Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2014-12-10/In the media

Wikipedia is "a rancorous, sexist, elitist, stupidly bureaucratic mess"
David Auerbach 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",, was indefinitely banned for her "uncivil comments". At the same time, her two male "chief antagonists" received "comparative slaps on the wrist": &mdash;whom he calls "productive but notoriously hostile" and notes that he "has a milelong track record of incivility", including [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk%3AJimbo_Wales&diff=629642731&oldid=629642631 a highly offensive comment] directed at Jimmy Wales&mdash;and, 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, 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:

In brief

 * 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)