Wikipedia coverage of death
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{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
File:Screenshot of Elizabeth II Wikipedia article.jpg Wikipedia article following her death.{{Cite news|title=Who the hell updated Queen Elizabeth II's Wikipedia page so quickly?|website=Input|url=https://www.inputmag.com/culture/queen-elizabeth-ii-death-wikipedia-updates|date=9 September 2022|access-date=20 October 2022|archive-date=20 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221020193359/https://www.inputmag.com/culture/queen-elizabeth-ii-death-wikipedia-updates|url-status=live|first=Annie|last=Rauwerda|author-link=Annie Rauwerda}}{{Cite news|title=Evidence suggests Wikipedia is accurate and reliable. When are we going to start taking it seriously?|website=The Sydney Morning Herald|url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/evidence-suggests-wikipedia-is-accurate-and-reliable-when-are-we-going-to-start-taking-it-seriously-20220913-p5bhl3.html|date=13 September 2022|access-date=20 October 2022|first=Liam|last=Mannix|archive-date=6 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306223341/https://www.smh.com.au/national/evidence-suggests-wikipedia-is-accurate-and-reliable-when-are-we-going-to-start-taking-it-seriously-20220913-p5bhl3.html|url-status=live}}]]
The volunteer editors of the online encyclopedia Wikipedia tend to update Wikipedia articles with information about deaths quickly after people die.{{cite web |last1=Harrison |first1=Stephen |title=Meet the People Who Quickly Update Wikipedia Pages When a Celebrity Like Aretha Franklin Dies |url=https://slate.com/technology/2018/08/the-people-who-update-wikipedia-pages-when-celebrities-like-aretha-franklin-die.html |website=Slate Magazine |language=en |date=16 August 2018 |access-date=11 October 2022 |archive-date=1 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101201722/https://slate.com/technology/2018/08/the-people-who-update-wikipedia-pages-when-celebrities-like-aretha-franklin-die.html |url-status=live }}{{cite web |last1=Thomas |first1=Rhys |title=Inside the world of Wikipedia's deaditors |url=https://theface.com/life/inside-the-world-of-wikipedias-deaditors-editors-volunteers-queen-elizabeth-ii |website=The Face |language=en-gb |date=5 October 2022 |access-date=11 October 2022 |archive-date=2 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230202120121/https://theface.com/life/inside-the-world-of-wikipedias-deaditors-editors-volunteers-queen-elizabeth-ii |url-status=live }} Web developer and Wikipedia editor Hay Kranen coined the term "deaditor" to refer to these editors.{{Cite news |last=McNamee |first=Kai |date=15 September 2022 |title=Fastest 'was' in the West: Inside Wikipedia's race to cover the queen's death |publisher=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/09/15/1122943829/wikipedia--queen-elizabeth-ii-death-deaditors-editors-article |url-status=live |access-date=22 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115033202/https://www.npr.org/2022/09/15/1122943829/wikipedia--queen-elizabeth-ii-death-deaditors-editors-article |archive-date=15 January 2023}} Articles about people often have large spikes in views just after they die. For example, the article about designer Kate Spade averaged 2,117 views in 48-hour periods before her death. In the 48 hours after her death, it got 3,417,416, an increase of 161,427%.{{cite web |last1=Samora |first1=Russell |date=August 2018 |title=Life After Death on Wikipedia |url=https://pudding.cool/2018/08/wiki-death/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230223003834/https://pudding.cool/2018/08/wiki-death/ |archive-date=23 February 2023 |access-date=11 October 2022 |website=The Pudding |language=en}}{{cite web |last1=Rosen |first1=Rebecca J. |title=If You Want Your Wikipedia Page to Get a Ton of Traffic, Die While Performing at the Super Bowl Half-Time Show |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/02/if-you-want-your-wikipedia-page-to-get-a-ton-of-traffic-die-while-performing-at-the-super-bowl-half-time-show/272919/ |website=The Atlantic |language=en |date=6 February 2013 |access-date=19 December 2022 |archive-date=27 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230227194631/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/02/if-you-want-your-wikipedia-page-to-get-a-ton-of-traffic-die-while-performing-at-the-super-bowl-half-time-show/272919 |url-status=live }}
Media have remarked on the site's quick updates after the deaths of people such as Michael Jackson,{{cite book |last1=Steiner |first1=Thomas |last2=van Hooland |first2=Seth |last3=Summers |first3=Ed |title=Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on World Wide Web |chapter=MJ no more: Using concurrent wikipedia edit spikes with social network plausibility checks for breaking news detection |date=13 May 2013 |pages=791–794 |doi=10.1145/2487788.2488049|isbn=9781450320382 |s2cid=15540545 }} Elizabeth II,{{cite news |last1=Lukpat |first1=Alyssa |title=When Queen Elizabeth II Died, Wikipedia's 'Deaditors' Were Ready |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/when-queen-elizabeth-ii-died-wikipedia-deaditors-were-ready-11663511268 |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=18 September 2022 |url-access=subscription |access-date=11 October 2022 |archive-date=9 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221009051931/https://www.wsj.com/articles/when-queen-elizabeth-ii-died-wikipedia-deaditors-were-ready-11663511268 |url-status=live }}{{cite web |last1=Parsons |first1=Jeff |title=How Wikipedia responded when news of the Queen's death broke |url=https://metro.co.uk/2022/09/09/how-wikipedia-responded-when-news-of-the-queens-death-broke-17335549/ |website=Metro |language=en |date=9 September 2022 |access-date=11 October 2022 |archive-date=17 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221217024917/https://metro.co.uk/2022/09/09/how-wikipedia-responded-when-news-of-the-queens-death-broke-17335549/ |url-status=live }} and Henry Kissinger.{{cite web |last1=Huggins |first1=Katherine |title='I'd put that on my resume': Wikipedia editor brags she was 'the girl' who changed 'is' to 'was' on Henry Kissinger's page |url=https://www.dailydot.com/debug/henry-kissinger-wikipedia/ |website=The Daily Dot |date=30 November 2023 |access-date=1 December 2023 |archive-date=1 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231201202448/https://www.dailydot.com/debug/henry-kissinger-wikipedia/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |last1=Rose |first1=Janus |title=Wikipedia Editor Who First Noted Henry Kissinger's Death Has Become an 'Instant Legend' |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/5d9qeb/wikipedia-editor-who-first-noted-henry-kissingers-death-has-become-an-instant-legend |website=Vice |language=en |date=30 November 2023 |access-date=1 December 2023 |archive-date=1 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231201104308/https://www.vice.com/en/article/5d9qeb/wikipedia-editor-who-first-noted-henry-kissingers-death-has-become-an-instant-legend |url-status=live }}
In January 2009, in response to false death reports on the English Wikipedia articles about Robert Byrd and Edward Kennedy, the site's co-founder Jimmy Wales proposed that pages be moderated using Flagged Revisions, a form of protection under which certain revisions of a protected page must be accepted by an experienced editor before becoming visible to readers.{{cite magazine | url=https://www.wired.com/business/2009/01/jimbo-pushes-fl/ | title=Jimmy Wales Pushes For Flagged Revisions After Fake Death Reports | magazine=Wired | date=26 January 2009 | accessdate=1 December 2023 | author=Snyder, Chris | archive-date=30 December 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121230143008/http://www.wired.com/business/2009/01/jimbo-pushes-fl/ | url-status=live }} The feature, known as "pending changes" on English Wikipedia, was first implemented in 2010, though by 2021 it was not widely used on biographies of living people and was unmaintained.{{cite news|title="Pending changes" trial to start on June 14|author=phoebe and HaeB|date=7 June 2010|title-link=Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2010-06-07/News and notes}}{{cite news|title=The people who built Wikipedia, technically|author=Legoktm|date=31 January 2021|title-link=Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2021-01-31/Technology report}}
When a subject of a biography dies of a disease, its progress may also be described.{{cite journal |last1=Mahroum |first1=Naim |last2=Bragazzi |first2=Nicola Luigi |last3=Sharif |first3=Kassem |last4=Gianfredi |first4=Vincenza |last5=Nucci |first5=Daniele |last6=Rosselli |first6=Roberto |last7=Brigo |first7=Francesco |last8=Adawi |first8=Mohammad |last9=Amital |first9=Howard |last10=Watad |first10=Abdulla |title=Leveraging Google Trends, Twitter, and Wikipedia to Investigate the Impact of a Celebrity's Death From Rheumatoid Arthritis |journal=JCR: Journal of Clinical Rheumatology |date=June 2018 |volume=24 |issue=4 |pages=188–192 |doi=10.1097/RHU.0000000000000692|pmid=29461342 |pmc=9915341 |s2cid=3442166 }}{{cite journal |last1=Naik |first1=Hiten |last2=Johnson |first2=Maximilian Desmond Dimitri |last3=Johnson |first3=Michael Roger |title=Internet Interest in Colon Cancer Following the Death of Chadwick Boseman: Infoveillance Study |journal=Journal of Medical Internet Research |date=15 June 2021 |volume=23 |issue=6 |pages=e27052 |doi=10.2196/27052|doi-access=free |pmid=34128824 |pmc=8277405 }}