Fogipedia

There exist web sites [link] which claim to be able to automatically calculate the readability of a piece of text in terms of the number of years of formal education that might be expected of a reader in order for them to understand the text.

The calculation is made using the Gunning fog index [link] and other algorithms.

So: every time a Wikipedia article is edited, an embedded application calculates the Gunning fog index of that article.

Contributors endeavour to maintain the reading age of the article at an appropriate level, by selecting and manipulating the language used in their edits.

Different versions of the same Wikipedia article evolve, aimed at children, teenagers, adults, and hyper-intelligent digital brain-amphibians.

Or, articles are structured in such a way as to give low fog index scores for introductory paragraphs, with more specialised language reserved for sections further down the page.

Special lists are published of pages with unusually low or high overall fog index scores, for particular attention by editors.

Thus, Wikipedia attains a more even tone, with less of the faux-academic style which ruins perfectly good collaborative writing on specialist topics.

Hmmm?

(This post has a Gunning fog index of around 14)