Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2014-12-10/In the media
Wikipedia is "a rancorous, sexist, elitist, stupidly bureaucratic mess"
Wikipedia is "a rancorous, sexist, elitist, stupidly bureaucratic mess"
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2b/Encyclopedie_de_D%27Alembert_et_Diderot_-_Premiere_Page_-_ENC_1-NA5.jpg/220px-Encyclopedie_de_D%27Alembert_et_Diderot_-_Premiere_Page_-_ENC_1-NA5.jpg)
David Auerbach (Auerbachkeller) wrote in Slate that Wikipedia is "a rancorous, sexist, elitist, stupidly bureaucratic mess" (December 11). While Auerbach praises Wikipedia, calling it "amazing", a "seminal" work, and comparing it in importance to the 18th century French Encyclopédie, he also writes that the online encyclopedia has developed a Kafkaesque bureaucracy full of "ugly and bitter" personalities that is inhospitable to women and new editors. Commenting on the "legalistic anarchy" that is the English Wikipedia's governance, he writes "I am not exaggerating when I say it is the closest thing to Kafka's The Trial I have ever witnessed."
Auerbach delved into the recent Arbitration Committee case regarding the Gender Gap task force, expressing surprise that "the only woman in the argument", Carolmooredc, was indefinitely banned for her "uncivil comments". At the same time, her two male "chief antagonists" received "comparative slaps on the wrist": Eric Corbett—whom he calls "productive but notoriously hostile" and notes that he "has a milelong track record of incivility", including a highly offensive comment directed at Jimmy Wales—and Sitush, who wrote a Wikipedia article about Carolmooredc during the course of their conflict.
Auerbach contrasts "The Unblockables, a class of abrasive editors who can get away with murder because they have enough of a fan club within Wikipedia", and new editors, who sometimes receive a "hostile welcome" and are accused of being a single-purpose account. Auerbach links the latter to the decline in the number of active editors, which he says increases the pressure to retain productive editors, even those who engage in problematic behavior, behavior which alienates new editors and increases even further the pressure to retain existing ones.
Auerbach expresses doubt that Wikipedia will be able to address these issues from within, citing Dariusz Jemielniak (Pundit), author of the recent book Common Knowledge: An Ethnography of Wikipedia (see Signpost book review), who told Auerbach that "Wikipedians are allergic to all forms of control." Auerbach concludes:
“ | It's ultimately up to the site's editors to choose to learn to temper their fortress mentality, get more outside eyes and ears, listen to the most moderate and reflective among them, and perhaps even entertain the idea that they might sometimes be wrong. Wikipedia's future may depend on it. | ” |
In brief
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a2/US_Senate_Report_on_CIA_Detention_Interrogation_Program.pdf/page1-220px-US_Senate_Report_on_CIA_Detention_Interrogation_Program.pdf.jpg)
- More Congressional editing: Mashable reports (December 10) that an IP address belonging to the United States Senate edited the Wikipedia article on the recently released Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency's Detention and Interrogation Program, commonly known as the CIA Torture Report, to remove the word "torture" with the edit summary "removing bias".
- An unforgettable editathon: LA Weekly reports (December 10) on a December 14 editathon at the California African American Museum. It is the seventh editathon of the "Unforgetting L.A." editathon series organized by the publication East of Borneo dedicated to improving Wikipedia coverage of Los Angeles and California art history.
- A galaxy of Wikipedia: The Creators Project reports (December 8) on WikiGalaxy, a Google Chrome Experiment created by Owen Cornec, a graduate engineering student in Paris. WikiGalaxy is an interactive map of 10,000 Wikipedia articles where the user can click through a visual representation of a nebula.
- Awards season: The Khaleej Times (December 8) and Gulf News (December 7) report that Tim Berners-Lee and Jimmy Wales received the first Knowledge Award, accompanied by a one million dollar cash prize, at the first Knowledge Conference, held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Dubai.
- Money money money: The Daily Dot discusses (December 5) complaints about the necessity of Wikipedia's regular fundraising drive given its significant assets in cash and investments. The Daily Dot cited discussion among Wikipedians on Wikimedia-L and Jimmy Wales' user talk page and comments from long-time Wikipedia critics such as Andrew Orlowski.
- Women in technology: Sue Gardner writes an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times called "Why women are leaving the tech industry in droves". (December 5)
Discuss this story
Slate article
Totally agree with the headline, and a lot of the rest too. Hopefully, it will give some a cause for introspection, instead of reflexively trying to trivialize what is getting said.OrangesRyellow (talk) 05:35, 13 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]
This behavior is not going away, as it's now too ingrained in the system, and there's no real will in the community to do something radical to change it. It will end when Wikipedia finally gets forked, likely when Google (or some successful startup, which will be acquired by Google) at last finds a way to bootstrap user participation that doesn't suck at their Knowledge Graph. The hostility towards outsiders will compound, as it will attract more and more bad press, driving away existing and potential good editors, accelerating the process until it begins to rot for lack of hands to maintain it.
Only then, when facing real competition there will be a chance for the community to put their at together and react, although it's more likely that it will simply continue with the same old timers in their same toxic environment, but it won't matter because everybody else will be using the alternative. It's a grim outlook, but quite plausible for anyone who knows how the project has worked since at least 2007, with no signs of improvement. Diego (talk) 07:37, 13 December 2014 (UTC) O[reply]
I have long since switched to mostly anonymous editing because the politics and warring cliques of favoritism are beyond insane. Allowing the general public to contribute to a growing knowledge base is a wonderful innovation which has and will continue to change the world. However, the governing structure set up around it is amongst the worst imaginable and will inevitably continue to spiral into failure. Eventually that will lead to fragmentation or a better organizational setup... but the overall mission will continue either way. So, no worries. Avoid the insanity as best you can and keep on spreading the library of human knowledge. --CBD 13:11, 13 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]
The article wasn't the first to connect arbitration results to Kafka, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 18:22, 13 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Hello again, Gamaliel. I appreciate the write-up, but you forgot to mention the part about you! Thanks nonetheless. Auerbachkeller (talk) 18:28, 13 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]
It was pleasant today. I snapped the wrong vacant lot on my way to a Wikimeeting, where I folded the bike and learned to repair the Wikidata item that misled me. Hard part was returning, dodging twilight pedestrian traffic on Brooklyn Bridge. I wish my editing were as sane.
As for internal reforms to bring sanity to our Wikiwars, my hopes are dimmer. Outside journalists could help their readers by saying near the top something like, many parts of Wikipedia are contentious. Then they should go on about the horrors that await anyone who goes there unwary. Jim.henderson (talk) Jim.henderson (talk) 01:50, 15 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Despite all the criticisms of WP processes and some editors' behaviour, we somehow end up with this magnificent product. When discussions get too snarky, I just stop following them. I have long since learned to stay away from topics where conflict is inevitable. I am not concerned about the decline in editor numbers. This is a strange self-regulating organism. It will survive and prosper. I liked the comparison with Diderot's Encyclopedie. What a compliment! I think it's great that one needs some staying power to succeed as an editor. It actually helps the quality, IMHO. Greenmaven (talk) 06:51, 17 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]
I am a woman and to be honest lately I've been feeling like changing my username to hide my gender, to KCG or something like that, because of sexism. I support this article. Sexism isn't something you really notice that you're doing, so it's easy to deny it. Despite being a feminist it's very easy to fall back into my social conditioning. It's awkward for me to speak to my classmates sometimes, at my women's college, and tell them that I edit Wikipedia, which they have no interest in doing. Also, I think that too many vandals makes everyone jaded with newbies. I sometimes feel it happening to me, and then I back away. — kikichugirl ? 12:38, 18 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Money money money
Some stand-out comments from the mailing list discussion on the design and wording of the fundraising banners:
Today I had a coworker private message me, worried that Wikipedia was in financial trouble. He asked me if the worst happened, would the content still be available so that it could be resurrected? I assured him that Wikimedia is healthy, has reserves, and successfully reaches the budget every year. Basically I said there wasn't much to worry about, because there isn't. The messaging being used is actively scaring people. This isn’t the first person that’s asked me about this. When they find out there’s not a real problem, their reaction quickly changes. They become angry. They feel manipulated. [1] —Ryan Lane, creator of Wikimedia Labs
I agree that the urgency and alarm of the copy is not commensurate with my (admittedly limited) understanding of our financial situation. Could we run a survey that places the banner copy alongside a concise statement of the Foundation’s financials, and which asks the respondent to indicate whether they regard the copy as misleading. [2] —Wikimedia developer Ori Livneh
I’m alarmed about the content. That should come to no surprise to the fundraising team, because I can’t imagine this content hasn’t been written to evoke the maximum amount of alarm. But it crosses the line towards dishonesty. [3] —Martijn Hoekstra
Lila, the concern is not that the fundraiser is working, which your soundbite confirms, but that it is deceiving people, or at least manipulating them "too much" to be consistent with our values. [4] —John Vandenberg
I am however negatively-struck by the finishing statement, a return to the old motto of "keep us online without advertising for one more year". I thought that we had collectively agreed that banners that directly threaten advertising next year were not going to happen any more. Remember when we used to get lots of mainstream media reports saying "Wikipedia will soon have ads!" as a result of those campaigns in the past? (This is different from simply saying "we don't have ads and we're proud of it", etc.) [5] —Wittylama
Food for thought? This year’s automated thank-you message for donors apparently reads,
“Over the past year, gifts like yours powered our efforts to expand the encyclopedia in 287 languages and to make it more accessible all over the world. We strive most to impact those who would not have access to education otherwise. We bring knowledge to people like Akshaya Iyengar from Solapur, India. Growing up in this small textile-manufacturing town, she used Wikipedia as her primary learning source. For students in these areas, where books are scarce but mobile internet access exists, Wikipedia is instrumental. Akshaya went on to graduate from college in India and now works as a software engineer in the United States. She credits Wikipedia with powering half of her knowledge.
“This story is not unique. Our mission is lofty and presents great challenges. Most people who use Wikipedia are surprised to hear it is run by a nonprofit organization and funded by your donations. Each year, just enough people donate to keep the sum of all human knowledge available for everyone. Thank you for making this mission possible.”
Each year, just enough people donate to keep the sum of all human knowledge available for everyone? No, Wikimedia. Each year just enough people donate for you to have been able to
Less than 6 cents per donated dollar go on Internet hosting. The single biggest expense item is salaries and wages (nearly $20 million), and most of that goes to the department that brought us products like the Mood Bar, the Article Feedback Tool, the VisualEditor and the Media Viewer. --Andreas JN466 11:42, 13 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Sexist? Yes, but ...