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Wikipedia – an entire generation’s answer to overdue term papers, a source of sweet succor to bouts of ‘90s nostalgia or an erudite agony aunt for questions you’d be too embarrassed to ask another human being.

But for all our dependence on this truly amazing, crowd-sourced online encyclopedia, it’s funny how little the average Wikipedia reader knows about its inner workings, whether it’s the Wikipedia community’s commitment to upholding a neutral point of view, the intricacies of peer review and several offline activities that are constantly conducted across India and the world to recruit new editors (who take up projects on a purely voluntary basis) and support the online movement.

Watch the video for a quick dummies guide to Wikipedia. Wikipedia newbies Aditi Juneja and Zulfiya Hamzaki put forth their questions to a group of Wikimedians i.e. contributors to Wikipedia. The questions answered are:

1. Why should I create an account if I can start editing without one?

2. I want to write a Wikipedia article but don’t understand the fuss over references. Why are Wikipedians obsessed with references?

3. If anyone can create content on Wikipedia, how is it a reliable source of information?

4. What is ‘peer review’ and how does it work on Wikipedia?

5. I want to be part of the Wikipedia community in some way. How do I proceed?