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anyone can register with the site, and make changes to pages. It appears to be offline for maintenance now, but there are pages that explain the process (I've only done it once, with a non-controversial correction). Most changes are accepted without any review; I believe there is some kind of peer review process for pages that change frequently, to avoid endless wars between people having arguments. The site administrators can always revert quickly to earlier versions if they think someone's really mucking around.
From a google cache of Wikipedia's FAQ: "There are also different editing styles in the sense of how bold people are willing to be. Generally, most of us think we should be bold in updating pages. Virtually no one behaves as though previous authors need to be consulted before making changes; if we thought that, we'd make rather little progress. Quite to the contrary, some of us think one should not beat around the bush at all--simply change a page immediately, when one sees something perceived to be a problem, rather than to discuss changes that need to be made. Discussion, on this view, is a last resort. Then there is a more intermediate view, according to which dialogue qua dialogue should be respected, but at the same time a minor tweak early on can avoid a flame war. On this view, to edit radically or not will often depend on the context--which seems reasonable enough. Again, there is a place for all of these attitudes on Wikipedia.
With large deletions or replacements, it might be better to suggest changes in a discussion, lest the original author get discouraged and quit posting. One person's improvement is another's desecration, and nobody likes to see their work just flushed without warning. Then again, oversensitivity can be detrimental to progress, and they could just restore it.
So, whatever you do, preserve information. If, in your considered judgment, a page simply needs to be rewritten or changed substantially, go ahead and do that. But preserve any old contents you think might have some discussion value on the talk page, along with a comment about why you made the change. Even if you delete something that's just plain wrong, odds are that it got there because someone believed it was true, so preserve a comment that it is in fact wrong to deter later editors.
In any event, whether you decide to edit very boldly or to make talk page inquiries first, please bear in mind that Wikipedia is not a discussion forum (among the other things it is not). Wikipedia is a very energetic place, and it's best for the project as a whole if we concentrate our energies on improving articles rather than defending our pet theories, ideologies, religions, etc. Some consideration of Etiquette wouldn't hurt."
What this means, of course, is that wikipedia should be taken not as gospel, but a hopefully-complete consensus of views. It gives me a bit of faith in human decency that it does seem to be fairly stable and informative.
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