Although Wikipedia has prevented anonymous users from creating new
articles for several years now, the new flagging system crosses a
psychological Rubicon. It will divide Wikipedia’s contributors into two
classes — experienced, trusted editors, and everyone else — altering
Wikipedia’s implicit notion that everyone has an equal right to edit
entries.

That right was never absolute, and the policy changes are an extension of earlier struggles between control and openness.–Noam Cohen, New York Times