Wikipedia is a free-content online encyclopedia that allows its users to write and edit articles via wiki software, which also allows users to revert each other's edits. Disputes on Wikipedia between editors, concerning content within articles, may give rise to edit wars, in which a repeated exchange of opposing edits is published on contested article. Some edit wars have received media and academic attention.
Wikipedia is a free, collaborative, online encyclopedia which allows its users to write and edit articles via wiki software. The website provides a user-friendly interface for both editing on articles and reversing other users' edits. Conflicts over content within articles often arise among editors, which may result in edit wars. An edit war is a persistent exchange of edits representing conflicting views on a contested article, or as defined by the website's policy: "when editors who disagree about the content of a page repeatedly override each other's edits." Edit wars are prohibited on Wikipedia and editors are encouraged to seek consensus through discussion; however, administrative intervention may be applied if discussion is unfruitful in resolving the conflict. Generally, edit wars are provoked by the presence of highly controversial content, such as abortion or the IsraeliâÂÂPalestinian conflict, but can also occur due to other disputed matters, such as the nationality of artist Francis Bacon.
Various edit wars have received coverage outside the website, and media articles noting several such wars have been published.