The Wikimedia Foundation has promised to not give in to Russia's pressure, though it's not clear from any of the articles whether they're going to pay up.
In brief
Jimmy Wales interview: The Telegraph has an interview with Jimmy Wales in which he rather stupidly says: "So, you know, I'm not particularly woke. I'm quite sleepy." Given woke is a reference to being alert to discrimination and prejudice, why is he so eager to say that he (and Wikipedia as a whole) aren't woke? This Signpost contributor would like us to be aware of bias, discrimination, and prejudice.
Sue Gardner among critics of proposed media law in Canada: As reported by NiemanLab, a bill that would force search engines and other such media companies linking to news to pay the creators of that news in Canada is opposed by Sue Gardner and others. Modelled after an Australian bill, it frankly seems to neglect the point of search engines.
Another paid editing service: The Magazine Plusreports on yet another clandestine service offering a "valuable asset" – "to establish [weasels individuals] as thought leaders, experts, or influencers" who have for some inexplicable reason been overlooked by the encyclopedia up till now.
Apparently we suck: An article by "a senior Brexiteer who has seen Boris Johnson, Dominic Cummings and others at close quarters" in conservative UK magazine The Critic brings up potentially-interesting-if-true claims about an editor sockpuppetting (provable) in a supposed attempt to hide controversial aspects of a UK academic (not-so-provable), then goes on to attack us all as a bunch of lefties working against every conservative politician ever. BLP issues (the portrayal of the academic is pretty much a smear campaign) prevent us saying much more.
Slow progress: The Evening Standardreports that women "now" (they're actually citing a 2021 report) make up 15% of Wikipedia editors, up from 13% over a decade ago. The Universal Code of Conduct Enforcement Guidelines, whose adoption the Board is about to consider, also get a mention in the piece.
DuckDuckGo, OpenAI and Anthropic to launch Wikipedia-based AI tool: "DuckAssist" will "pull from Wikipedia (as well as Encyclopedia Britannica in some instances) to provide a natural language response to your questions", reportsEngadget.
Anonymous: Taiwan Newsreports that as part of its latest hack involving a Chinese weather balloon, Anonymous has taken Wikipedia to task for "allegedly underrepresenting women in its articles, having a 'spending cancer,' engaging in deletionism, and committing POV skewing. It also accused Wikipedia of failing to adequately support two Wikipedia Arabic editors, Osama Khalid and Ziyad al-Sofiani, who have been imprisoned by the Saudi government for 'swaying public opinion' and 'violating public morals'." A similar Anonymous hack in October last year was reportedly carried out in response to a "Chinese information operation" targeting Wikipedia content.
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Discuss this story
CharredShorthand.talk;
06:11, 9 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]A scurrilous article[1] by an anonymous writer in The Critic (modern magazine) was linked in The Signpost of 9 March 2023[2]. Among general abuse of Wikipedia and its editors, the writer referred to sockpuppetry in the BLP of UK Cambridge academic Priyamvada Gopal. This is my assessment of the matter following the slight involvement that I had in the issue earlier.
When, in April 2021, the now proven sockpuppet User:PostcolonialLitNerd, who was continually adding praise to the BLP of UK Cambridge academic Priyamvada Gopal and deleting criticism of her, was asked by an editor if they had a relationship with Gopal that they should disclose, the answer by User:PostcolonialLitNerd was an unambiguous No. I accepted this assurance of course. However in early 2022, through the dark arts of the checkuser team, it was discovered that PostcolonialLitNerd had been engaging in industrial-scale sock puppetting and fibbing. PostcolonialLitNerd and their other (there seem to be at least 5) socks were then banned indefinitely. However, I am convinced that there is no evidence that Gopal herself was complicit in any of the socking that favored her BLP. She would have known that if she had been involved, and it was disclosed, the consequences would be catastrophic: her public reputation would be trashed and her activities as an activist and influencer crippled. A revelation of dishonesty might lead to charges of academic misconduct that could affect her employment. It is possible that the socking was carried out by one of Gopal’s opponents in an attempt to harm her reputation by making people think she did it herself. I expect that Gopal will use her Twitter channel, which she contributes to frequently, to confirm that she had no knowledge of the socking. If she chooses not to do that, then the presumption of innocence applies. Xxanthippe (talk) 09:07, 13 March 2023 (UTC).[reply]
Fines