T.D. Adler

In a recent interview, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales was confronted about the site claiming Israel committed genocide in Gaza. Wales rejected this as biased and requested changes at the “Gaza genocide” article’s discussion page. Editors attacked Wales with some accusing him of ties to Israel or suggesting sanctions, such as removing his “founder” flag. Some sought action regarding a neutrality working group set up by the site’s owners, a working group he chairs.

A Wikipedia article created earlier this year about the term “adult human female” characterizes it as “hate speech” against transgender individuals. The page, created by an editor who has smeared numerous conservative figures, was added last month to a navigation box about President Donald Trump’s second term that is included on hundreds of articles and connects the term to claimed “persecution” of transgender individuals under Trump.

Earlier this month, the Wikimedia Foundation that owns Wikipedia rejected candidates in community elections for its Board of Trustees, sparking a community revolt. One rejected candidate was Iraqi national Ravan Jaafar Al-Taie, who made numerous anti-Israeli posts. After community-elected board member Victoria Doronina publicly linked the posts to the rejection, Al-Taie filed a conduct complaint against Doronina, who later apologized and announced she was suspending most board activities until the end of the year.

Last week, a gunman who declared himself an “anti-contact non-offending” pedophile rushed the stage at WikiConference North America in New York City and threatened to kill himself in protest over the Wikipedia child protection policy, which bans self-identified pedophiles. A member of the site’s Arbitration Committee, often likened to a Supreme Court, claimed the gunman is Connor Weston, who was banned earlier this year under the aforementioned policy.

A Polish Wikipedia editor earlier this year complained about religious discrimination to a committee that enforces the “code of conduct” imposed by the Wikimedia Foundation that owns Wikipedia. The editor expressed opposition to LGBT ideology, citing Bible verses condemning it in his profile on a Discord Wikipedia chat group, prompting mockery and insults from others. Members of the committee rejected his claims and suggested instead the Bible verses were a violation.

Following reports of former New York Times editor and the Free Press founder Bari Weiss being appointed editor-in-chief of CBS News, editors on Wikipedia began negatively slanting her page and those of CBS and the Free Press. This includes attempting to label Weiss as right-wing and slanted edits about a CBS settlement with President Donald Trump. Some suggested blacklisting CBS as a source in the future.

In an interview with Jan Jekielek of the Epoch Times that aired this week, Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger announced plans to circulate a letter of protest among prominent individuals and groups harmed by Wikipedia before sending to the Wikimedia Foundation that owns the site. He further suggested such a letter could be sent to U.S. government officials and other governments to press for reform at the online encyclopedia.

Following the assassination of Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk one month ago today, Wikipedia editors responded by smearing Kirk across multiple articles even as tens of millions viewed the pages and high-level site leaders monitored them. Such smears included editors labeling Kirk far-right both openly and surreptitiously, in one case prompting Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) to call Wikipedia “wicked” on social media. Editors also advocated labeling Trumpism as fascism in response.

Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger early last week published his “nine theses” to fix the online encyclopedia on his blog and Wikipedia itself. His collection of essays on Wikipedia criticizing the site was subsequently subjected to multiple deletion attempts with editors

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) sent a letter Friday to Maryana Iskander, CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation which owns Wikipedia, requesting information about the site’s reported political bias. Cruz cited the ongoing purge of conservative media on the online encyclopedia and other bias concerns, following a viral interview commentator Tucker Carlson did with Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger last week where they discussed the site blacklisting conservative sources, including Breitbart.

The Signpost, the main community newsletter on Wikipedia, noted a recent Tablet Magazine article by journalist Ashley Rindsberg in its “In the media” section. Reporting how Wikipedia smeared Zionism, Rindsberg’s piece noted previously-reported names of two prominent pro-Palestinian editors involved. A member of Wikipedia’s Arbitration Committee, often likened to a Supreme Court, removed the report with public site records of it deleted. A former Committee member claimed violations of the site’s doxing policy.

Earlier this week, commentator Tucker Carlson’s podcast aired an interview with Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger where he discussed his criticism of the online encyclopedia and introduced his “nine theses” advocating reform. Describing the site as a “mixture of oligarchy and anarchy” during the interview, Sanger criticized many issues he identified with Wikipedia since his departure from the site.

Larry Sanger, co-founder of Wikipedia, has come out with his heaviest criticism of the online encyclopedia yet, accompanied by a call to reform. In nine theses published to his blog and Wikipedia itself, Sanger outlines proposals for reform with essays describing and analyzing the myriad problems with the site since his departure in 2002, including the purging of conservative media through a sourcing blacklist.

Shortly after the memorial service for slain Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk, which a TPUSA executive called the largest memorial service in history, Wikipedia editors created a page about the service. A few days later, a left-wing editor nominated the page for deletion with discussion soon becoming divided, both sides noting pages on services for other public figures. Editors also smeared speakers at the memorial, some invoking comparisons to Nazi Germany.

Following the assassination of Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk, Wikipedia editors made malicious edits about him, even as his page was locked to inexperienced editors with former members of Wikipedia’s “Supreme Court” and co-founder Jimmy Wales monitoring Kirk’s page. This included mocking Kirk’s last words and accusing him of targeted harassment campaigns, the latter staying in the page’s introduction for days.

A discussion regarding the Wikipedia article on allegations Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip was closed over the weekend in favor of stating the allegations as fact. The proposal received significant support from pro-Palestinian and socialist editors, but other editors noted a recent discussion had already ruled against claiming genocide as fact. 

Following a failed effort to delete the page about the killing of Ukrainian war refugee Iryna Zarutska last week, admins on Wikipedia blocked all non-admin editing to prevent mentioning suspect Decarlos Brown Jr.’s name before finally the lock was downgraded to allow experienced editors. This came after the deletion attempt was heavily criticized on social media, including by House Representative Andy Biggs, who serves on the Oversight Committee currently investigating the online encyclopedia’s political bias.

An article on Wikipedia about the growing scandal over Pakistani-heritage grooming gangs targeting young white women in the United Kingdom and politically-correct government cover-ups of their crimes was nominated for deletion last week by Simon McNeil, a Marxist socialist and science fiction author from Canada who edits as “Simonm223” on the online encyclopedia. He claimed the article was a biased split of the article on child sexual abuse in the UK pushing a “fringe” view. McNeil was criticized on social media for the move, many noting a blog post he wrote that supported exposing children to sexual kinks and fetishes at Pride marches.

On the front page of Wikipedia last week, the prominent “Did you know” section promoted an article about the “fuck tree” in North London. Reputedly a popular spot gay people use when “cruising” for casual sex, the article on the tree at the time it appeared on the front page included evocative sexual descriptions and explicit mentions of sexual conduct.

A discussion last week on deleting the Wikipedia article “Destruction of Israel in Iranian policy” after Israel began its air campaign against Iran was closed by an admin Sunday with a decision to “merge” the page into one on Iran-Israel relations. The decision came despite a majority of editors being opposed to the page’s removal.

Shortly after Israel began its military operation targeting Iran’s nuclear program and its military, editors on Wikipedia proposed deleting the article “Destruction of Israel in Iranian policy” linked from the military operation page, as the Iranian policy is a key component of Israel’s justification of the operation. Discussion is bitterly divided between those advocating deletion of the page or merging it into other articles and those arguing for keeping the page.

The Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that owns Wikipedia, introduced new account security requirements for users with certain advanced privileges on May 20 in response to a recent hacking incident that compromised over 35,000 accounts. However, the requirement was undone and its rollout delayed after the Foundation learned that it had failed to inform some impacted users of the new security steps.

Wikipedia editors rushing to edit the page of newly-selected Pope Leo XIV, Robert Francis Prevost, made repeated bungles with typos of his name in the title, duplicate banners, and frequently undoing each other’s changes by accident. At one point this led to a duplicate article titled “Pope Leon XIIV” being created in the confusion. Editors also repeatedly fought over how to describe his nationality given his dual American-Peruvian citizenship.

The Foundation that owns Wikipedia is preparing to require two-factor authentication for users with significant privileges starting in late May.

The Wikimedia Foundation, owners of Wikipedia, formed a working group focused on neutrality policy at the end of March with site co-founder Jimmy Wales as chair. Its objective will be to study the neutrality policies in place on different-language Wikipedias and other Foundation-owned sites to develop a global standard. Although citing various left-wing concerns about neutrality, the Foundation omitted any reference to the site’s own leftist political bias.

After Acting U.S. Attorney for D.C. Ed Martin sent a letter last week to the foundation that owns Wikipedia raising questions regarding the online encyclopedia’s political bias, editors made repeated attacks against Martin on the site. Editors also attacked Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger and Elon Musk due to their criticism of the site’s left-wing bias.

Wikipedia editors have been actively trying to minimize mention of plagiarism allegations raised against embattled Harvard President Claudine Gay. This has included removing mention of the allegations from the intro of her article and removing detailed descriptions of the alleged plagiarism. Some editors have also tried to minimize mention of Gay’s handling of campus antisemitism in the wake of the Hamas terror attacks against Israel.

The Wikipedia Arbitration Committee, likened to a “Supreme Court” for the site, suspended the privileges of member “Beeblebrox” for six months over claimed misconduct in the first such suspension in Wikipedia’s history. Among the alleged incidents, some concerned a now-former administrator with whom Beeblebrox had feuded. The same former administrator last month confessed to impersonating a Spanish indie singer and previously editing Wikipedia with an account banned for undisclosed paid editing, a common practice on the online encyclopedia.

Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia, recently gave up his administrative privileges on the online encyclopedia after a request to review his conduct was brought before the site’s Arbitration Committee, often likened to a supreme court. The request concerned Wales publicly accusing a former member of the Committee of being involved with a paid editing scam without properly vetting the claims beforehand. Wales still retains limited privileges under his “founder” role.

In an interview Thursday for Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox News, Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger stated he was embarrassed about helping found the site given its increasing left-wing bias. Noting it helps shape the understanding many Americans have of the world, Carlson asked Sanger what could be done to fix the problems on Wikipedia, but Sanger doubted it was possible to fix the site from the inside. He instead argued for creating alternative sources, noting his most recent effort: the Encyclosphere.

Larry Sanger, the co-founder of Wikipedia, has come under fire from the site’s editors over his criticism of the site’s left-wing bias. His criticism particularly cited an ongoing purge of conservative media on the site. While some editors tried to dispute his claims, others have smeared Sanger with accusations of antisemitism and trafficking in conspiracy theories to discredit him. Editors have also kept mention of his criticism of left-wing bias out of Wikipedia articles on the topic, due to such criticism being covered mainly in conservative media.

A long-time Wikipedia editor for over a decade, Guy Macon, retired from the site late June after he was briefly banned for not using “preferred pronouns” when discussing a ban appeal by former site administrator Ashley Van Haeften. Macon used Van Haeften’s username “Fæ” instead of singular “they” due to grammatical objections. Van Haeften and Macon previously fought over the former’s agenda-driven editing. Though the ban was lifted on grounds Macon was sincerely trying to respect Van Haeften’s wishes, some administrators still argued it was valid, citing the “code of conduct” recently imposed by Wikipedia’s owners.

Conservative media have been subject to an ongoing purge on Wikipedia since Donald Trump won the 2016 Presidential election. Originally, this only banned their use for factual claims with continued use permitted for citing opinions, but a policy change early last year significantly curtailed even this exemption without any discussion supporting the change, in defiance of normal practice. The change was made by Guy Chapman, a Wikipedia administrator notorious for political bias who has played a pivotal role in the sourcing purge.

Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger published a blog post last week analyzing the site’s left-wing bias. Examining articles about Donald Trump’s impeachments, the Black Lives Matter protests and riots, Joe Biden’s scandals, and the 2020 election, Sanger argued Wikipedia’s coverage is so extremely left-wing that it constitutes propaganda. He partly blamed an ongoing purge of conservative news sources on Wikipedia which includes Breitbart News. Sanger warned these developments made Wikipedia “a kind of thought police” and “an opponent of vigorous democracy.”

Recent allegations by former staff at the Wikimedia Foundation, which owns Wikipedia, accusing management of bullying and other offenses including anti-union retaliation, have prompted other former staff to come forward. Aside from echoing claims about mistreatment of staff, one former staffer alleged departing employees often are pushed to sign non-disclosure agreements and questioned the practice in light of the allegations. She further alleged employees would sometimes be overworked and fired for then failing to perform.

Academic publisher Elsevier has retracted an entire chemistry textbook about the periodic table of elements this year after learning of allegations that significant portions were copied from Wikipedia uncredited, at times including near-verbatim text. The apparent plagiarism was uncovered by a Wikipedia editor who attempted and failed to get the book’s authors to address the issue before contacting the publisher.