Wikitorial

Wikitorialis a term coined by theLos Angeles Timesto describe a traditionaleditorialthat can be edited in the fashion of awiki(computer software that allows users to edit text and make changes to one document). On June 17, 2005, theLos Angeles Timeswrote the first Wikitorial, entitledWar and Consequences,on the subject of theWar in Iraq.Below that editorial the paper wrote an invitation to its readers to rewrite the editorial in the wiki fashion. They called the experiment a "publicbeta"and suggested that it might be either a failure or a new form ofopinion journalism.

Jimmy Wales,head of theWikimedia Foundation,which governs Wikipedia, was one of the early contributors to the new Wikitorial which inspired a counterpoint editorial, redirections and much discussion.

Closing

TheL.A. TimesWikitorial was closed on June 19, 2005. This was due to avandalinserting multiple pictures ofgoatse.^[1]Around 4:30 AM local time the vandal was changing the site topornographicphotos and just as quickly, within seconds, a guardian was reverting it to the earlier editorial. Shortly after 5:00 AM the connection was broken and the Wikitorial ceased to be available.

Readers who access the site find this message:

Where is the wikitorial?
Unfortunately, we have had to remove this feature, at least temporarily, because a few readers were flooding the site with inappropriate material.
Thanks and apologies to the thousands of people who logged on in the right spirit.

During the two days the Wikitorial was available it had changed from the original length (just under eleven hundred words) to just over twenty-seven hundred words. Several experienced Wikipedians offered suggestions for the organization of the Wikitorial.