Wikipedia eases editing restrictions on controversial pages

London, June 16 (ANI): Wikipedia says it has taken an "important step" towards making easier the editing of some its most controversial articles - the online encyclopaedia is now relaxing editing restrictions on up to 2,000 divisive articles.

Users will now be able to submit changes to the selected pages which will then be reviewed by senior editors.

The move is a part of Wikipedia's ongoing efforts to check vandalism of the site.

Wikipedia's founder Jimmy Wales said the new system, called "pending changes" will allow the site "to open up articles for general editing that have been protected or semi-protected for years," reports The BBC.

He continued: "These have had to be semi-protected for years just because they are too tempting for naughty people to try something funny.

"But semi-protection has prevented thoughtful and sincere newcomers from making good changes."

During the two-month trial, Wikipedia users will notice a small magnifying glass, in place of a padlock, on included articles.

A new tab has been introduced to reflect articles that have changes pending.

In a blog post, Wikipedia said: "The icon, on the upper right corner of the article, represents an important step that Wikipedia volunteers have taken to open up articles that were previously protected from editing.

"At present, only about 0.1% of the 3.3 million articles on the English Wikipedia are under edit protection.

"This tool should help reduce disruptive edits or errors to these pages while maintaining open, collaborative editing from anyone who wants to contribute."

Anyone can see proposed edits by clicking on the "pending changes" tab, alongside the "edit" and "history" tabs on a Wikipedia entry. (ANI)