Been doing a lot of “What is the etymology of ____” searches recently doing research for this “wtf wiki” series. So I think it’s time to pay out dues and see what the hell a “wiki” even is. In my presumptuous mind, “wiki” is a synonym for encyclopedia but as it turns out I am wrong once again.
History
The year is 1994, it has been 25 years since the internet was created in UCLA. 3 years since the World Wide Web went online, 1 more year until the popular AOL service goes online which was the first common-household internet provider. The internet was still at it’s dawn. American computer engineer Howard Cunningham was looking to create a software which allowed multiple users to collaborate quickly to share ideas online and have them be organized and displayed on a singular page. The software was specifically intended for computer programmers to share their new discoveries in the new digital frontier. He was successful and created the world’s first wiki. He thought of what to name the new tech.. QuickWeb was the first title but the innovator remembered when he was running late in an airport in Hawaii. He was tight on time and in a rush to get to a terminal so an employee ushered him to the “wikiwiki shuttle” which translates to “quickquick shuttle.” Perfect. The idea for the software was inspired from research he had done in the late 80’s for a company called Apple.
so..What’s a Wiki?
For clarity: a “wiki” does not mean the same as a miniature encyclopedia. Rather a “wiki” or “wiki software” or “wiki engine” or also known as a “wiki app” is the software that allows multiple users to collaborate on the same page. For example: the wiki page I use to pull my research from is not a literal wiki but it is the finished result of a wiki software process. Everyone adding different bits of data onto the page is a result of the wiki software working.
Every time a user adds to a page, the archetecture of the code is meant to log the time and user so there is record of the data. This can be found on almost every wiki site including wikipedia. The information can be tracked on the View History tab.
Now that we know that a wiki is a kind of software, what are the different types of uses this program has? In summary: there are 3 different broad uses of a wiki engine.
There are Public Wikis which allow any user to access and edit. This does not mean there is not a kind of “back door” which allows certain “moderators” to prioritize what is shown on certain pages. Wikipedia is the most popular but not the most used.
Enterprise Wikis are engines built to be accessed by a certain community, like a business or other private groups. Meant to “enhance internal knowledge sharing” between associates.
“Among the many companies and government organizations that use wikis internally are Adobe Systems, Amazon.com, Intel, Microsoft[citation needed], and the United States intelligence community.[14]”
Private Wikis are engines built for one user to organize their data. Example of this type of software include, MoinMoin, PmWiki, and Tomboy.
Who Gets to Edit on Wikipedia?
Although Wikipedia is a free public-use wiki engine, all of it’s pages are not totally open for any person to make edits. There are 3 differnent barriers which protect the server.
Most pages allow anyone to add data without even registering as a user but registering is the first step to getting allowed to edit a “semi-protected” page. After your account has been created, has been registered for more than 4 days, and you have made at least 10 edits to a page, you are given the ability to upload files and photos to wiki pages with minimal protection. After you have shown dedication to the wiki engine you can become “elected” by the community to become an administrator. These are the people who become the moderators of what is shown on more explosive pages like political controversies or pages which are prone to online vandalism. The process of becoming an admin is a journey of a thousand steps, or key clicks. You strike down pages with copyright infringment, you verify edits the new users have made, There are two ways to become an admin. One way is by climbing the ranks, making edits, and being involved in community discussions. The second way began in 2024 (publicly) when a private ballot was introduced to invite special users into the admin community .There are subsets of admins which prevent them from editing pages where there may be conflict of interests.
Of course, like any other online community today. Wikipedia has ai moderator bots also.
Protection?
Yes there are pages on Wikipedia which restrict the editors to a specific group of people. HERE is the current list of protected pages I could. According to their policy there are different types and levels of protections, some of which last for a certain time while others may have permanent restrictions.
Types
§ Edit protection protects the page from being edited.
§ Creation protection[1] prevents a page from being created.
§ Move protection protects the page from being moved or renamed.
§ Upload protection prevents new versions of a file from being uploaded, but it does not prevent editing of the file’s description page (unless edit protection is applied).
Levels
§ Pending changes protection are placed on edits who were made by unregistered users. (basically) These protections are placed to make sure an approved mod or admin can verify the information before it is displayed on the wiki page.
§ Semi-protection are placed on pages who cannot be edited by a new user whose account is less than 4 days old. As stated earlier, these kinds of protections are usually placed on controversial pages where there may be signs of troll posting.
§ Extended confirmed protection is placed on any page where the requirement to edit is made by having no less than 500 edits on the site.
§ Template protection does not really affect who gets to edit the information but how the information is displayed? I couldn’t fully understand the language but it seems like it’s more of a code moderation device to prevent phrases which are constantly repeated from causing glitches.
§ Full protection prevents anyone from making an edit or “moving a page” unless they are an approved administrator. If you are a regular user you may request a change to a page on its talk page. This is usually placed on pages where legal disputes may be made. For example someone posting copyrighted music on a viral meme which has now gotten it’s own wiki page.
So Wiki isn’t a Synonym for Encylopedia?
No. It’s a kind of computer engine which allows collaborators to add data to a singular site (online.) If you want a quick talking point about a topic it’s great to pull from but if you want to understand something in a more scholarly sense, it’s not the best. Great for internet series though..