Wikipedia Edit Approvals = Insane?

A recent pair of edits to the online knowledge base known as Wikipedia has sparked a bit of an uproar that caught my interest. Apparently, someone, likely with malicious intent, edited the entries for two members of the US Senate representing them both falsely as deceased.

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales now is quoted by the beeb (news.bbc.co.uk) as saying he believes that further edits to the site will need to be flagged as new until they can be approved by a member of the editorial staff. Predictably, some of the staff has responded with the idea that this will mean delays in updates. They are only human, apparently. Further, many are limited by having only two arms, and in many cases, only one brain.

A poll was conducted recently, and this change to policy was apparently approved by that poll.

Let me just say this about that:

That way lies madness.

Take away the immediacy of the Wikipedia, it loses at least half it's charm. Poll notwithstanding, this isn't a change that can happen reasonably without a big change to either the Wikipedia infrastructure or it's usefulness. Somehow I doubt whether the poll inquired as to respondent's ability or willingness to pay for the change in policy, or to put in the time to do it themselves.

Besides, where would we go for these stories about crazy techie behavior?