Law Professor Predicts Wikipedia’s Demise

Wikipedia will fail in four years, crushed under the weight of an automated assault by marketers and others seeking online traffic.

So says law professor Eric Goldman, who predicts Wikipedia’s downfall in a blog post made on Tuesday. Goldman predicted a five-year lifespan for Wikipedia last year, and this post represents a reiteration of his position.

Goldman, a professor at the Santa Clara University School of Law, argues that Wikipedia will see increasingly vigorous efforts to subvert its editorial process, much as Digg has seen. As marketers become more determined and turn to automated tools to alter Wikipedia entries to generate online traffic, Goldman predicts Wikipedians will burn out trying to keep entries clean.

Source: Information Week

See Also: An interesting offer: get paid to contribute to Wikipedia (via XML.com via Slashdot)

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