Wikipedia to Test "Trust" Tool

Every day millions of people turn to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia for answers to questions. Wikipedia depends on laymen to contribute information to the site. As a result; information contributed to the site may not always be accurate. Along with the legitimate contributions are hackers and vandals depositing false information and contributors who may believe what they are writing is correct.

In an effort to combat the false information listed in the some 12 million pages of content, the WikiLab has designed a "trust" tool that rates new contributions for "accuracy". But the information is not edited or fact checked by a person; an algorithm determines the "trust" of the information according to how many contributions the writer has made. So even if an expert in the field makes a first time post the information will be flagged or shaded as not reliable.

To aid readers in determining the "truth" of the post the text will be shaded in orange. The longer the information remains the "trust tool" assumes the information is correct and the shading becomes lighter until it is white.

The new "trust" tool has yet to be tested on the site; but will be voluntary via a tab at the top of the page when it becomes available.

Critics of the new tool fear that the tool will not be efficient enough to cover the entire site.

This new "trust" tool does not include information already on the site only that information that gets changed or added to the site.