Criticism of Wikipedia facts for kids

The free online encyclopedia Wikipedia has been around since 2001. Many people have talked about things they think could be better on Wikipedia. Most of these discussions are about the articles themselves, the amazing volunteer editors who write them, and how the site works.

People sometimes wonder how reliable Wikipedia's facts are. They also discuss if articles are easy to read and well-organized. Some critics point out that Wikipedia doesn't always have a strict way to check facts. There are also talks about whether Wikipedia articles might lean towards certain political ideas.

Understanding Wikipedia's Challenges

Concerns have also been raised about how Wikipedia might show bias in different ways. This can include gender, race, political views, or even favoring certain companies or countries. Sometimes, companies try to change Wikipedia articles to make themselves look better, which is called a conflict of interest.

Why Do People Disagree on Wikipedia?

Other issues include people purposely messing up articles, known as vandalism. Sometimes, editors strongly take one side in a topic, which is called partisanship. Since anyone can edit without showing their name, this can make these problems worse. There can also be small groups of editors, like a clique, who stick together. This can happen with regular contributors or even administrators, who are like site helpers.

Sometimes, there are different levels of users, where some experienced editors might seem to have more power than new ones. People also talk about there being too many rules, or rules not being applied fairly to everyone. Another common issue is "edit warring," where people keep changing an article back and forth because they disagree.

Images for kids

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  This image shows two very different versions of a Wikipedia article about Klee Irwin. This can happen when editors disagree strongly, which is called an "edit war."

See also

In Spanish: Crítica a Wikipedia para niños