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'Inmates started running the asylum' – Wikipedia founder says site has been taken over by trolls

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By Cameron Clarke, Editor

November 15, 2015 | 1 min read

One of the founders of Wikipedia has said the site has been "taken over by trolls" and likened the situation to "inmates running the asylum".

Larry Sanger, credited with coming up with the Wikipedia name, was a pivotal figure in the launch of the online encyclopedia that anyone can edit but lasted only 14 months as its paid editor.

Asked what was Wikipedia's biggest problem today in an interview with Vice News, Sanger said the site "never solved the problem of how to organise itself in a way that didn't lead to mob rule".

He stated his belief that Wikipedia should have employed a system whereby articles would be approved by experts before edits could go live. But he said this idea became unpopular when "the anarchist crowd" arrived.

Since Wikipedia Sanger has set up the academic resource Citizendium where changes to content have to be approved by editors.

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