week12: read Wikipedia:Article development --LAOXINYI

  1）Summary

Have you ever wondered where those "star articles" on Wikipedia that are well-organized, have solid references, and have beautiful pictures come from?

The answer is actually not mysterious at all. Just like a tree grows from a seed into a towering tree, a Wikipedia article also grows slowly from a small stub (a small paragraph, a broken page). Editors will constantly fill in the content, add references, clean up the wording, and even send it to "peer review" and "high-quality article candidate area" for "collective review" by volunteers from the entire site.

The whole process is not only for experts to participate. On the contrary, most articles are promoted bit by bit by enthusiastic netizens. Every added paragraph, reference, picture, and even modified punctuation mark are footprints of the article's growth.


2）Interesting Point

One thing that particularly interests me is that Wikipedia does not encourage "perfectionist" writing.

Does it sound a bit counterintuitive? But this is the most lovely thing about it. You don't need to wait until you have prepared a complete manuscript before submitting it. Instead, you can start with a sentence, write a stub (Wikipedia's name for minimalist entries), and then slowly expand it. Even at the end of many pages, you can see a sentence: "This article is a stub. You can help by expanding it." Doesn't it seem to be waving at you?

What's even better is that Wikipedia has a whole set of community processes to support this "write first, then revise" development route. For example, you can request peer review, apply for "quality entry" or even "featured entry" certification, and each level has specific standards and feedback mechanisms to make the article better and more valuable.


3）Discussion

Do you enjoy editing Wikipedia articles?

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