[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4cast #358: Wikipedia troubles

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Wed Oct 30 10:30:36 EDT 2013 

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OPLIN 4Cast

OPLIN 4cast #358: Wikipedia troubles
October 30th, 2013

Wikipedia logoWikipedia has problems. Now twelve years old, the online 
encyclopedia has developed some ailments that can be traced directly 
back to the volunteer editors of the site. Wikipedia entries depend on 
these volunteers, but they sometimes behave badly or discourage 
newcomers, and are hard to control. Some editors have been caught taking 
payments for writing entries that promote companies or products under 
multiple false user names ("sockpuppetry"). Everyone seems to agree that 
Wikipedia is troubled; but does it just need a thorough housecleaning, 
or is this the beginning of the end?

  * The battle to destroy Wikipedia's biggest sockpuppet army
    <http://www.dailydot.com/lifestyle/wikipedia-sockpuppet-investigation-largest-network-history-wiki-pr/>
    (The Daily Dot/Simon Owens) "There are a number of reasons why a
    user might create fake accounts, but given the promotional nature of
    the edits and their subjects-mostly small companies, many of which
    were based in Silicon Valley-it seemed obvious to all that the
    Morning277 network was made up of paid editors who had been hired by
    these companies to create pages for them. Wikipedia has had a long,
    uneasy relationship with paid contributors. Many purists believe
    that a Wikipedia page's subject, or anyone paid by that subject, has
    no business editing that page because his objectivity is compromised."
  * Is the PR industry buying influence over Wikipedia?
    <http://www.vice.com/read/is-the-pr-industry-buying-influence-over-wikipedia>
    (The Vice/Martin Robbins) "Triggered by the unusual behavior of an
    editor named 'Morning277,' the year-long investigation has
    identified a network of over 300 accounts so far, responsible for
    thousands of edits dating back as far as 2008. 'They most likely
    really have maintained or written in the area of 12,000 articles,
    and many of their clients are quite notable,' claimed one
    investigator I spoke to."
  * Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director Sue Gardner's response to
    paid advocacy editing and sockpuppetry
    <http://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/10/21/sue-gardner-response-paid-advocacy-editing/>
    (Wikimedia Foundation/Sue Gardner) "Our readers know Wikipedia's not
    perfect, but they also know that it has their best interests at
    heart, and is never trying to sell them a product or propagandize
    them in any way. Our goal is to provide neutral, reliable
    information for our readers, and anything that threatens that is a
    serious problem. We are actively examining this situation and
    exploring our options."
  * The decline of Wikipedia
    <http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/520446/the-decline-of-wikipedia/>
    (MIT Technology Review/Tom Simonite) "Unsurprisingly, the data also
    indicate that well-intentioned newcomers are far less likely to
    still be editing Wikipedia two months after their first try. In
    their paper on those findings, the researchers suggest updating
    Wikipedia's motto, 'The encyclopedia that anyone can edit.' Their
    version reads: 'The encyclopedia that anyone who understands the
    norms, socializes him or herself, dodges the impersonal wall of
    semi-automated rejection and still wants to voluntarily contribute
    his or her time and energy can edit.' Because Wikipedia has failed
    to replenish its supply of editors, its skew toward technical,
    Western, and male-dominated subject matter has persisted."

*/Data fact:/*

The mention of data in the last quote above refers to an interesting 
research paper by Aaron Halfaker /et al./: The rise and decline of an 
open collaboration community: How Wikipedia's reaction to sudden 
popularity is causing its decline 
<http://www-users.cs.umn.edu/%7Ehalfak/publications/The_Rise_and_Decline/>
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