File photo: Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales

Wikipedia is losing contributors, its founder said last Thursday, AP reported.

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit organization that runs the site is scrambling to simplify its editing procedures in an attempt to retain volunteers.

"A lot of it is convoluted," Wales said. "A lot of editorial guidelines ... are impenetrable to new users."

Wales said the typical profile of a contributor is "a 26-year-old geeky male" who moves on to other ventures, gets married and leaves the website.

Other contributors leave because, 10 years after the website was launched, there are fewer new entries to add, he said.

By March, Wikipedia had about 90,000 active contributors.

The goal is to tack on another 5,000 by June of next year, said Sue Gardner, the foundation’s executive director.（点击美联社网站查看原文）

维基百科苦失编纂者

       维基百科词条贡献者越来越少。网站创始人吉米•威尔士上周四接受美联社采访时表示，公司正在想法设法简化编辑流程，以留住志愿者。

       他说：“流程很复杂，一些编辑原则……对新用户来说是很费解的。”

       据他介绍，典型的词条贡献者是26岁的计算机迷，他们有了事业、结了婚之后就离开网站了。

       维基百科已创立10年，没有什么新的词条可加，这也是其他一些贡献者离开的原因。

       到今年三月份，维基百科有9000多名活跃编纂者。

       公司执行总监苏•加德纳说，他们的目标是到明年6月底之前再吸引5000人参与编纂。

(China.org.cn August 8, 2011)