We need a thread about Benjamin Mako Hill

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ericbarbour
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We need a thread about Benjamin Mako Hill

Post by ericbarbour » Wed Nov 14, 2018 10:18 pm

Because he's clearly a narcissist, and clearly one with the "Wiki-Magic", and clearly a Whore For Jimbo, and several other things of a Wiki-Friendly nature. Plus he has friends who use Wikipedia to glorify him. He is rarely discussed on WP forums because he usually does passable content work and tends to avoid noticeboard dramah, and our "fellow critics" love dramah far more than they enjoy finding solid evidence for Wikipedia criticism.

But Wikipedians get special treatment on Wikipedia. Even though Hill cut drastically back on his Wikimedia work in 2017, Wikipedia continues to handle him with kid gloves. He's Digerati-Connected with a capital-C: Berkman Center, the might-be-defunct WMF Advisory Board, the Open Knowledge Center, Stanford, MIT, the Free Software Foundation, the Ubuntu and Debian Linux projects, etc.

For example, his alma mater:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampshire_College
Benjamin Mako Hill, technologist, free software developer, free culture advocate, assistant professor in Communication at the University of Washington[56]

He watched this article closely prior to 2010. Removing people he didn't "think were prominent enough", and things of an utterly stupid nature.
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... =136641387
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... =142825895
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... =131779054
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... =279503107
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... =278162665
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... =144131299
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... =524764876

In February 2007, Hill himself was added to the "Notable Alumni" section.
By an IP address that did nothing else on Wikipedia.
AN IP ADDRESS THAT BELONGS TO HAMPSHIRE COLLEGE.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:C ... 2.33.12.33

And it was expanded by his little friend Peaceray.
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... =679299335

Who is Peaceray? Why, he's a member and co-founder of the Wikimedia Cascadia User Group. Along with Benjamin Mako Hill.
In January 2015, the following appointments were made:
President: Peaceray
Vice President: Mako


Please note that Hill had already gotten his own Wikipedia BLP back in 2005. Created for him by fellow Wikipedia insider Sam "Sj" Klein.
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... d=29976794

HILL EDITED HIS OWN BIOGRAPHY. And no one said anything. In fact, major WIkipedia insiders also watched and cleaned his bio. Joi Ito, Gwern Branwen, Phoebe Ayers, Kat Walsh and many others.
12:47, 23 April 2008‎ Benjamin Mako Hill (talk | contribs)‎ m . . (7,272 bytes) (+10)‎ . . (Undid revision 207510470 by Mattl (talk) No need to remove the info box.) (undo)
14:35, 24 July 2007‎ Benjamin Mako Hill (talk | contribs)‎ m . . (4,762 bytes) (+48)‎ . . (added ubuntu people category) (undo)
17:41, 7 August 2006‎ Benjamin Mako Hill (talk | contribs)‎ . . (885 bytes) (+18)‎ . . (→‎External links: minor link change) (undo)
17:39, 7 August 2006‎ Benjamin Mako Hill (talk | contribs)‎ m . . (867 bytes) (+47)‎ . . (i am, in fact, alive) (undo)

When he created his userpage in December 2005, he said:
"If you want to know more about me, you can read the Wikipedia article about me although I will not edit that page myself because I'm not sure that doing this is a good idea and it might make the contents suspect."
So, HE LIED.

Today one could make a pretty good case that Hill does not meet Wikipedia's own rules for notability--he IS unquestionably an obscure academic and free-software figure. In 2014 an attempt was made to AFD his article--it failed. Now that's he's out of Wiki-world and has a job at Washington University, you can't even call him a "Wikimedian" any longer.

Discuss.

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