User:Billscottbob/riskassessment/stability

The stability of an article largely affects the risk of an article because if the article is stable, it usually means the article is watched by many editors and therefore poor information will not go unnoticed. There tends to be a correlation between the age, legnth, number of different contributors and type of editors of an article and its stability.

Age of Article

The older an article is, the more likely it has been scrutinized for verifiability, possible deletion and other factors. An article can be checked for its age by clicking the History button at the top of the page and viewing how old the first edit was.

Length of Article

An article's length usually means considerably good contribution by editors. However, this does not indicate low risk if the article is young, or there are few different editors.

Number of Different Editors

If there are many different editors, it means the article has come under the scrutiny of a variety of collaborating editors. The number of different editors can be found by looking at the page history (accessed by clicking history at the top of the page). If you see many different editor names, then the article has a variety of contributors and can be considered lower risk that an article with few different editors.

Type of Editors

If an article's editors are inexperienced they are more likely to be unfamiliar with Wikipedia policies and guidelines. While they may be able to provide accurate information, the poor way in which it is usually conveyed makes it harder to tell whether the information is accurate.

Also, contributions by IP Addresses (a series of numbers instead of a name), is riskier as there is a lack of accoutability with IP Addresses. Once again, good information can be provided by IP Addresses but bad information can also be provided by IP Addresses.

Unfortunately, there is no easy way to see what any given information in an article was added by what editor. Nor is it easy to assess the senoirity of editors.