Editors of the online encyclopedia Wikipedia tend to update Wikipedia articles with information about deaths quickly after people die. [3] [4] Web developer and Wikipedia editor Hay Kranen coined the term "deaditor" to refer to these editors. [5] Articles about people often have large spikes in views just after they die. For example, the article about designer Kate Spade averaged 2,117 views in 48-hour periods before her death. In the 48 hours after her death, it got 3,417,416, an increase of 161,427%. [6] [7]
Media have remarked on the site's quick updates after the deaths of people such as Michael Jackson, [8] Elizabeth II, [5] [9] [10] and Henry Kissinger. [11] [12]
In January 2009, in response to false death reports on the English Wikipedia articles about Robert Byrd and Edward Kennedy, the site's co-founder Jimmy Wales proposed that pages be moderated using Flagged Revisions, a form of protection under which certain revisions of a protected page must be accepted by an experienced editor before becoming visible to readers. [13] The feature, known as "pending changes" on English Wikipedia, was first implemented in 2010, though by 2021 it was not widely used on biographies of living people and was unmaintained. [14] [15]
When a subject of a biography dies of a disease, its progress may also be described. [16] [17]
Editors of the online encyclopedia Wikipedia tend to update Wikipedia articles with information about deaths quickly after people die. [3] [4] Web developer and Wikipedia editor Hay Kranen coined the term "deaditor" to refer to these editors. [5] Articles about people often have large spikes in views just after they die. For example, the article about designer Kate Spade averaged 2,117 views in 48-hour periods before her death. In the 48 hours after her death, it got 3,417,416, an increase of 161,427%. [6] [7]
Media have remarked on the site's quick updates after the deaths of people such as Michael Jackson, [8] Elizabeth II, [5] [9] [10] and Henry Kissinger. [11] [12]
In January 2009, in response to false death reports on the English Wikipedia articles about Robert Byrd and Edward Kennedy, the site's co-founder Jimmy Wales proposed that pages be moderated using Flagged Revisions, a form of protection under which certain revisions of a protected page must be accepted by an experienced editor before becoming visible to readers. [13] The feature, known as "pending changes" on English Wikipedia, was first implemented in 2010, though by 2021 it was not widely used on biographies of living people and was unmaintained. [14] [15]
When a subject of a biography dies of a disease, its progress may also be described. [16] [17]