Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2023-09-16/In the media

Coerced sex or just flirting, then editing Wikipedia?
Joshua D. Wright was a commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission appointed by President Barack Obama in 2013, as well as a tenured professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, and a well-paid antitrust consultant for Google and Amazon. According to Bloomberg (paywalled – republished at Fortune) he has been accused of coercing sex from three of his law students/research assistants, who were named in the article. Two other named women gave strong supporting statements, as did three other women who asked not to be named. The story was first broken by Law360 (registration required), and Above the Law uncovered information on related Wikipedia editing.

According to the accusations, the coerced sexual relations continued over the course of several years – while the accusers were first-year law students, while Wright supervised them as research assistants at the law school or interns at the FTC, and while the women were working professionally and felt that they needed Wright's references and contacts.

The law school's dean emailed students that "Professor Wright resigned his tenured position on August 8 rather than face a termination proceeding that we were ready to start." Wright has acknowledged that the sexual relationships occurred but claims that they were consensual. His consulting contracts may be cancelled. And he has sued two of his accusers for $108 million, claiming defamation.

Did he, or a proxy, edit Wikipedia? Above the Law has compiled some evidence, calling certain pro-Wright edits "bold". A diff pictured in the article changed the phrase "engage in sexual relations" to "engage in flirting", asserted that Wright's accusers had financial motives, and removed the phrase "while they were his [law] students". The Signpost located, made in August by an unregistered, or logged-out, user. A replaced the words "sexual misconduct" with "hitting on them". The evidence they point to is that the IP addresses trace to somewhere in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. (population approximately 6,385,162). The story would have been more complete if they reported that there was a small edit war, with "bold" edits made on both sides. – S, B, J

Life in Saudi Arabia
North East Bylines, a publication associated with the Byline Times, featured a retrospective summarising recent news stories on Saudi Arabia. This included a reminder that earlier this year, two Wikipedians were reported to be serving long jail sentences in the country.

See earlier Signpost coverage. As far as the Signpost is aware, the Wikipedians' situation is unchanged. – AK

The Dutch fundraising banners are back
An article in Het Financieele Dagblad comments on the fundraising banners that have re-appeared on Dutch Wikipedia. It notes that the Wikimedia Foundation's overall expenses have more than doubled in the space of five years, and that this is mainly due to the fact that it now has around 700 staff, with salary costs of $88 million a year dwarfing its annual internet hosting costs of $2.7 million.

The $175 million figure quoted in the article matches the revenue target given in the 2022–2023 Annual Plan. (More recently, the minutes of the WMF's June 2023 Audit Committee meeting stated that the WMF took a projected $174 million in 2022–2023, versus projected expenses of $167 million.) But it should be noted that revenue from the banner campaigns makes up less than half of the Foundation's total.

The Annual Plan's revenue projection for 2023–2024 is $177 million. Only $74.5 million of this is expected to be brought in by banner campaigns. The remainder is supposed to come from other sources: $33 million from recurring donations, $38 million from email campaigns, and $19 million from major gifts, with smaller amounts from investments, Wikimedia Enterprise and the Endowment making up the balance.

As for the softer tone of the fundraising banners, discussions of the English fundraising banners to be used at the upcoming end-of-year fundraiser are currently ongoing at Fundraising/2023 banners.

The article in Het Financieele Dagblad also notes that Wikipedia informs voice assistants such as Siri, and it includes a section on paid editing that mentions a number of related stories – including the German parliament scandal broken by netzpolitik.org in 2021 and the Signpost 's 2022 exposé of paid Wikipedia editing on behalf of Russian oligarchs. – AK

In brief

 * Defence's new face: Grant Shapps, the MP for Welwyn Hatfield, has been appointed Secretary of Defence, marking his fifth cabinet position in recent years, with a history marked by controversies including Wikipedia edits, pseudonyms in his web marketing career, and brief stints in various roles. (Herald Scotland, 2023-09-03) See previous coverage in The Signpost.
 * Controversial Wikipedia editor becomes judge: A federal lawyer, Alexandre Kaufman, who was previously embroiled in a Wikipedia editing controversy, has been appointed as a Superior Court judge in Ontario. (Western Standard, 2023-09-03)
 * Wes Anderson's Wikipedia surprise Wes Anderson humorously received the Cartier Glory to the Filmmaker Prize at the Venice Film Festival, expressing surprise after checking it out on Wikipedia and noting a pattern of previous recipients premiering their worst films alongside the award; he playfully hoped not to repeat that trend. (Movizine, 2023-09-03)
 * Verstappen's streak dismissed: Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff dismisses Max Verstappen's record-breaking 10-race winning streak in Formula 1, stating it's "for Wikipedia" and unimportant, as Red Bull continues to dominate the season with 14 consecutive race wins. (Sky Sports, 2023-09-03)
 * Genicera's Wikipedia patron: David Llamazares Lara, a history graduate from the University of León, has become a Wikipedia patron by extensively documenting the history of Genicera, ensuring that even lesser-known aspects are covered. (La Nueva Crónica, 2023-09-03)
 * Swimmer stardom beyond medals: An article by SwimSwam dives into the wild world of Wikipedia views for swimmers. Surprise, surprise, Lia Thomas gives even Phelps a run for his Wikipedia fame! Katie Ledecky and Adam Peaty also make a splash. (SwimSwam, 2023-08-30)

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