# WikiTrust

> MediaWiki extension that color-codes the text of Wikipedia articles according to its calculated trust

**Wikidata**: [Q1143557](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1143557)  
**Wikipedia**: [English](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiTrust)  
**Source**: https://4ort.xyz/entity/wikitrust

## Summary
WikiTrust is a MediaWiki extension developed by the University of California, Santa Cruz, that color-codes the text of Wikipedia articles based on calculated trustworthiness. Written in PHP and distributed as free software, it was presented at Wikimania 2007 and released in multiple versions throughout 2008. The project is currently classified as abandonware.

## Key Facts
- **Developer:** University of California, Santa Cruz.
- **Function:** Color-codes Wikipedia article text to indicate calculated trust/reliability.
- **Software Type:** MediaWiki extension; Free software.
- **Programming Language:** PHP.
- **Licenses:** BSD licenses and GNU General Public License.
- **Initial Stable Release:** Version 1.0 released on February 20, 2008.
- **Status:** Classified as abandonware (status effective as of May 26, 2020).
- **Presentation:** Presented at Wikimania 2007.
- **Source Code:** Hosted on GitHub (collaborativetrust/WikiTrust).

## FAQs
### Q: What was the purpose of WikiTrust?
A: WikiTrust was designed to help users assess the reliability of Wikipedia content. It functioned as a MediaWiki extension that automatically colored text based on a calculated trust score, visually indicating which contributions were considered more trustworthy.

### Q: Is WikiTrust still active?
A: No, WikiTrust is considered abandonware as of May 26, 2020. While the source code remains available on GitHub and the software is still copyrighted, the official websites are largely offline or usurped, and the extension is no longer actively maintained.

### Q: When was WikiTrust released and developed?
A: WikiTrust was presented at Wikimania 2007. Its first stable version (1.0) was released on February 20, 2008, followed by numerous updates, ending with version 2.10 on October 28, 2008.

## Why It Matters
WikiTrust represents an early and significant academic effort to automate the assessment of content quality and reliability on large-scale collaborative platforms like Wikipedia. Developed by the University of California, Santa Cruz, it addressed the "credibility problem" inherent in user-generated content by providing a real-time visual heuristic for trustworthiness. By altering the interface to color-code text, WikiTrust allowed readers to instantly identify contributions that the algorithm deemed reliable versus those that might be suspicious or of lower quality.

The tool is notable for applying computational trust algorithms to one of the world's largest knowledge bases. While the project eventually transitioned to abandonware by 2020, its development history—including its presentation at Wikimania 2007 and release under open-source licenses (BSD and GPL)—serves as a case study in the challenges of maintaining third-party MediaWiki extensions and the complexities of quantifying human trust in digital encyclopedia environments.

## Notable For
- **Visual Trust Metric:** It uniquely color-coded Wikipedia text to visualize the calculated reliability of contributions directly in the article.
- **Academic Origins:** Unlike many community-built tools, it was developed by a major research university (University of California, Santa Cruz).
- **Rapid Development Cycle:** It saw ten stable version releases within a single year (2008), ranging from v1.0 to v2.10.
- **Dual Licensing:** It was distributed under both BSD licenses and the GNU General Public License.
- **Abandonware Status:** The project has a distinct end-of-life status recorded in knowledge bases, marking it as abandoned as of May 2020.

## Body
### Development and Functionality
WikiTrust is a free software extension for MediaWiki, the software that powers Wikipedia. It was developed by the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC). The tool's primary function is to analyze the edit history and contributor reputation to calculate a "trust" value for specific segments of text. This data is then used to color-code the article display, helping readers identify stable or vetted content versus recent or potentially unreliable additions.

The extension is written in PHP, the primary scripting language used for web development and the core language of MediaWiki. It is designed to be used with Wikipedia (identified as entity Q83 in structured data).

### Release History
The development of WikiTrust was active in the late 2000s. The project was introduced to the community at Wikimania 2007.

Following its presentation, the extension underwent a rapid series of stable releases in 2008:
- **v1.0:** Released February 20, 2008.
- **v2.0 to v2.07:** Released between August and September 2008.
- **v2.10:** Released October 28, 2008 (the last version noted in the provided records).

### Project Status and Availability
As of May 26, 2020, WikiTrust is classified as **abandonware**. The official websites (including `http://www.wikitrust.net/` and UCSC subdomains) are currently offline or archived. The source code remains accessible via the GitHub repository `collaborativetrust/WikiTrust`.

The project utilized mailing lists hosted on Google Groups (`wikitrust-devel` and `wikitrust`) for coordination. Despite its inactive status, the software remains under copyright and is accessible in multiple languages via Wikipedia language editions, including German, French, Dutch, and Norwegian.

## References

1. [Release 1.0. 2008](https://github.com/collaborativetrust/WikiTrust/releases/tag/v1.0)
2. [Release 2.0. 2008](https://github.com/collaborativetrust/WikiTrust/releases/tag/v2.0)
3. [Release 2.01. 2008](https://github.com/collaborativetrust/WikiTrust/releases/tag/v2.01)
4. [Release 2.02. 2008](https://github.com/collaborativetrust/WikiTrust/releases/tag/v2.02)
5. [Release 2.03. 2008](https://github.com/collaborativetrust/WikiTrust/releases/tag/v2.03)
6. [Release 2.04. 2008](https://github.com/collaborativetrust/WikiTrust/releases/tag/v2.04)
7. [Release 2.05. 2008](https://github.com/collaborativetrust/WikiTrust/releases/tag/v2.05)
8. [Release 2.06. 2008](https://github.com/collaborativetrust/WikiTrust/releases/tag/v2.06)
9. [Release 2.07. 2008](https://github.com/collaborativetrust/WikiTrust/releases/tag/v2.07)
10. [Release 2.10. 2008](https://github.com/collaborativetrust/WikiTrust/releases/tag/v2.10)
11. [Release 2.11. 2008](https://github.com/collaborativetrust/WikiTrust/releases/tag/v2.11)
12. [Release 2.12. 2008](https://github.com/collaborativetrust/WikiTrust/releases/tag/v2.12)
13. [Release 4.0. 2010](https://github.com/collaborativetrust/WikiTrust/releases/tag/v4.0)
14. [Release 4.0.1. 2010](https://github.com/collaborativetrust/WikiTrust/releases/tag/v4.0.1)
15. [Release 4.1. 2011](https://github.com/collaborativetrust/WikiTrust/releases/tag/v4.1)