Dynamics of conflicts in wikipedia

Taha Yasseri, Robert Sumi, András Rung, András Kornai, János Kertész

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

In this work we study the dynamical features of editorial wars in Wikipedia (WP). Based on our previously established algorithm, we build up samples of controversial and peaceful articles and analyze the temporal characteristics of the activity in these samples. On short time scales, we show that there is a clear correspondence between conflict and burstiness of activity patterns, and that memory effects play an important role in controversies. On long time scales, we identify three distinct developmental patterns for the overall behavior of the articles. We are able to distinguish cases eventually leading to consensus from those cases where a compromise is far from achievable. Finally, we analyze discussion networks and conclude that edit wars are mainly fought by few editors only.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere38869
JournalPLoS ONE
Volume7
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 20 Jun 2012
Externally publishedYes

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