This is how the death of Elizabeth II lived on Wikipedia

Death last Thursday Queen Isabella II shook the world. The news of his state of health kept the world in suspense until his death was confirmed, which caused a strong resonance on the Web. The loudest case was with Wikipedia, as the platform lived dizzying day in which many editors came together to update articles on the monarch as soon as possible, as well as create new articles dedicated to reflecting additional issues. All without forgetting to use reliable information.

In the case of the English version of the page dedicated to Elizabeth II, some very interesting data reflect what was experienced on Wikipedia. Both in the hours before and minutes after the announcement of the death of someone who has been the most important figure in the British crown for the past 70 years.

Twitter account Depths of Wikipedia singled out the work of those who volunteered to join the difficult task of renewal. A much harder and more difficult task than many could imagine. It wasn’t just a matter of putting in the date of death and changing tenses of verbs in a few paragraphs.. There was also debate about the use of certain images, as well as the need to combine – or not – some additional articles.

Vertigo on Wikipedia after the death of Elizabeth II

As Depths of Wikipedia explains, once the death of Elizabeth II was announced, editing conflicts became more frequent. Many controversial issues were eventually ratified, although the current confusion and the impossibility of immediate verification forced some changes to be returned to their original form.

First edition of the English article on Elizabeth II was recorded at 17:32 (UTC)seconds after the news release. But in the next 15 minutes, more than 55 substitutions were made in that inning alone. As of the end of Thursday, there were 284 changes registered on the page.

In parallel, additional content began to be published. This was the case with the article on the death of the monarch and the state funeral, a draft of which was created a few hours earlier and published just three minutes after the death was confirmed. The same thing happened with the entry on the reaction of various international leaders, which appeared on Wikipedia 10 minutes after the death became official.

Selection of images and formal expressions

Another interesting fact is related to the choice of images. A few hours before his death, the editors began to discuss which photo of Isabella II will be used in the infobox, the information box that appears in the upper right corner of every article. The thing is, when an important figure dies, Wikipedia usually uses the historical photo at the beginning of the article, not the recent one. In the case of the Queen, the official portrait from 1959 was used.

On the other hand, the article on Carlos III was also a topic of discussion, especially on what to call him. Until the new monarch decided which name he would use for his reign, the title of his Wikipedia entry changed several times. He went from “Charles, Prince of Wales” to “Charles III” to “Charles, King of the United Kingdom” five times, explains Depths of Wikipedia.

And all these changes took place in front of an endless stream of people who entered the Free Encyclopedia in search of information. Only on Thursday article of Elizabeth II in English received over 8 million viewsagainst 52,000 the day before. In the meantime, the Spanish version has been marked as a featured article, although not free from discussion. A box continues to appear at the top, indicating that there is an ongoing debate about which photo to use in the info box.