News about WP, December 2022

[ericbarbour]

Apart from the Elon-Jimbo shitshow, we have this, from Wiki fanboy Stephen Harrison:

https://slate.com/technology/2022/12/wi ... onate.html

Even HE isn't stupid enough to call Wales the "Sole Founder". He also wrote this, about a different stupid "controversy". Also not widely known outside of certain circles. It appears Harrison is becoming a "trusted source" for Wiki-Addict types.

https://slate.com/technology/2022/11/dh ... usion.html

Also, this charming item, about universities encouraging students and faculty to edit. They can't dismiss it any longer because their Gen-Z students love it blindly.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/202 ... -classroom

Finally, have some crypto fanboys complaining that Wikipedia "might have omg totally hurt Bitcoin" lol.

https://news.bitcoin.com/wikipedia-edit ... -all-time/

[ericbarbour]

Just discovered: "Gun Jesus" Ian McCollum, operator of Forgotten Weapons, one of the most consistently interesting specialist YouTube channels, recently had this comment.

mccollum1.png (131.85 KiB) Viewed 1328 times

mccollum2.png (128.05 KiB) Viewed 1328 times

mccollum3.png (125.83 KiB) Viewed 1328 times

mccollum4.png (126.3 KiB) Viewed 1328 times

mccollum5.png (131.51 KiB) Viewed 1328 times

mccollum6.png (129.28 KiB) Viewed 1328 times

mccollum7.png (124.64 KiB) Viewed 1328 times

mccollum8.png (123.87 KiB) Viewed 1328 times

[ericbarbour]

Whadda ya know.....Rebecca MacKinnon, Berkman-Klein Center "fellow" and massive Wikipedia fan, crawed out of her digital sewer of happiness, to complain about the UK's currently-under-debate "Online Safety Bill". Such laws tend to be badly written and cause more harm than good. But Rebecca, bless her pointy Harvard-educated head, only cares about poor little Wikipedia being harmed.

https://cepa.org/article/uk-threatens-i ... platforms/

A key issue is protecting children. Unlike commercial services, Wikipedia does not target people of any age with paid advertisements or profile them in order to amplify personalized content. But the UK proposal for mandatory age verification or assurance — “age-gating” — would force platforms including Wikipedia to know a reader’s age, exposing both adults and children alike to new security and privacy risks.

It is practically guaranteed that one of her Wiki insider buddies pestered her to write this. I'm quite sure that Wikimedia UK members are wringing their hands over the bill--because THEY would lose their anonymous editing abilities.

She's currently listed as "the current Vice President for Global Advocacy at the Wikimedia Foundation." Six-figure salary?

For reference, this is from the book-wiki article about the Berkman-Klein Center.

Rebecca MacKinnon (another Harvard grad, became a member of the WMF board of advisors in 2007, her Wikipedia bio was edited by Sue Gardner and by Mackinnon herself, also see Jennifer Powell)

Yes, she openly edited her own bio in 2006-07.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:C ... Rmackinnon