[jaysonelliot]

One of the primary reasons that Wikipedia is written by such a tiny percentage of its users is that the process of writing and editing is arcane and shrouded in one of the most insular online cultures in existence.

I don't know if greater access to its priestly class would mean a better or worse site, honestly. I'm sure there are thousands of people who are experts in their fields and could improve the content of the site greatly - but I can imagine that opening the floodgates and working to democratize authorship and editorship could also drag it further into the gutter.

[carbocation]

The article that we are discussing is actually saying quite the opposite: that the bulk of Wikipedia is written by many, many users. The bulk of the edits on the other hand, are written by the few.