, Wikipedia allows outside editing= e-cept particularly sensitive and>or vandalism-prone pages that are 4protected4 to some degree,("*) even without an account readers can edit te-t without permission. ?ifferent language editions modify this policy to some e-tent@ for e-ample, only registered users may create a new article in the &nglish edition.("+) Ao article is considered to be owned by its creator or any other editor, nor is it vetted by any recogni7ed authority. Instead, editors are supposed to agree on the content and structure of articles by consensus.("$) By default, an edit to an article immediately becomes available. 'rticles therefore may contain inaccuracies, ideological biases, or even patent nonsense until or unless another editor corrects them. ?ifferent language editions, each under separate administrative control, are free to modify this policy. For e-ample, the Cerman Wikipedia maintains 4stable versions4 of articles,("#) which have passed certain reviews. Following the protracted trials and community discussion, the 4pending changes4 system was introduced to &nglish Wikipedia in ?ecember "!.".(",) <nder this system, new users' edits to certain controversial or vandalism-prone articles would be 4subDect to review from an established Wikipedia editor before publication4. 9he software that powers Wikipedia can aid contributors. 9he 43istory4 page of each article records revisions, though a revision with libelous content, criminal threats, or copyright infringements may be retroactively removed.( !) &ditors can use this page to undo undesirable changes or restore lost content. 9he 49alk4 page associated with each article helps coordinate work among multiple editors.( .) Importantly, editors may use the 49alk4 page to reach consensus,( ") sometimes through the use of polling.