Editing Wikipedia (section)

=== Restrictions ===
Due to Wikipedia's increasing popularity, some editions, including the English version, have introduced editing restrictions for certain cases. For instance, on the English Wikipedia and some other language editions, only registered users may create a new article.<ref>{{srlink|Wikipedia:Tutorial/Registration|Registration notes}}</ref> On the English Wikipedia, among others, particularly controversial, sensitive or vandalism-prone pages have been protected to varying degrees.<ref name="WP protection policy 1">{{srlink|Wikipedia:Protection policy|Protection Policy}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1 = Hafner |first1 = Katie |title = Growing Wikipedia Refines Its 'Anyone Can Edit' Policy |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/17/technology/17wiki.html |access-date = December 5, 2016 |work = The New York Times |date = June 17, 2006}}</ref> A frequently vandalized article can be "semi-protected" or "extended confirmed protected", meaning that only "autoconfirmed" or "extended confirmed" editors can modify it.<ref>[[Wikipedia:Protection policy|English Wikipedia's protection policy]]</ref> A particularly contentious article may be locked so that only [[Wikipedia administrators|administrators]] can make changes.<ref>{{srlink|Wikipedia:Full protection|English Wikipedia's full protection policy}}</ref> A 2021 article in the ''[[Columbia Journalism Review]]'' identified Wikipedia's page-protection policies as "[p]erhaps the most important" means at its disposal to "regulate its market of ideas".<ref>{{cite web|last1=Harrison|first1=Stephen|last2=Benjakob|first2=Omer|title=Wikipedia is twenty. It's time to start covering it better.|date=January 14, 2021|url=https://www.cjr.org/opinion/wikipedia-is-twenty-its-time-to-start-covering-it-better.php|access-date=January 15, 2021|website=[[Columbia Journalism Review]]|location=New York City|language=en}}</ref>

In certain cases, all editors are allowed to submit modifications, but review is required for some editors, depending on certain conditions. For example, the [[German Wikipedia]] maintains "stable versions" of articles<ref name="WP some sites stable versions 1">{{cite mailing list |first = P. |last = Birken |url=https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikide-l/2008-December/021594.html |title = Bericht Gesichtete Versionen |mailing-list = Wikide-l |date = December 14, 2008 |language = de |publisher = Wikimedia Foundation |access-date = February 15, 2009}}</ref> which have passed certain reviews. Following protracted trials and community discussion, the English Wikipedia introduced the "pending changes" system in December 2012.<ref name="BInsider pending changes intro 1">{{cite news |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/pending-changes-safeguard-on-wikipedia-2012-12 |title = Wikipedia Has Figured Out A New Way To Stop Vandals In Their Tracks |work = Business Insider |first = William |last = Henderson |date = December 10, 2012}}</ref> Under this system, new and unregistered users' edits to certain controversial or vandalism-prone articles are reviewed by established users before they are published.<ref>{{cite news |last = Frewin |first = Jonathan |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/10312095 |title = Wikipedia unlocks divisive pages for editing |journal = BBC News |date = June 15, 2010 |access-date = August 21, 2014}}</ref>
[[File:Wikipedia editing interface.png|thumb|left|Wikipedia's editing interface]]