Wikipedia is planning to place new restrictions on the open editing system that allows anyone to make changes to articles in the online encyclopedia, at least when it comes to items about living people.
The changes are designed to protect the "high-profile people who have always been a target for pranksters and vandalism" on the site, said Jimmy Wales, a founder of the collective reference work, which numbers among the world's 10 most visited websites.
The English version of Wikipedia, the self-described free, online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, has planned to install new restrictions on its editing system on articles regarding biographies of living people.

Under the new plan, anyone can edit the affected articles, but the changes would have to be approved by a more experienced user before they could be registered. The move is part of an effort to prevent vandalism and unconstructive edits being made to high-profile pages and increase content quality. The system is called "flagged revisions".

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said that there would be a "very, very low threshold to entry" for those who desired editorial rights. "We're looking at anybody who has been around a very short period of time and hasn't been blocked banned," he said.