Wikipedia , the free online encyclopedia, might be forced to change its processes after entries made this week wrongly claimed two prominent US senators had died.

Being the most successful online reference site, Wikipedia relies on members of the public to edit and contribute information. Currently, entries are not required to be pre-approved before they are published. This rule has led Wikipedia to be a mouth of misinformation in several instances like, most recently, the misreported deaths of US Senators Ted Kennedy and Robert Byrd.

Wikipedia founder, Jimmy Wales, wants to correct this problem by having new and unknown user’s entries approved by an editor before they are published on the site. This would be a dramatic shift for the site who takes pride in the immediacy of its information. Opponents of the new rule proposed by Wales say by have entries pre-approved, it will created backlogs that will not be manageable. Others argue the current system attracts new users who are able to find articles with errors and immediately fix them, and consequently get hooked to the site.

Wales has given those who oppose the “flagged revisions” change a seven day time table for offering a counter proposal.