How Wikipedia Became the Internet's Most Trusted Resource (And Why It Works)

Wikipedia's 6.7B monthly page views make it the world's 5th most visited website. 300K+ active editors, 63M+ articles in 300+ languages. The reliability surprise: Wikipedia accuracy matches or exceeds Britannica (Nature study). The mechanism: thousands of volunteer editors checking each other,bots catching vandalism within minutes, and citation requirements creating accountability. The economic model: $100M annual budget funded entirely by donations (no ads). The bias debate: coverage skews toward Western topics, tech-savvy editors dominate, and systemic biases exist. Despite flaws, Wikipedia remains the most comprehensive and accessible knowledge resource ever created.