Wikitorial is a term coined by the ''
Los Angeles Times'' to describe a traditional
editorial
An editorial, or leading article (UK) or leader (UK) is an article written by the senior editorial people or publisher of a newspaper, magazine, or any other written document, often unsigned. Australian and major United States newspapers, suc ...
that can be edited in the fashion of a
wiki (computer software that allows users to edit text and make changes to one document). On June 17, 2005, the ''Los Angeles Times'' wrote the first Wikitorial, entitled ''War and Consequences'', on the subject of the
War in Iraq. Below that editorial the paper wrote an invitation to its readers to rewrite the editorial in the wiki fashion. They called the experiment a "public
beta
Beta (, ; uppercase , lowercase , or cursive ; grc, βῆτα, bē̂ta or ell, βήτα, víta) is the second letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 2. In Modern Greek, it represents the voiced labiod ...
" and suggested that it might be either a failure or a new form of
opinion journalism.
Jimmy Wales
Jimmy Donal Wales (born August 7, 1966), also known on Wikipedia by the pseudonym Jimbo, is an American-British Internet entrepreneur, webmaster, and former financial trader. He is a co-founder of the online non-profit encyclopedia Wikipedi ...
, head of the
Wikimedia Foundation, which governs Wikipedia, was one of the early contributors to the new Wikitorial which inspired a counterpoint editorial, redirections and much discussion.
Closing
The ''L.A. Times'' Wikitorial was closed on June 19, 2005. This was due to a
vandal inserting multiple pictures of
goatse.
[Glaister, Dan.]
LA Times 'wikitorial' gives editors red faces
" '' The Guardian''. Wednesday JUNE 22, 2005. Retrieved on December 4, 2009. Around 4:30 AM local time the vandal was changing the site to
pornographic photos and just as quickly, within seconds, a guardian was reverting it to the earlier editorial. Shortly after 5:00 AM the connection was broken and the Wikitorial ceased to be available.
Readers who access the site find this message:
''Where is the wikitorial?''
''Unfortunately, we have had to remove this feature, at least temporarily, because a few readers were flooding the site with inappropriate material.''
''Thanks and apologies to the thousands of people who logged on in the right spirit.''
During the two days the Wikitorial was available it had changed from the original length (just under eleven hundred words) to just over twenty-seven hundred words. Several experienced Wikipedians offered suggestions for the organization of the Wikitorial.
References
External links
WikitorialWikitorial ForkArchives of the Wikitorial entry "Dreams About War and Retribution"
Los Angeles Times
Opinion journalism
Wiki concepts
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