The wikipedians

Many Contributors, common cause
Wikipedia volunteers share conviction of doing good for society

By David Mehegan, Globe Staff | February 13, 2006

Second of two parts

Who are the Wikipedians, these unsupervised volunteers with strange pen names such as Schzmo, Hooperbloob, and Chlewbot, most of whom will never meet face to face? Who are these people who made Wikipedia, the phenomenal online encyclopedia of almost a million articles in English, with no one leading or directing them?

(...)

To some observers, the undirected, anonymous nature of Wikipedia is disturbing: Who are the people writing these articles, and why should anyone trust what they write? But to the Wikipedians, that mass of unmanaged anonymity is what makes Wikipedia great.

Read more here.

David Mehegan can be reached at Mehegan@globe.com.

Aaron Swartz, a 19-year-old Chicago native, said he’s edited ‘‘a couple of thousand’’ articles on the website. (Matthew J. Lee/ Globe Staff)

Emily Dunn, 18, of Lexington, has 123 articles on her Wikipedia watch list and checks for vandals. (Suzanne Kreiter/ Globe Staff)