How does Wikipedia have so many details in their articles?

[Kgrass]

Does any of the work of editing or creating articles happen automatically by a computer program, such as adding references? It seems unlikely that people would be willing to spend so much time to make the articles as good as they are, while not being paid.

[Matúš]

People are adding refrences. I was willing when I made the article about the biggest known named number: The Graham's number

[AjitPD]

Many people who edit on Wikipedia have lots of time at their hands and in many cases no jobs at all. Also like Facebook and other social media, Wikipedia is VERY addictive. Also there are literally hundreds and thousands of people if not millions who edit Wikipedia, that's why it is not surprising that some articles have so much detail. Also, for many people, when they edit and add new articles, and when they successfully impose their own opinions as facts with sketchy but credible looking references, it gives them a false sense of accomplishment. Many articles are edited by organized groups with a goal of changing people's opinions in a certain direction about certain topics. It happens in obscure topics which are less known to West.

However, too much detail on popular topics, in my opinion, can be problematic. It is very difficult to dig out any information of actual significance from such articles. It also very much possible that super long articles were prepared and edited by paid organized groups to shape or affect readers' opinions.

No, references are not added automatically. Humans do it. Automatic programs do following things on internet:

- Check references for dead links
- Spell checks
- Vandalism and abuse of
- Automatic bans if someone is caught in repeat vandalism
- Restore an article if a major change is considered abuse by a program

These are the only things that I can remember for now.

Hope this helps.