I read this brief article in question-and-answer format (not actually an interview) immediately after it was kindly submitted here. I was editing Wikipedia and reading Wikipedia dispute resolution forum pages just before coming to Hacker News today. The last Q and A paragraph of this article sums up the truth about Wikipedia:<p>"So how does Wikipedia stop repeat 'sock puppet' offenders?<p>"Someone going to great lengths to hide their IP address is sometimes enough to arouse suspicion amongst the site's administrators. And patterns of behaviour - from the adoption of similar usernames to a focus on specific topics and types of edit - can reveal a lot about motivations and personality. Multiple accounts can often be tracked to one individual - we're never as anonymous as we like to believe. But any open and collaborative system will always be open to abuse."<p>Translated into English, Wikipedia has no effective defense against persistent socks, who waste a lot of the time of other Wikipedians. That is my experience as a Wikipedian who has brought two high-page-view articles up to good article status. (In other words, I have won two "Million Award" recognitions on Wikipedia.) It's an ongoing slog to improve article content on Wikipedia. The operative rule is <i>anyone</i> can edit.