That's a lot of editing! Can anyone do it? Or how does Wikipedia work? I heard recently that it's almost as accurate, generally, as a regular encyclopedia...
It is a lot of editing. 4000 is kind of a big deal as it's the minimum amount required to be considered for RfA (request for administrator access). But you have to get nominated first. Unless someone does that out of the blue, I'll have to go through "administrator coaching" if I want to be one.
Anyone can edit most articles, though some of them are protected if they're controversial or sensitive.
I know there was a study in Nature a few years ago comparing wikipedia to Britannica. Experts in fields related to particular articles checked for factual errors in each. Though the study did find more errors in wikipedia, the differences was not statistically significant.
Either way, it's important to recognize how the information gets in to wikipedia, especially when you're reading an article where people are likely to push a certain point of view.
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Anyone can edit most articles, though some of them are protected if they're controversial or sensitive.
I know there was a study in Nature a few years ago comparing wikipedia to Britannica. Experts in fields related to particular articles checked for factual errors in each. Though the study did find more errors in wikipedia, the differences was not statistically significant.
Either way, it's important to recognize how the information gets in to wikipedia, especially when you're reading an article where people are likely to push a certain point of view.