Wikipedia has disputed claims that it has lost a huge number of editors that help maintain the online encyclopedia.

It was reported on November 26 that ten times more editors had left Wikipedia in early 2009 than during the same period in 2008.

Blaming a difference in what counts as an “editor,” the group overseeing the reference work said the claims on losses were not accurate.

It said that, in contrast, the number of people editing Wikipedia is stable.

The Wikimedia Foundation responded in a blog post to the publication of a report by researcher Dr. Felipe Ortega, which said that 49,000 editors had departed Wikipedia in the first three months of 2009.

Only about 4,900 left the site in the first few months of 2008, Ortega’s comparisons suggest.

While Ortega’s article comprehensively described the challenges and opportunities facing Wikipedia, it mischaracterized the changes in its editing population. This was the claim of Erik Moeller, deputy director of the Wikimedia Foundation, and Erik Zachte, one of its data analysts, in the blog.

(article and image source: BBC)