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'''Wikipedia''' is an open source, free-to-edit [[Internet|online]] encyclopedia launched in 2001 by [[capitalist]] Jimmy ("Jimbo") Wales and his employee Larry Sanger. Sanger had the idea to apply the ''"wiki"'' concept to the encyclopedia format, allowing any user to edit and link pages easily, and the resulting project quickly took off. By January 2007, Wikipedia had reached the top ten most visited sites,<ref>https://ir.comscore.com/static-files/45b068e1-1cee-412a-b48f-21ec34e7b59d</ref> where it remains to this day.<ref>As of May 2023, Wikipedia was the seventh most visited website on the web. {{cite web | title=Top Websites Ranking - Most Visited Websites in April 2023 - Similarweb | website=Similarweb | date=2023-05-01 | url=https://www.similarweb.com/top-websites/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230510154737/https://www.similarweb.com/top-websites/ | archive-date=2023-05-10 | url-status=unfit | ref={{sfnref | Similarweb | 2023}} | access-date=2023-05-11}}</ref> Its model, in particular its version of the ''wiki'' format, has since been widely imitated, and it continues to exercise major influence on the dissemination of knowledge. Wikipedia's impressive growth and stability since the early-2000s has sparked discussions about decentralization, [[anarchism|anarchic]] forms of administration, and the potential of the Internet.
'''Wikipedia''' is an open source, free-to-edit [[Internet|online]] encyclopedia launched in 2001 by [[capitalist]] Jimmy ("Jimbo") Wales and his employee Larry Sanger. Sanger had the idea to apply the ''"wiki"'' concept to the encyclopedia format, allowing any user to edit and link pages easily, and the resulting project quickly took off in popularity. By January 2007, Wikipedia was one of the top ten most visited sites,<ref>https://ir.comscore.com/static-files/45b068e1-1cee-412a-b48f-21ec34e7b59d</ref> a ranking it still holds as of May 2023.<ref>{{cite web | title=Top Websites Ranking - Most Visited Websites in April 2023 - Similarweb | website=Similarweb | date=2023-05-01 | url=https://www.similarweb.com/top-websites/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230510154737/https://www.similarweb.com/top-websites/ | archive-date=2023-05-10 | url-status=unfit | ref={{sfnref | Similarweb | 2023}} | access-date=2023-05-11}}</ref> Wikipedia's version of the ''wiki'' format has since been widely imitated, and it continues to exercise major influence on the dissemination of knowledge. Its impressive growth and stability since the early 2000s has sparked discussions about [[decentralization]], [[anarchism|anarchic]] forms of administration, and the potential of the Internet and the Web.


==History==
==History==
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==Issues==
==Issues==
===Anonymity===
===Anonymity===
Sitting members of the US Congress regularly make anonymous edits to Wikipedia.{{cn}}
 
==== United States Congress ====
Sitting members of the [[US Congress]] and their staffers regularly make anonymous edits to Wikipedia.<ref>{{cite web | title=United States congressional staff edits to Wikipedia | website=Wikipedia | date=2006-01-30 | url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_congressional_staff_edits_to_Wikipedia | ref={{sfnref | Wikipedia | 2006}} | access-date=2023-05-19}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite web | last=Miller | first=Joe | title=Wikipedia blocks 'disruptive' page edits from US Congress | website=BBC News | date=2014-07-25 | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-28481876 | access-date=2023-05-19}}</ref> The edits go back to at least 2007 and include posts from 2008 presidential candidate [[Joe Biden]],<ref name=":1">{{cite web | last=Noguchi | first=Yuki | title=Wikipedia's Help From the Hill | website=Washington Post | date=2006-02-09 | url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/08/AR2006020802212.html | access-date=2023-05-19}}</ref> Senator Dianne Feinstein,<ref name=":1" /> and former Representative [[Mike Pence]].<ref name=":2">{{cite web | title=Did Mike Pence's Office Edit His Wikipedia Page To Make It More Flattering? | website=HuffPost | date=2011-08-18 | url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mike-pences-wikipedia_n_930645 | ref={{sfnref | HuffPost | 2011}} | access-date=2023-05-19}}</ref> Edits range widely, from "touching up" their own articles<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> to transphobic attacks,<ref>{{cite web | last=Browning | first=Laura M. | title=Someone in Congress is messing with an Orange Is The New Black star’s Wikipedia page | website=The A.V. Club | date=2014-08-21 | url=https://www.avclub.com/someone-in-congress-is-messing-with-an-orange-is-the-ne-1798271407 | access-date=2023-05-19}}</ref> removal of references to US torture,<ref>{{cite web | last=Ries | first=Brian | title=Senate staffer tries to scrub 'torture' reference from Wikipedia's CIA torture article | website=Mashable | date=2022-03-11 | url=https://mashable.com/archive/senate-wikipedia-torture-report | access-date=2023-05-19}}</ref> and unhinged propaganda, such as the claim that the [[Republic of Cuba|Cuban]] government had been behind the [[assassination of John F. Kennedy]].<ref name=":0" /> Wikipedia temporarily suspended Congressional IPs in 2014, citing "disruptive edits".<ref name=":0" />
 
In July 2014, a Twitter user created a bot to automatically track anonymous edits originating from Congress's IP range.<ref name=":3">{{cite web | title=What Happened to CongressEdits? The Thrilling Life and Untold Death of Twitter’s Most Important Wikipedia Bot | website=The Wikipedian | date=2019-01-17 | url=https://thewikipedian.net/2019/01/17/congressedits-twitter-suspended/ | ref={{sfnref | The Wikipedian | 2019}} | access-date=2023-05-19}}</ref> The account's posts were widely disseminated until 2018, when an anonymous Congressional user doxxed three Republican Congressmen,<ref>{{cite web | last=Thebault | first=Reis | title=Fight over Kavanaugh nomination finds its oddest front yet: Wikipedia pages | website=Washington Post | date=2018-09-28 | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/09/28/fight-over-kavanaugh-nomination-finds-its-oddest-front-yet-wikipedia-pages/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181201010403/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/09/28/fight-over-kavanaugh-nomination-finds-its-oddest-front-yet-wikipedia-pages/ | archive-date=2018-12-01 | url-status=live | access-date=2023-05-19}}</ref> triggering the bot to automatically spread the sensitive information. Twitter promptly suspended the account.<ref>{{cite web | title=Quarrantine PII · Issue #169 · edsu/anon | website=GitHub | date=2018-10-03 | url=https://github.com/edsu/anon/issues/169 | ref={{sfnref | GitHub | 2018}} | access-date=2023-05-19}}</ref> A former staffer was later charged for the incident;<ref>{{cite web | last=Hsu | first=Spencer S. | title=Democratic ex-staffer contests charges he posted personal data on GOP senators, threatened witness in doxing | website=Washington Post | date=2018-10-04 | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/democratic-ex-staffer-contests-charges-he-posted-personal-data-on-gop-senators-threatened-witness-in-doxing/2018/10/04/88842844-c806-11e8-b2b5-79270f9cce17_story.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181023051640/https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/democratic-ex-staffer-contests-charges-he-posted-personal-data-on-gop-senators-threatened-witness-in-doxing/2018/10/04/88842844-c806-11e8-b2b5-79270f9cce17_story.html | archive-date=2018-10-23 | url-status=live | access-date=2023-05-19}}</ref> however, even after the bot's owner offered to automatically redact any future sensitive posts, Twitter refused to lift the ban.<ref name=":3" /> The account has since moved to the [[Mastodon]] platform.<ref>{{cite web | title=congressedits (@[email protected]) | website=botsin.space | url=https://botsin.space/@congressedits | language= | ref={{sfnref | botsin.space}} | access-date=2023-05-19}}</ref>
 
==== British Parliament ====
The account [https://twitter.com/parliamentedits @parliamentedits] tracks edits from the British Parliament, similarly to @congressedits.


===Structure===
===Structure===
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Wikipedia, as a free-to-edit information source which shapes the opinions of millions of users around the world, presents itself as an obvious target for an [[entryism|entryist]] campaign, and some leftists advocate such a strategy. There are precedents which could be cited in support: in the mid 2010s, users of the [[white supremacist]] site Stormfront launched "Swarmfront", a targeted and highly coordinated propaganda campaign to spread racist rhetoric on [[4chan]] and [[Reddit]]. The campaign coincided with the rise of the [[alt-right]], making it difficult to measure its actual influence, but its unique rhetoric was noticeable in the discourse on both websites at the time.<ref>{{cite web | title=Who or what is Stormfront, and how are they ruining Reddit? | website=Reddit | date=2015-05-01 | url=https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/34knda/who_or_what_is_stormfront_and_how_are_they/ | ref={{sfnref | Reddit | 2015}} | access-date=2023-05-11}}</ref>
Wikipedia, as a free-to-edit information source which shapes the opinions of millions of users around the world, presents itself as an obvious target for an [[entryism|entryist]] campaign, and some leftists advocate such a strategy. There are precedents which could be cited in support: in the mid 2010s, users of the [[white supremacist]] site Stormfront launched "Swarmfront", a targeted and highly coordinated propaganda campaign to spread racist rhetoric on [[4chan]] and [[Reddit]]. The campaign coincided with the rise of the [[alt-right]], making it difficult to measure its actual influence, but its unique rhetoric was noticeable in the discourse on both websites at the time.<ref>{{cite web | title=Who or what is Stormfront, and how are they ruining Reddit? | website=Reddit | date=2015-05-01 | url=https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/34knda/who_or_what_is_stormfront_and_how_are_they/ | ref={{sfnref | Reddit | 2015}} | access-date=2023-05-11}}</ref>
==References==
==References==
<references />
== External links ==
* [https://botsin.space/@congressedits @congressedits] on Mastodon

Revision as of 13:53, 19 May 2023

This article is a stub. You can help Leftypedia by expanding it.

Wikipedia is an open source, free-to-edit online encyclopedia launched in 2001 by capitalist Jimmy ("Jimbo") Wales and his employee Larry Sanger. Sanger had the idea to apply the "wiki" concept to the encyclopedia format, allowing any user to edit and link pages easily, and the resulting project quickly took off in popularity. By January 2007, Wikipedia was one of the top ten most visited sites,[1] a ranking it still holds as of May 2023.[2] Wikipedia's version of the wiki format has since been widely imitated, and it continues to exercise major influence on the dissemination of knowledge. Its impressive growth and stability since the early 2000s has sparked discussions about decentralization, anarchic forms of administration, and the potential of the Internet and the Web.

History

Jimmy Wales and Bomis

Issues

Anonymity

United States Congress

Sitting members of the US Congress and their staffers regularly make anonymous edits to Wikipedia.[3][4] The edits go back to at least 2007 and include posts from 2008 presidential candidate Joe Biden,[5] Senator Dianne Feinstein,[5] and former Representative Mike Pence.[6] Edits range widely, from "touching up" their own articles[5][6] to transphobic attacks,[7] removal of references to US torture,[8] and unhinged propaganda, such as the claim that the Cuban government had been behind the assassination of John F. Kennedy.[4] Wikipedia temporarily suspended Congressional IPs in 2014, citing "disruptive edits".[4]

In July 2014, a Twitter user created a bot to automatically track anonymous edits originating from Congress's IP range.[9] The account's posts were widely disseminated until 2018, when an anonymous Congressional user doxxed three Republican Congressmen,[10] triggering the bot to automatically spread the sensitive information. Twitter promptly suspended the account.[11] A former staffer was later charged for the incident;[12] however, even after the bot's owner offered to automatically redact any future sensitive posts, Twitter refused to lift the ban.[9] The account has since moved to the Mastodon platform.[13]

British Parliament

The account @parliamentedits tracks edits from the British Parliament, similarly to @congressedits.

Structure

Wikipedia boasts that its structure allows for any user to make edits. In reality, getting an edit to stick is a time-consuming process which requires prior understanding of Wikipedia's procedures and internal politics and may involve a lengthy debate process on the article's Talk page.

Bias and sources

Wikipedia has strict policies on the use of sources which have the effect of stifling views which breach the narrow confines of Western academic and media opinion. These include the following:

  • "Academic consensus" only: Political and historical disagreements are treated like scientific disagreements, making "fringe" theories unaccepted by academics tantamount to pseudoscience.
Example: Conspiracy theories surrounding Jeffrey Epstein or Seth Rich are stonewalled in the mainstream media, making them inadmissable on Wikipedia due to lack of mainstream sources.
  • No original research: Working outside the bounds of established institutions, even with quality sources or new evidence, is forbidden.
Example: Citations from ancient Sovietologists like Service and Conquest stand on the same footing as recent works, ignoring the monumentous importance of the Soviet archives for the study of Soviet history.

Editors

Wikipedia allows paid editors to contribute. The only stipulation is that these editors disclose their funding on their user Talk page. Paid edits in content articles have no indication that they were made by a paid editor.

Philip Cross

Authoritative position

Wikipedia has shown clear strengths in certain areas, such as for retrieving statistics and dates, reading on STEM-related topics, and for collecting sources on a topic. However, the site's informal reputation as being authoritative has led to overreliance and a lack of due skepticism towards its contents. Reporters and media outlets have been caught stealing content from Wikipedia on several occasions,[citation needed] including uncited material. In such cases, the article in question may even be used to support the original claim on Wikipedia, a phenomenon known to Wiki editors as "citogenesis".[14] In addition, unlike a source written by one author or institution, Wikipedia articles do not disclose the positions or biases of their editors, allowing articles to claim to represent all viewpoints on an issue without clarifying the positions of the author.

Strategy

Wikipedia, as a free-to-edit information source which shapes the opinions of millions of users around the world, presents itself as an obvious target for an entryist campaign, and some leftists advocate such a strategy. There are precedents which could be cited in support: in the mid 2010s, users of the white supremacist site Stormfront launched "Swarmfront", a targeted and highly coordinated propaganda campaign to spread racist rhetoric on 4chan and Reddit. The campaign coincided with the rise of the alt-right, making it difficult to measure its actual influence, but its unique rhetoric was noticeable in the discourse on both websites at the time.[15]

References

  1. ↑ https://ir.comscore.com/static-files/45b068e1-1cee-412a-b48f-21ec34e7b59d
  2. ↑ "Top Websites Ranking - Most Visited Websites in April 2023 - Similarweb". Similarweb. 2023-05-01. Archived from the original on 2023-05-10. Retrieved 2023-05-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  3. ↑ "United States congressional staff edits to Wikipedia". Wikipedia. 2006-01-30. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Miller, Joe (2014-07-25). "Wikipedia blocks 'disruptive' page edits from US Congress". BBC News. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Noguchi, Yuki (2006-02-09). "Wikipedia's Help From the Hill". Washington Post. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Did Mike Pence's Office Edit His Wikipedia Page To Make It More Flattering?". HuffPost. 2011-08-18. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
  7. ↑ Browning, Laura M. (2014-08-21). "Someone in Congress is messing with an Orange Is The New Black star's Wikipedia page". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
  8. ↑ Ries, Brian (2022-03-11). "Senate staffer tries to scrub 'torture' reference from Wikipedia's CIA torture article". Mashable. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "What Happened to CongressEdits? The Thrilling Life and Untold Death of Twitter's Most Important Wikipedia Bot". The Wikipedian. 2019-01-17. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
  10. ↑ Thebault, Reis (2018-09-28). "Fight over Kavanaugh nomination finds its oddest front yet: Wikipedia pages". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2018-12-01. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
  11. ↑ "Quarrantine PII · Issue #169 · edsu/anon". GitHub. 2018-10-03. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
  12. ↑ Hsu, Spencer S. (2018-10-04). "Democratic ex-staffer contests charges he posted personal data on GOP senators, threatened witness in doxing". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2018-10-23. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
  13. ↑ "congressedits (@[email protected])". botsin.space. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
  14. ↑ "Wikipedia:List of citogenesis incidents". Wikipedia. 2016-11-22. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
  15. ↑ "Who or what is Stormfront, and how are they ruining Reddit?". Reddit. 2015-05-01. Retrieved 2023-05-11.

External links

Retrieved from "https://wiki.leftypol.org/index.php?title=Wikipedia&oldid=11857"