Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Single/2024-11-06
Editing Wikipedia should not be a crime
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Some people may not legally read Wikipedia. Some people may not legally edit Wikipedia. Some countries like China, Russia, and Turkey have at times prohibited it, and people have even been jailed for "evading" this censorship. A huge portion of the world's population have been affected by the censorship or are currently threatened by it. We support the Wikimedia Foundation's efforts to fight censorship in the courts. Reading and editing Wikipedia should not be crimes.
In the lawsuit Asian News International versus the Wikimedia Foundation, a company and the court have sought to remove privacy from Wikipedia editors and to censor the Wikipedia article about the court case. We are unaware of anything extraordinary about these editors or that article. They seem to be typical Wikipedia editors doing typical editing, and the censored Wikipedia article is a fact-checked summary of reliable sources which meets Wikipedia's quality control standards. See The Signpost's other coverage of this story in this issue of the newspaper.
As Signpost editors, we should clarify The Signpost's editorial independence, because people have asked about it. We have been an independent newspaper for almost two decades. What we say about The Signpost is also true for Wikipedia's editorial independence, and for the independence of all Wikimedia projects. As we prepared to write the story of the deleted article and the editors who are defendants in the lawsuit, our fellow Wikipedia editors encouraged us to contact the Wikimedia Foundation, its legal team, or its board of trustees for permission, direction, and advice on publishing. Their fear was that because the Wikimedia Foundation deleted the article about the court case, then it could be a burden for them and for us all if they had to also delete our journalism about the court case.
Let there be no misunderstanding: there is no Wikipedia editor channel of communication for editorial guidance regarding The Signpost, Wikipedia articles, or any Wikimedia content. This is a good thing for Wikipedia editors and readers. Nearly all user-generated content platforms including YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and the rest all have staff governance, staff editorial policymaking, staff moderation, and appeals to staff as their mediation strategy. Only Wikipedia is different. Wikipedia is the only media platform where the users set the rules, write the content, moderate it, and make ourselves open and transparent to criticism and dialogue.
The Wikimedia Foundation does have a limited role in editorial policy. For one, they ensure that we stay aligned to the Wikimedia Mission, "to empower and engage people around the world to collect and develop educational content under a free license or in the public domain, and to disseminate it effectively and globally." There has never been a challenge to our mission; most Wikipedia editors love this. The other major role that the Wikimedia Foundation plays in editorial policy is ensuring that we editors comply with the law. While Wikipedia editors have a lot of opinions about copyright reform and an enthusiasm for openness, the editorial community is also in agreement to abide by the law. Editing Wikipedia should not be a crime.
If you believe in the Wikimedia Mission and you follow the law and our internal rules, then you are good enough to edit Wikipedia, and you are good enough to have conversations about social and ethical values, and you are good enough to join discussions about what is happening to our colleagues targeted by lawsuit and our Wikipedia article that has been censored. You are also good enough to submit journalism to The Signpost, whether that means your own fact-checked narrative of the case, your own op-ed, your own summary of Wikipedia community discussion forums, or your own interviews with anyone concerned who volunteers to speak.
The Signpost has editorial guidelines like any other newspaper. This is not anarchy, and not a democracy, as there are rules here as there are throughout Wikipedia. Please be aware now and when this happens again in the future, there is not now and there never has been any suggestion that any Wikipedia editor needs to check in with anyone at the Wikimedia Foundation to write anything. If you want to know the rules of Wikipedia, then your only option is to consult the highest editorial authority, which is the volunteer Wikipedia community of editors who register Wikimedia accounts and talk openly, publicly, and permanently within the discussion boards and guidelines of Wikipedia.
When you have something to say of broad interest to the Wikipedia community, then please share that as journalism, and do not be afraid. You have the right to submit journalism to The Signpost, and everyone else has the right to read it.
Wikimedia Foundation shares ANI lawsuit updates; first admin elections appoint eleven sysops; first admin recalls opened; temporary accounts coming soon?
Wikimedia Foundation removes access to article about lawsuit
In what The Hindu called "the first instance of an English Wikipedia article being taken down by the foundation in the encyclopedia's history", the Wikimedia Foundation has deleted the Wikipedia article Asian News International vs. Wikimedia Foundation pursuant to an order from the Delhi High Court. This article deletion is the third major conflict of concern to Wikipedia editors in this story; the first is Asian News International (ANI) suing the Wikimedia Foundation over defamation in the Wikipedia article about themselves, and the second is ANI's demand that the Wikimedia Foundation reveal the identity of certain editors to that article. The Signpost previously reported this story's development in October, September, and July.
Editors' discussions about the events, and their response, can be found at a wide variety of locations, including mailing lists and community-managed offsites like Discord and Telegram.
On October 21, Wikimedia Foundation board of trustees member and Wikipedia founder Jimbo Wales wrote:
Hi everyone, I spoke to the team at the WMF yesterday afternoon in a quick meeting of the board. Although I've been around Internet legal issues for a long time, it's important to note that I am not a lawyer and that I am not here speaking for the WMF nor the board as a whole. I'm speaking personally as a Wikipedian. As you might expect, it's pretty limited as to what people are able to say at this point, and unwise to give too many details. However, I can tell you that I went into the call initially very skeptical of the idea of even temporarily taking down this page and I was persuaded very quickly by a single fact that changed my mind: if we did not comply with this order, we would lose the possibility to appeal and the consequences would be dire in terms of achieving our ultimate goals here. For those who are concerned that this is somehow the WMF giving in on the principles that we all hold so dear, don't worry. I heard from the WMF quite strong moral and legal support for doing the right thing here - and that includes going through the process in the right way. Prior to the call, I thought that the consequence would just be a block of Wikipedia by the Indian government. While that's never a good thing, it's always been something we're prepared to accept in order to stand for freedom of expression. We were blocked in Turkey for 3 years or so, and fought all the way to the Supreme Court and won. Nothing has changed about our principles. The difference in this case is that the short term legal requirements in order to not wreck the long term chance of victory made this a necessary step. My understanding is that the WMF has consulted with fellow traveler human rights and freedom of expression groups who have supported that we should do everything we can to win this battle for the long run, as opposed to petulantly refusing to do something today. I hope these words are reassuring to those who may have had some concerns!
— Jimbo Wales at Wikipedia:Village pump (WMF) § The Asian News International vs. Wikimedia Foundation situation (09:13, 21 October 2024 (UTC))
On October 31, the Foundation legal team gave an update that "We have not shared any user data".
This issue of The Signpost includes multiple columns of coverage. Here, we report Wikimedia community news updates. This issue's "Technology report" describes how Wikipedia editors and technology interact in the context of this case. "In focus" is a different telling of this story, formatted as the common questions and answers which commentators are exchanging. "From the editor" clarifies that The Signpost is a newspaper, and that newspapers in countries where many Signpost editors live, usually cover important court cases as a public service.
As always, The Signpost invites all Wikipedia editors to post in the comments section for any article, and to submit journalism and new perspectives to future issues. – BR, Sb
Admin Elections trial has concluded
32 candidates stood through the entire administrator elections trial that began this month. Voting concluded as of 2359 31 October (UTC), and after scrutineering to remove invalid, sockpuppet, or duplicate votes, we have the results posted at Wikipedia:Administrator elections/October 2024/Results. The 11 new administrators are as follows, alphabetically:
- Ahecht
- DoubleGrazing
- Dr vulpes
- FOARP
- Peaceray
- Queen of Hearts
- Rsjaffe
- SD0001
- SilverLocust
- Sohom Datta
- ThadeusOfNazereth
With the 11 elected admins, this brings the total number of new admins in 2024 to 20, significantly more than recent years. The last year with more admins by end of year was 2019, with 22. This is a significant step forward in terms of reducing administrator attrition, though it's unclear if the long term trend will be reversed – the number of active administrators increased from 419 on 3 November to 429 the following day, when the new cadre was given the sysop bit, putting the count back to about what it was at the end of August. This topic was last covered by The Signpost in the 19 October issue, and broad discussion about reforming the process for granting administrator rights has been ongoing since 2007 as documented in Wikipedia:RFA reform.
As the community approved Administrator Elections as a one-time trial, it would need approval through an additional RFC to become permanent. There is ongoing discussion on a dedicated 'debrief' page about the next steps from here.
Community members who were officially part of the trial election process included monitors Theleekycauldron and Pickersgill-Cunliffe; and scrutineers Johannnes89, EPIC, and Yahya. This author (B) additionally notes the unofficial yet crucial involvement of Novem Linguae in moving the SecurePoll process forward, and other work that made the election possible. Some of these folks have already received barnstars, but The Signpost encourages readers to thank and acknowledge the organizers for their labor, ethical guidance, and dedication to this crucial aspect of Wikipedia volunteer community governance. – B, S
ArbCom elections are starting
You may now submit your self-nomination for the Arbitration Committee election until 23:59, 12 November 2024 (UTC). Eight vacant ArbCom seats may be filled. Questions for candidates from the community can be submitted at any time during the election. Voting will be held over 14 days, from 00:00 UTC, 19 November 2024 to 23:59 UTC, 02 December 2024.
For complete information see WP:ACE2024. – Sb
Admin recall is now policy
The ability of the community to remove or "recall" administrator's privileges has been discussed for almost two decades. Some important way stations in the recent discussions are:
- Phase I - Proposal 16 and Proposal 16c
- Phase II - Wikipedia:Requests for adminship/2024 review/Phase II/Administrator recall
- a request for comments - RFC to confirm Phase II consensus
- WP:RECALL - Recall as a policy page
A new administrator recall policy, part of the 2024 RfA Reform, was adopted by separate RfC on October 26. The new policy follows unsuccessful attempts to formulate a recall procedure in 2006 and 2019. Until this point, only the Arbitration Committee could remove admin privileges without the cooperation of the administrator;[adminrecall 1] now a community consensus can also result in removal of privileges (see prior Signpost coverage).
The first recall was initiated under the new policy soon after the RfC was marked as adopted (Special:Permalink/1253547916 / Special:Permalink/1253758891). As of our writing deadline, there is almost 100 kilobytes of text in the ongoing discussion (about the equivalent of 50 typewritten pages), which may reflect the participants hashing out process and procedure for this new venue. – B
- ^ Administrators can also be removed by banning by the WMF, but this was strongly contested by the community and the current state of affairs is unclear – see prior Signpost coverage.
News from WMF
In June 2024 the Wikimedia Foundation established the Wikimedia Foundation Bulletin as a channel for staff of the Wikimedia Foundation to share project updates with the volunteer Wikimedia community of editors. The bulletin is a flood of information of interest to Wikipedia enthusiasts. The late October issue describes Temporary Accounts, which is a project intended to give new privacy options to Wikipedia editors, and which may be of interest to anyone exploring how privacy works in the Wikimedia platform. Temporary Accounts seems to be the new name for IP Masking, discussed previously in The Signpost here and here.
Other relevant posts include the removal of Flow on all projects (It'll be replaced with DiscussionTools), an ongoing research project on admin recruitment and attrition, and a publicity campaign to highlight Wikipedia in the United States. – B, BR, S
Brief notes
- Milestones: Congratulations to the Romanian language Wikipedia, which recently published its 500,000th article ro:Ulug Beg, who was a Timurid sultan.
- Articles for Improvement: This week's Article for Improvement is Slow living. Next week's Article for Improvement (beginning 11 November 2024) is Stationery. Please be bold in helping improve these articles!
An old scrimmage, politics and purported libel
Gonzalez fined. WhiteHatWiki threatened libel suit?
The long saga of the paid Wikipedia edits made at the behest of Portland, Oregon mayoral candidate Rene Gonzalez (or his commissioner's office) continued on October 15, during a candidate debate.
Gonzalez justified the paid edits made by his commissioner's office staff — with the help of contractor WhiteHatWiki — by saying that the contractor had trained his staff to counter misinformation spread about him. He said "Wikipedia is one of the tools that I have used and will use in the future".
Co-moderator Shane Dixon Kavanaugh, who first reported the story in The Oregonian, probed further, asking if he was "fine with sticking taxpayers with that bill". Gonzalez attacked the accuracy of the original article, saying they "had to correct it under a threat of a libel suit from the contractor". Kavanaugh disagreed. A correction to the original article had made this change:
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The next Monday, the Portland City Auditor’s office released its second report, a "reconsideration" based on new evidence, with respect to a complaint that Gonzalez had misused taxpayer money to fund his campaign.
They found that he had, for paying to post a requested edit saying he was a Democrat.
It would have been allowed if it had been about his non-partisan commissioner's position, rather than about his current mayoral campaign — but an edit to disclose his political party could only have been relevant to the mayoral campaign. The auditor’s office also said that Gonzalez hadn't cooperated in providing the information on that requested edit; for example, he had pressured the chief deputy auditor by accusing him of a conflict of interest. The fine was $2,400.
Gonzalez’s city-paid policy advisor had actually submitted the requested edits drafted with WhiteHatWiki despite his discomfort with them, and an attempt to "slow-walk" the process. The Oregonian, Exhibit A, pp.8-9.
The entire process involving WhiteHatWiki helping to create and submit the requested edits started with WhiteHatWiki and the commissioner's office staff exploring possible edits.
- Rene Gonzalez's policy advisor "shared with investigators that when he joined the Commissioner’s office in February 2024, the decision to edit the Wikipedia page had already been made. He was assigned to work on the Wikipedia edits with WhiteHatWiki shortly after his arrival at the City and described his role as a 'middleman' between WhiteHatWiki and Gonzalez."
- The advisor and WhiteHatWiki "exchanged ideas for edits over the course of a few months (March – June, 2024.)" He said that he "did not care for the Wikipedia project, so he 'slow-walked' it". He "recalls having several discussions with Gonzalez and others in the office about the status and content of the Wikipedia edits".
- According to the advisor, "the Wikipedia edits under consideration with WhiteHatWiki were frequently an agenda item during the full office’s Monday meetings". He "estimates the Wikipedia edits were discussed four to five times at these Monday meetings during the course of a few months" and "further recalls that Gonzalez was present for the meetings 'consistently,'" but "reflected that it is possible Gonzalez was not there every single time".
- Gonzalez's advisor "informed investigators that because he was slow on the project, Gonzalez would check in with him periodically (about once a month) for an update".
Both Rene Gonzalez and WhiteHatWiki CEO Ed Sussman were asked for comment when the story first broke. On August 7, I asked whether the mayoral campaign had paid for Wikipedia editing in making the edit requests on the article. An unsigned response from the candidate's official email address — presumably Gonzalez — stated that no campaign staffers had been paid for the edits, and referred me to the commissioner's office as well as the "paid editor" who had commented on the article’s talk page. Nobody from the commissioner's office (including Gonzalez's policy advisor) replied to a request sent to his official email address.
Sussman’s reply on August 8 stated that WhiteHatWiki "only served as a consultant", and thus didn’t need to declare as a paid editor. He did say that that the editor was an "employee of the commissioner", but denied that the paid editing disclosure policy applied: only the less-strict conflict of interest guideline.
The three main involved parties all seem to agree that Gonzalez's policy advisor was being paid while he posted edits to the article talk page. And WhiteHatWiki was being paid. But nobody made a formal paid editing declaration. – S
Comparisons between Donald Trump and fascism, Wikipedia and fascism, and/or Wikipedia and Donald Trump
Pirate Wires wrote an article about a Wikipedia article (itself about other newspaper articles), which as of press time was titled Comparisons between Donald Trump and fascism, although a second move request and a deletion debate are both currently underway. The claims made therein are generally along the lines that the article is irreparably biased, that it was written unreasonably close to the election, that it reflects a failure of the project and a "tightly coordinated effort to control the narrative". It afterwards goes into substantial detail on sourcing and policy — beyond what can be summarized here.
Just a year ago, Elon Musk offered to donate $1 billion to the Wikimedia Foundation, contingent on one small requirement, and today he remains a regular feature of the news cycle, for a variety of reasons; of late, the most noticeable being his effusively outspoken support of Donald Trump's campaign for President of the United States. This item is no exception, as he tweeted the original Pirate Wires article, sparking additional coverage of his remarks by the Washington Examiner and The Times of India, the latter of which saying he believes Wikipedia is "controlled by far-left activists. People should stop donating to them."
Lest the level of simulacra become unmanageable (articles about tweets about articles about articles about articles about public statements about things potentially happening in reality), and more to the point: while some claims are obviously silly, allegations of political bias on Wikipedia are neither a new phenomenon nor prima facie preposterous. You can see previous Signpost reporting for some attempts to study this more or less rigorously. Indeed, there is a very long article titled Criticism of Wikipedia detailing twenty years of these allegations, as well as the subsequent back-and-forth on them. If anyone remembers this article exists a dozen news cycles from now, we might actually be able to find out whether it's biased. – J
C6-H0
Way back on October 29, 1921, tiny Centre College defeated the dominant American football team of the day — Harvard — 6–0 in one of the biggest upsets in football history. Exactly 103 years later, the Wikipedia article on the game was Today's Featured Article on the main page. The same day, Centre College News featured the main author of the article, Patrick Nelson, who graduated from Centre this May with a degree in mathematics.
Nelson started editing Wikipedia during high school, focusing on college football rivalries. He told CCN that wiki editing "helped prepare him for the rigors of college writing". The preparation worked both ways "Getting not only my work, but also Centre's name, in front of millions of eyes is very exciting. Especially so, knowing that Centre contributed to my writing and research skills (and provided resources that I used to research that article) and, in part, made the article possible in doing so."
"Knowledge is human"
The Wikimedia Foundation's latest PR campaign is "Knowledge is human" designed by the VIRTUE Worldwide advertising agency. Zack McCune of the WMF is quoted as saying, "We’re living in a world that feels defined by online echo chambers, misinformation, and polarised opinions. This leaves people around the world increasingly sceptical of their information sources." The project's landing page shows videos, photos of people many of us know, and is designed to emphasize the humanity of Wikipedia. It is an updated version of a campaign presented last year. One innovation is a Wikipedia truck which made at least four stops in New York City, and the same number in Los Angeles. The truck displays a huge version of a Wikipedia article on its side and is displayed on billboards and in other ads. See also meta and articles in Design Rush and Ad Age.
In brief
- Australian place names: Phys.org reviews a Wikihistories project How Australian Places are Represented on Wikipedia. The project, led by Heather Ford, gives an outstanding overview of Australian place name articles, their editors, and the editing process that any Wikipedia editor should be able to recognize and learn from.
- Indian court case: straight from The Hindu.
- Legal trouble: The BBC reports on the same case.
Wikipedia editors face litigation, censorship
On 21 October 2024, the Wikimedia Foundation removed access to the Wikipedia article titled Asian News International vs. Wikimedia Foundation, in response to a demand by the Delhi High Court. This followed Asian News International, a news agency in India, suing Wikipedia for defamation, and seeking the identity of three Wikipedia editors who had contributed to their article. Here follows a community perspective of what happened.
First, the defamation claim
Briefly: Wikipedia editors avoid original research, and instead they summarize reliable sources while citing those sources. From a Wikipedia editor's perspective, the complaint in this case is directed at Wikipedia and particular editors for summarizing what reputable news sources have said. This does not make sense to Wikipedians, because summarizing reliable sources is how the site ensures high quality content.
Asian News International, a news agency in India, complained about the Wikipedia article about itself. The Wikipedia article contained information which the organization felt was defamatory. It was unable to negotiate removal of that information from the article, and in response, filed a court case asking for content removal related to defamation. Asian News International speaks for itself; please seek comment from them and other journalists who have focused on their perspective for a more complete view.
From a Wikipedia editor's perspective, the complaint was that Wikipedia summarized what was already contained in sources widely considered to be trustworthy and credible. As is well known, Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, and not a newspaper or source of original research. Consequently, Wikipedia is not the originator of information, but rather relies on knowledge creators such as journalists and researchers at news outlets to actually publish the information. Wikipedia editors then summarize this information into articles, and cite the source of information, so that anyone else can fact-check it. If someone says a Wikipedia article is wrong, then editors can check the claims in an article against what the source originally said, or evaluate the reliability and respectability of the original sources.
The controversial assertion is that Asian News International spreads propaganda. Sources which have asserted this include BBC, The Caravan, The Ken, Newslaundry, and The Diplomat. Wikipedia editors summarized those sources while citing them. Wikipedia editors are not journalists; as encyclopedia editors, they do not need to be, because the role of a Wikipedia editor is simply to summarize what reputable journalists and academics say, cite their sources, and to be mindful to cite high quality, reliable sources. Anyone who wishes to examine the original articles which Wikipedia editors have cited and the way that they represented the original journalism in the Wikipedia article can check the relevant article revisions, such as the present version. Wikipedia editors are proud of the content and it meets Wikipedia's typical quality control standards.
Wikipedians often take for granted that there is shared global notion of what constitutes a reliable source. Wikipedia editors have summarized the views of external commentators in the Wikipedia article, "Reliability of Wikipedia", but the Wikipedia community itself has defined its concept of reliability in guidelines including Wikipedia:Reliable sources and in forums including the Wikipedia:Reliable sources/Noticeboard. More specifically, Wikipedia editors conduct and log evaluations of particular sources for their reliability for fact-checking other topics, as for example the community review of Asian News International on its reliability. When Wikipedia editors evaluate the reliability of a source, they are not passing a moral judgement on whether a source is good or bad, well or ill-intentioned, biased or neutral. Instead, they seek to review evidence that a source conforms to journalism ethics and standards in its social context. Both a major media house and a modest student newspaper can be considered reliable sources for their scope of journalism, and reliable sources for one cultural community may conflict and give contrary information to reliable sources from another demographic perspective. It can even happen that sources find different absolute facts, and both be reliable and worth reporting in Wikipedia. Wikipedia is not the mediator or judge of absolute truth; instead it seeks to report what journalism as an institution in the humanities has reported. Sources like BBC may be biased or incorrect, but Wikipedia editors confirm that such as it is, it is journalism and a perspective worth summarizing to present in the encyclopedia.
The cultural collision between Wikipedia editorial culture and Asian News International is that ANI seems more interested in challenging Wikipedia's way of summarizing and citing information from other sources, than it is in challenging the original journalists and news agencies. A question that immediately arises to Wikipedia editors is why the organization would challenge Wikipedia rather than filing a lawsuit against BBC as a major international news source, or against the news agencies in India which published the original claims which Wikipedia is citing. In this case, Wikipedia editors have found multiple reliable sources making similar assertions, and so far Wikipedia editors have not identified other sources of similar standing which report any different perspective. Wikipedia editors expect that if someone wants a claim modified in Wikipedia, then they should use options such as challenging the reliability of the cited sources, correct Wikipedia editors in summarizing those sources in Wikipedia, or present sources with differing perspectives. It might be the case that ANI feels that journalism is ephemeral and not worth challenging, while Wikipedia is persistent, higher traffic, and more influential. Also, perhaps Wikipedia is more attractive as a target than the other media houses. The available information does not clarify exactly what the problem is. The contested and defamatory claims are not clearly identified.
Wikipedia editors find such complaints and behavior puzzling. Instead, Wikipedia editors wish that critics would do things like complain about the journalists and publications who made the original claims, or challenge Wikipedia's evaluation of a source's reliability, or critique Wikipedia's accuracy in summarizing sources in encyclopedia articles.
Second, the privacy of Wikipedia editors
Briefly: From a Wikipedia community perspective, Asian News International and the court are inappropriately seeking to harm some of the editors who took content from those news sources, and repeated those claims in Wikipedia with citations to the original sources. Wikipedia editors are in solidarity that these users have a right to privacy for editing Wikipedia articles, especially in routine editing like this which complies with Wikipedia's process for fact-checking and quality control.
Asian News International complained about defamation. As part of that, the court demanded that the Wikimedia Foundation reveal the identity of the editors who brought those claims into the Wikipedia articles.
Going back to 2001 at the founding of Wikipedia, the community of editors have had some shared understanding and rules. All of these values have been endlessly repeated, but for anyone who wants to hear how Wikipedia works again, here is the explanation again. Also consider checking any of the thousands of previously published explanations of Wikipedia.
Wikipedia is an encyclopedia. An encyclopedia does not produce original thought or research like a newspaper or university, but instead, it summarizes and cites what reliable sources publish. The reason why anyone can edit Wikipedia is that authorship should not matter, as all editors bring in claims from other publications. Since Wikipedia editors cite their sources, anyone else can fact check that the Wikipedia editors correctly summarized the original assertion, and that they cited a reliable source. Wikipedia editors become confused when anyone criticizes the content which Wikipedia reports in the absence of criticism of the original journalism.
Because there is rarely any reason to connect a person's offline identity to their Wikipedia user account, most Wikipedia editors do their editing through a Wikipedia username. The concept of an Internet handle or username is a basic idea in understanding the Internet. Major social media platforms allow this, and there are standards for privacy in that generally when someone makes an account, they have an expectation that the platform host will have a standard for privacy protection. People who edit Wikipedia, especially when they edit by the rules, have a right to privacy.
To request the identity of Wikipedia editors who cite journalists seems like an action intended to have a chilling effect on Wikipedia editing. Undoubtedly, an organization like the BBC is prepared to defend its journalists. Wikipedia editors include volunteers around the world, and these volunteers are never as close to legal protection as, for example, credentialed journalism staff at the BBC would be. It is highly worrisome to Wikipedia editors that anyone would skip criticizing the original journalism, skip criticizing Wikipedia's practice of mirroring and citing journalism, and focus on actions which bring global attention and the associated danger of that to Wikipedia's global community of volunteer editors. Random Internet people have the right to post content to the Internet, and those rights are even greater when their activity is Wikipedia editing to share fact-checked general reference information from reputable media sources.
Third, censorship of the Wikipedia article discussing the first two
Briefly: In response to the court case, conventional news journalists outside of Wikipedia published stories covering the court case. This is how everyone got information about the defamation case and the threat to editor privacy. As Wikipedia editors do, they made an article about the court case, citing those journalists. The court demanded censorship of that article. Wikipedia editors object to this removal.
The defamation case went to court, and that included the issue of revealing the identity of Wikipedia editors. There were journalists observing the court case, and they published stories. When those journalists published stories, then Wikipedia editors created an article titled, Asian News International vs. Wikimedia Foundation. As usual, that Wikipedia article was a summary of what journalists had written about the topic, and content in that article included a citation to the original source which anyone could use for fact checking.
The court objected to Wikipedia editors producing an article about an ongoing court case because of India's laws around subjudice. The court ordered the Wikimedia Foundation to delete the Wikipedia article about the court case or be held in contempt. On 21 October 2024, the Wikimedia Foundation suppressed it and its talk page.
We tell our own story
Wikipedia articles which provide background information on why these conflicts matter include freedom of speech, journalism ethics and standards, Internet privacy, censorship, and freedom of the press. Wikipedia editors collaborate to uphold good and ethical editorial standards. Wikipedia's editorial processes and fact-checking worked well in this case. Wikipedia editors demand the right to share knowledge, protect the privacy of its editors especially when they are compliant with our rules, and to not endure unfair censorship.
Other more specific Wikipedia articles which give context to relevant ethics and rights include Censorship of Wikipedia, Wikipedia in India, Contempt of court in India, Deletion of articles on Wikipedia, Disputes on Wikipedia, Wikipedia and fact-checking, and Litigation involving the Wikimedia Foundation.
Protect freedom of speech. Wikipedia editors encourage everyone in the world to examine our content and criticize it fairly. It is challenging to make sense of the court's perspective in this case. Please edit and develop any Wikipedia articles mentioned here.
In particular, support Wikipedia's community of editors in India. Particular help which could be useful includes asking Wikipedia editors in India what support they want, supporting them in accessing global resources of the Wikimedia Movement, and encouraging Wikimedia movement affiliates to include collaboration with Indian community organizations in their global Wikimedia content development plans. Everyone needs everyone else to sustain Wikipedia as a global information resource. Right now, it is very helpful to ensure that Wikipedia editors in India have what they need to develop Wikipedia independently, in the way that is best for them.
Why you should take more photos and upload them
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Like many people, I don't have high confidence in my own photography skills. So many popular subjects are already illustrated by hundreds of pictures on Commons, many of which are much better than my limited abilities and camera could produce. For a long time, I wouldn't take pictures of notable subjects that I happened upon in the course of everyday life, or if I did, I wouldn't upload them. What follows are a few of my photographs that have been added to Wikipedia articles; none of these photos required any skill to capture beyond pointing a smartphone at the image subject.
On 6 October 2024, I climbed up to Camp Muir (4,600 feet (1,400 m) elevation gain from Paradise, about two-thirds of the way up Mount Rainier) on a clear day and took a handful of pictures. I figured that since Camp Muir is a well known hike and camping place on the most common ascent route for climbers of one of the tallest mountains in North America, there must be a lot of pictures of it already on Commons. Unfortunately, when I got back to an Internet connection I discovered it was not true. The one picture we really needed—an overview of the camp from just below it—was one I hadn't taken.[1] I did upload the pictures I took, which looked much better than I expected due to the great photography conditions and my new Pixel 8a, which has a much better camera than did my Huawei Mate Pro 8 from 2016.
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New lead image for Camp Muir -
Swapped in a better pic of Muir Snowfield below the camp, looking down towards Paradise
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Since I managed to get to Camp Muir in only three and a half hours, I figured I was up for some longer and more difficult hikes than my previous hiking partners were interested in. I realized that there was an open spot on a shuttle that would enable me to through-hike the Enchantments on 11 October. Finding a parking spot at the trailhead—which is often full well before 5 a.m.—is only the start of the challenges of this hike, which include a poorly marked trail, extremely steep scrambling up Aasgard Pass, and a 20-mile (32 km) hike back to your car. I started before sunrise and it took me 16 hours, so I did half the mileage in the dark.
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New header image for Colchuck Lake, viewed from halfway up Aasgard Pass -
Aasgard Pass, viewed from near the shore of Colchuck Lake. You have to climb this screefield to get to the next part of the hike.
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A lone Larix lyallii in fall color -
Nada Lake after dark, taken with night vision mode on my phone camera—an imperfect picture is way better than no picture!
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During the 8-mile (13 km) hike out from Snow Lakes, which I did entirely after dark, I tagged along with some climbers who had summited Little Annapurna, who told me I could get permits to camp in Mount Rainier National Park in October.[2] I showed up at the White River Ranger Station a few days later and snagged a same-day campsite at Indian Bar overnight 13–14 October, one of the most scenic and difficult to obtain campsites in the park. Despite a chance of rain in the forecast, the weather was beautiful, especially the first day.
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Panhandle Gap—a new article illustrated with two of my pictures from the Indian Bar trip -
Tamanos Mountain, viewed at a different season, different face, and from closer than all other Commons pics -
Sunrise Road—new article illustrated by my picture of the road winding its way up the mountain
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One particular feature that unfortunately often needs updating due to climate change is pictures of glaciers: the true extent of the glacier can only be seen in late season in the most recent year, so updated images can be crucial for maintaining encyclopedic value. Here are some older glacier pictures that I replaced with photographs from October 2024.
-
Previous picture of Colchuck Glacier from May 2015 -
Remnants of the glacier (upper left) in October 2024 (I had no idea there used to be a glacier there) -
Fryingpan Glacier in October 2008 (foreground, in front of the triangle peak of Little Tahoma) -
The glacier in October 2024—both the ridge and lower area are more melted out
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Sarvant Glacier in August 2007—note the exposed glacial ice in center -
The same glacier in October 2024
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Previous header image for Nisqually Glacier from 2004 -
Nisqually Glacier in October 2024
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Winthrop Glacier in July 2017 -
A previously ice-covered ridge—not shown on topo maps—emerges from the reduced glacier -
Inter Glacier in 2003 (small glacier just to the right of the rocky promontory on the front left side of the mountain, left of Winthrop Glacier) -
Similar view in 2024. An inferior picture, but more accurate at representing the glacier's current extent.
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Ohanapecosh Glacier in August 2007 -
The central piece of the glacier divided into four discontinuous snowfields
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A photograph like this one of Mount Stuart is arguably of more artistic value due to the dramatic lighting and fog, but encyclopedically we would prefer an unobstructed photograph taken with the sun closer to overhead
I learned that you don't have to be an expert photographer to contribute useful images, and you often don't know in advance if the image will be encyclopedically valuable. If you're interested in contributing more photographs, Wikishootme can help you locate Wikidata items without an associated image. Photographing notable people at public events can be helpful, although it is hampered by difficulties encountered by Wikimedia volunteers obtaining press passes to larger events. Even if a subject is highly notable, it may not have a lot of pictures—especially if it is hard to access.
Another consideration is just because a subject already has a photograph doesn't mean that your photograph couldn't be quite useful. Many subjects change over time or look different depending on the season and weather, so even if there are already images on Commons, yours could well provide new information. Sometimes the "wow factor" of a really stunning photograph can reduce the encyclopedic value of an image by taking focus away from its subject, and certain photography techniques (such as golden hour, sunset/sunrise, fog) may reduce the clarity or obscure certain features of the subject.
Notes
- ^ Uh oh, I'll have to go up there again!
- ^ A longtime supporter of open access to information, I also support open access to public lands. It's a shame that the Park Service, in response to increasing demand, doesn't just open up more campsites on the Wonderland Trail or run shuttles to the parking lots in Paradise and Sunrise. Instead they've decided to double down on permitting requirements.
Questions and answers about the court case
Asian News International sued the Wikimedia Foundation over defamation, and to reveal the private identities of Wikipedia editors. In this lawsuit, the Delhi High Court also ordered the Wikimedia Foundation to delete the Wikipedia article about the court case. See additional coverage elsewhere in The Signpost.
What happened?
A news agency called Asian News International (ANI) sued the Wikimedia Foundation for defamation, based on things written in its article on the English Wikipedia. Then other Wikipedia editors made an article about that lawsuit, and the Delhi High Court ordered Wikipedia to delete that article in its entirety. Wikipedia's community of editors is upset at all of this, and feels unfairly treated.
Again, the three issues are
- Asian News International says that the Wikipedia article Asian News International contains defamation.
- Asian News International wants the identities disclosed of three volunteer Wikipedia editors who edited that article.
- The Delhi High Court ordered the Wikimedia Foundation to delete the Wikipedia article Asian News International vs. Wikimedia Foundation.
Who all is involved in this?
- Wikipedia editors are the volunteer community of encyclopedia writers who develop Wikipedia, using normal editorial practices like fact-checking and quality control. Hundreds of them have edited Wikipedia content related to Asian News International, and this entire situation.
- News agencies, including BBC, The Caravan, The Ken, and The Diplomat authored and published the information which Wikipedia editors added to the news article "Asian News International", and which that organization says is defamation.
- Asian News International is the organization suing the Wikimedia Foundation, and seeking the identity of three particular Wikipedia editors among the hundreds who have edited the Wikipedia article titled "Asian News International".
- The Wikimedia Foundation is the legal organization that hosts the Wikimedia platform, including Wikipedia. This foundation does not have editorial staff, and cannot tell the Wikipedia editors what to do. Wikipedia editors have some governance ability to tell the Wikimedia Foundation what to do.
- The three particular Wikipedia editors seem to be random Internet people. The Wikipedia community wants them to be safe, and not to be put into a global spotlight or multinational diplomatic conflict, because what happens to them could happen to any Wikipedia editor.
- The Delhi High Court is a court in India which is hearing the defamation case, demanded the identity of three Wikipedia editors, and ordered the Wikimedia Foundation to delete the Wikipedia article Asian News International vs. Wikimedia Foundation.
- The Signpost is the Wikipedia community newspaper producing journalism for Wikipedia editors, by Wikipedia editors, and in advocacy of Wikipedia editors. It is editorially independent of the Wikimedia Foundation. The Signpost reports stories like this one.
- Wikimedia editors in India are particular stakeholders of this whole situation. Although most Wikipedia editors engage with Wikipedia only online, editors are more likely to form friendships and collaborations with people from their own culture and region. Also, throughout the world, there are Wikimedia community organizations which provide local training, support, and partnerships to encourage Wikipedia content development. Several such organizations exist in India. They get funding and support from the Wikimedia Foundation.
Who is seeking Wikipedia content change, such as blanking or deletion?
Two entities are seeking Wikipedia content change: Asian News International, and the Delhi High Court.
Asian News International initiated a lawsuit against the Wikimedia Foundation. They claim that the Wikipedia article about their organization, Asian News International, contains defamation against them. They want that content removed.
The Delhi High Court is overseeing that defamation lawsuit, and under the sub judice surrounding the proceedings, it ordered the Wikimedia Foundation to delete the Wikipedia article about the lawsuit. That Wikipedia article is titled, Asian News International vs. Wikimedia Foundation.
Why do these organizations want Wikipedia content deleted?
Asian News International is complaining of defamation in the Wikipedia article about itself.
The Delhi High Court seems to want Wikipedia to enforce privacy and discretion of the ongoing court case, but strangely, does not seem to react to the news agencies which create the information which Wikipedia editors are summarizing. From a Wikipedia editor's perspective, the court's actions seem confused with regard to Wikipedia being a publication which relays information from other sources.
What is the alleged defamatory content?
The specific disputed content is uncertain, and Wikipedia editors have had no communication with Asian News International to clarify the situation; the guess is that the alleged defamation is this content from Asian News International:
Investigations by The Caravan and The Ken into the company have alleged that it has served as a mouthpiece for the incumbent government of India for decades, especially after the election of the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2014.[1][2] ANI has been accused of amplifying a vast network of fake news websites spreading pro-government and anti-Pakistan propaganda.[3][4][5]
- ^ Donthi, Praveen (1 March 2019). "The Image Makers : How ANI Reports The Government's Version Of Truth". The Caravan. Archived from the original on 8 February 2023. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
- ^ Ahluwalia, Harveen; Srivilasan, Pranav (21 October 2018). "How ANI quietly built a monopoly". The Ken. Archived from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
- ^ Hussain, Abid; Menon, Shruti (10 December 2020). "The dead professor and the vast pro-India disinformation campaign". BBC News. Archived from the original on 12 November 2022. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
The network was designed primarily to "discredit Pakistan internationally" and influence decision-making at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and European Parliament, EU DisinfoLab said.- ^ Saeed, Saim; Kayali, Laura (9 December 2020). "New pro-India EU website enrolling MEPs campaigns against Pakistan". Politico. Archived from the original on 6 January 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
- ^ Rej, Abhijnan (12 October 2020). "EU Non-Profit Unearths Massive Indian Disinformation Campaign". The Diplomat. Archived from the original on 12 November 2022. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
Who is seeking Wikipedia editor information from the Wikimedia Foundation and why?
Asian News International is seeking the identities of three of the editors of the Wikipedia article "Asian News International". Presumably, their motive is to bring those editors to justice against the accusation of defamation, and to deter future defamation.
The Delhi High Court ordered the disclosure of those editors.
What kind of editor information is available through Wikipedia?
As a website, the Wikimedia Foundation necessarily gathers some user information. However, whereas typical major commercial websites gather as much user information as possible, Wikimedia sites seek to only gather information in advocacy of user rights. The Wikimedia Foundation describes the specifics at wmf:Wikimedia Foundation Privacy Policy and Requests for user data, but all values and ethics in Wikipedia come from the volunteer community of users, and not the Wikimedia Foundation itself.
What danger is there to editors for editing particular Wikipedia pages?
Editing Wikipedia is not supposed to be dangerous — but see, for example, List of people imprisoned for editing Wikipedia. The Wikimedia Foundation has deleted the Wikipedia article for the court case. Right now probably is not the time to re-create that deleted article, but other than that, Wikipedia editors wish to encourage everyone to edit Wikipedia articles in useful ways. Perhaps anyone who feels intimidated by Asian News International should avoid editing about that organization.
How does contempt of court differ in India from other countries with English law tradition?
The Signpost invites anyone with legal insight to post in the comments section, or submit articles for publication the the next issue.
Does the Wikimedia Foundation currently have an office in India?
No. The government of India may have made, or may be considering, rules requiring media and technology platforms including Wikipedia to have a physical office and presence in India. The Signpost is uncertain if or how this applies.
Might the court or the country of India completely block all of Wikipedia?
Courts in India have said that they might block all of Wikipedia for the entire country if Wikipedia does not comply with certain requests. The court discussed blocking Wikipedia for this defamation case. Previously in 2020, another court discussed blocking Wikipedia related to maps in Wikipedia differing from India's official maps on the matter of the India–Pakistan border. Before that, there was a Wikipedia dispute related to the Information Technology Rules, 2021.
How are Wikipedia editors feeling about any of this?
Bad. They feel justified in using Wikipedia as a place where anyone can cite and summarize information from other sources. Also they want privacy and freedom from persecution for editors. On-wiki discussions about the case include the following:
- Wikipedia:Village pump (WMF)#The Asian News International vs. Wikimedia Foundation situation
- Talk:Asian News International
- User talk:Jimbo Wales#ANI v. WMF time frame
Talk:Asian News International vs. Wikimedia Foundation was a place to do fact-checking about this case, but was deleted by order of the Delhi High Court.
Has this case had any chilling effect?
Typically Wikipedia editors prefer to discuss things on-wiki, but in this case, there are editors having off-wiki discussions based on fear that posting on-site carries the risk of having one's identity revealed.
Some editors suggested that The Signpost not report on this, or seek permission or approval to publish from staff of the Wikimedia Foundation, or the Wikimedia Foundation legal team, or from the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees; while we share basic principles with the community and the Foundation, we are an independent newspaper. That independence is a strength of journalism, and not a flaw or error.
Two Wikipedia community-deleted versions of the article include
- simple:Asian News International vs. Wikimedia Foundation
- fr:Asian News International vs. Wikimedia Foundation
A global and multilingual community discussion on how to react to censorship is likely forthcoming. Thanks to the admins who deleted these articles to protect the safety of other editors. This is a big issue for broader conversation.
How much money does the Wikimedia Foundation gather from donations in India?
The Wikimedia Foundation announced the start of its fundraising campaign in India in 2020. Community outreach for the latest campaign is at meta:Fundraising/WMF India fundraising campaign.
How much money does the Wikimedia Foundation send to the editor community in India?
The 2023-24 report says that the Wikimedia Foundation sent US$398,000 in that year, which is about 3 crore rupees.
What do Wikimedia editors in India say about this case?
They say a few things. These are not quotations either.
One is that many individuals do not want global public attention speaking on controversial things. If The Signpost is mistaken and there are Indian people out there with opinions and perspectives that they want to voice about this case, then post to Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Newsroom/Submissions or contact the us otherwise. To understand the avoidance of commenting, one must understand the public perception of courts and lawsuits in India.
Another common line of discussion is to change the subject to the broader context of the difficult relationship which the Wikipedia community in India has had with the Wikimedia Foundation and global Wikimedia community for more than 10 years. Common complaints include lack of representation in important Wikimedia community governance committees, lack of justice in access to Wikimania travel scholarships, and a persistent sense of not being heard in important movement decisions as a result of not having representation. Also, to a lesser degree, the community complains of lack of access to movement grant funding, but very much and truly wants much more legitimate representation and voice before having more Western money come into India. In general, people in India may not talk about this case without also raising the context of the difficult relationship between the Wikimedia Foundation and the Wikimedia community in India.
What is the public perception of courts in India?
It is common knowledge that pendency of court cases in India is a major problem. Popular television shows like the comedic 2024 Maamla Legal Hai make court-related conversation fun for anyone, but the Indian film industry including Bollywood and beyond produces all sorts of dramatic, informational, and theatrical films as in Category:Indian courtroom films or Category:Indian legal drama films.
One common perception that people in India have is that court cases sometimes take a long time. Also, people involved in court cases must spend a lot of their time engaging in legal matters, as if it were a second profession which consumed all free time.
In general, many people in India will not seek to become involved in controversial issues which do not concern them, especially if that could mean that they may become a party to a court case which would last 3-5 years or possibly longer. To non-lawyers who watch Bollywood court films, the Asian News International case seems like one of the sort which could take years at its present level of court, years more in appeal, then more years to the Supreme Court of India. For anyone who does not want to be compelled to engage for years to come, it seems best to leave reactions to this case to others.
What is there to say about the relationship of Wikipedia editors in India to the broader Wikimedia community?
The article "Wikipedia in India" presents Wikipedians' view of this relationship, which anyone can edit by citing and summarizing reliable sources.
Many countries have a national Wikimedia movement affiliate community organization. India does not. It did, but Wikimedia India closed in 2019, with deep thanks from the Wikimedia Foundation CEO for all that editors in India do for the Wikimedia Movement, and a commitment that the Wikimedia Foundation would support the growth and development of community organization in the region. Since then other Affiliates based in South Asia have organized their own activities and make annual reports of what they have accomplished, and what they are planning.
While the easiest way to get reports and status updates is to look to such Wikimedia community organizations, these organizations do not represent the majority of Wikimedia editors in India. In India, just like everywhere else, most editors simply go on the computer and edit articles on Wikipedia, upload images to Wikimedia Commons, post texts to Wikisource, write definitions in Wiktionary, and add data to Wikidata. The majority of Wikimedians do not engage with formal community organizations or the Wikimedia Foundation at all. The usual experience is that people are happy to share knowledge online, and to socialize with other people almost exclusively for the purpose of collaborating on Wikimedia general reference knowledge development, rather than volunteer administration, organization, or outreach.
The reality of the relationship is challenging to identify among media messages, organizational annual reports, and online posts and Wikipedia edits related to building the encyclopedia. There is no journalism, student research, or reports of important community stories such as the community of editors in India submitting multiple candidates for representation to the 2024 Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee election, and getting none accepted. The problem is not just lack of representation here; the problem is the perceived lack of representation in all such leadership opportunities, repeatedly for a generation, and with no obviously changes or plans coming which could increase future representation.
While journalists may have difficulty finding people in India to interview about the Asian News International case, there is no shortage of interesting, positive Wikimedia projects which people in the region would like to share and profile. Also, there is no shortage of people in India who are willing to share interesting, positive perspectives on major challenges which people in the region face. There is significant exhaustion about the Western commentators — including me, here, the journalist for this article — continually asking questions and talking rather than explicitly presenting ways to bring increased representation and leadership opportunities for regional community growth immediately.
What is the most negative thing that Wikimedians in India have said about this case?
Some people have said that the Asian News International case is a matter of disrespect by the Wikimedia Foundation to India, Indian people, and the courts of India. The Signpost does not have journalistic or editorial capacity to know how common such beliefs are. It is possible to find such comments in discussions hosted in the Wikimedia platform.
A general idea among non-lawyer, Wikimedia editors who criticize is that the Wikimedia Foundation should eagerly and politely follow the law in India. It is fine to challenge ideas in court, but when the court requests something, the Wikimedia Foundation should respectfully reply. Bar and Bench, a legal newspaper, quoted Justice Navin Chawla as saying to the Wikimedia Foundation, "If you don’t like India, please don’t work in India." Ideally for Wikimedia community editor interests, the Wikimedia Foundation could retain a public image of being well-liked in India by Wikimedia editors, the public, and the judiciary.
How can I ask questions about this case to the volunteer Wikipedia community of editors?
Wikipedia's community of editors invites anyone to discuss Wikipedia article content in appropriate discussion forums.
Anyone can start by posting in the comments section here in The Signpost. The Wikipedia community maintains a forum for discussing issues which overlap with the affairs of the Wikimedia Foundation at Wikipedia:Village pump (WMF), and that is a good place to discuss this.
How can I share journalism and perspectives on this case in The Signpost?
Please share submissions at Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Newsroom/Submissions.
Twisted tricks or tempting treats?
- This traffic report is adapted from the Top 25 Report, prepared with commentary by Igordebraga, Vestrian24Bio, Rahcmander, Bucket of sulfuric acid, CAWylie and Shuipzv3.
Welcome to the final show, hope you're wearing your best clothes (October 5 to 12)
| Rank | Article | Class | Views | Image | Notes/about |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ratan Tata |  |
5,034,616 |  |
Ratan Tata, a Parsi Indian industrialist, philanthropist and former chairman of the conglomerate founded by #10 died in early October, at the age of 86 due to age-related issues. |
| 2 | Lyle and Erik Menendez |  |
2,686,453 |  |
Down from the top spot after three weeks are the murderous brothers serving life sentences for killing their parents, chronicled in the Netflix show Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. |
| 3 | Tata family |  |
1,656,736 |  |
The prestigious family of #1, including his half-brother (#5) and his great-grandfather (#10). |
| 4 | Joker: Folie à Deux | |
1,517,588 | .jpg) |
Does the description "jukebox musical psychological thriller" seem appealing to you? It certainly wasn't for a large portion of the audience, specially those who liked Joker and just wanted something more straightforward with the Clown Prince of Crime and his lover Harley Quinn, in contrast to director Todd Phillips repeating the "very different and very bad sequel" path that resulted in The Hangover Part III. Thus the box office intakes fell sharply in the second week, dropping to third behind two movies that delivered what was expected (a gorefest also starring a villainous clown, and a very engaging animation), and the worldwide totals of $156 million so far - which is less than the first one made in a single weekend! - makes the prospects of recovering a massive $200 million budget quite slim. At least the DC Comics faithful have been given a better product on streaming with The Penguin, and it's hard to believe next year's Superman will fail as hard as Folie à Deux. |
| 5 | Noel Tata | |
1,198,976 |  |
The half-brother of #1, and his successor as chairman of the Tata Trust. |
| 6 | Hurricane Milton | |
1,005,478 |  |
Less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene caused widespread destruction across the southeastern US, Milton threatened to do the same again. Highly favorable conditions in the Gulf of Mexico such as very warm sea surface temperatures led to its extremely rapid intensification into a Category 5 hurricane, the fifth-most intense recorded in the Atlantic. Thankfully, it downgraded into a weaker but still powerful Category 3 just before it impacted the west coast of Florida, in which six million residents were ordered to evacuate. Milton caused at least 28 deaths across Mexico and the US, and its damage is estimated to be at least USD$30 billion, making it among the top 10 costliest Atlantic hurricanes to affect the US. |
| 7 | George Baldock | |
931,894 | _(cropped).jpg) |
This English-born footballer who used his Greek descent to play for the Hellenes was found dead at just 31 in his pool, just one day before both his son's first birthday and an England-Greece game in Wembley for the UEFA Nations League. The match had both a tribute to him and the Greeks pulling off an upset win, with Vangelis Pavlidis taking out a shirt with Baldock's face to dedicate the victory to him. |
| 8 | Deaths in 2024 |  |
927,208 |  |
Yesterday I got so old I felt like I could die... |
| 9 | Sean Combs |  |
830,145 |  |
As everyone discusses all the debauchery and alleged crimes committed by this currently incarcerated rapper, Judge Arun Subramanian set the start date of Diddy's trial to May 5. |
| 10 | Jamshedji Tata | |
785,225 | .jpg) |
#1's great-grandfather who founded the companies that make the family famous today. Founded in 1868, the Tata Group, a conglomerate of companies like Tata Motors, Tata Steel and Air India, is present in over 100 countries and worth US$403 billion. |
You can't bribe the door on your way to the sky (October 13 to 19)
| Rank | Article | Class | Views | Image | Notes/about |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liam Payne | |
7,904,304 | .jpg) |
"It seems to me that when I die These words will be written on my stone." British singer Liam Payne might've not had the greatest solo career after the end of #4 in 2016, but it sadly became a short one when he died at the age of 31 falling from a third-floor balcony in an Argentinian hotel, and it's yet to be determined whether it was an accident or a suicide. Payne was technically a one-hit wonder with "Strip That Down" and had only one studio album to his name, cheekily named LP1, and it's unclear how much of the second album he announced last year had been recorded. Many tributes emerged. |
| 2 | Cheryl (singer) | |
2,011,202 | .jpg) |
From 2016 to 2018, #1 dated this singer who like him was part of a group formed in a reality show, with whom he had a son. Cheryl issued a public request for consideration and dignity, fearing their child could potentially access "the abhorrent reports and media exploitation" regarding Payne's death. |
| 3 | Lyle and Erik Menendez | |
1,800,441 | |
People who watch the Netflix show Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story continue to seek more on the brothers currently serving life sentences for killing their parents. |
| 4 | One Direction | |
1,757,832 |  |
In 2010, #1 had just had his second unsuccessful audition to The X Factor when guest judge Nicole Scherzinger suggested he and four other candidates get together to compete as a band. The result not only finished third in the season but spearheaded the boy band revival of the 2010s, selling millions of albums and filling up stadiums before being reduced to a quartet with the departure of Zayn Malik in 2015, followed by an indefinite hiatus in 2016 so all members could pursue solo careers. The most successful so far has been Harry Styles, while #1 was in Argentina partly to see in concert bandmate Niall Horan. (as for the fifth, Louis Tomlinson only charted well with his first two singles, and his Wikipedia article was targeted by some pageview shenanigans for two years) |
| 5 | Baba Siddique |  |
1,747,594 | .jpg) |
Indian politician Baba Siddique was assassinated by being shot by three assailants in Mumbai, allegedly under orders of Lawrence Bishnoi, a gangster who in spite of being imprisoned since 2015 commands criminal activities from behind bars. |
| 6 | Lawrence Bishnoi | |
1,560,755 | ||
| 7 | Yahya Sinwar | |
1,239,034 |  |
As the war in Gaza completed one year, the leader of Hamas was killed in a firefight with IDF soldiers on October 16. |
| 8 | Deaths in 2024 | |
1,029,961 |  |
All these places had their moments With lovers and friends, I still can recall Some are dead, and some are living In My Life, I've loved them all |
| 9 | Terrifier 3 | |
917,431 | .jpg) |
The third installment in the Terrifier franchise of slasher films, delving into Christmas horror as Art the Clown attacks the Yuletide shoppers in ways so bloody the movie was released unrated, was released worldwide last week to positive reviews from critics and has grossed $35 million so far against a budget of $2 million, becoming the highest-grossing film of the franchise and one of the most profitable of the year. |
| 10 | Rodney Alcala | |
859,974 |  |
In 1978, this guy won a date on television by appearing on The Dating Game, only to be rejected by the lady who found him "creepy". She dodged a bullet, as Alcala had already murdered 3 women and would kill at least five more before his arrest one year later, leading to decades waiting for capital punishment until Alcala died in prison in 2021. The story was told by Anna Kendrick in her directorial debut Woman of the Hour, with Daniel Zovatto as Alcala and Kendrick herself as the would-be date Cheryl Bradshaw, which was added to the Netflix catalogue. |
I've never killed a woman before, now I know how it feels (October 20 to 26)
| Rank | Article | Class | Views | Image | Notes/about |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rodney Alcala | |
2,490,646 |  |
In 1979, this reprehensible man who already spent some time in prison (and downright entered the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives) for child molestation, was arrested in California for the murder and abuse of a minor, and sentenced to death. During the investigation he was connected to at least seven more deaths, most with related sexual assault, and was found to have been a contestant in a TV show a year prior, earning the nickname "The Dating Game Killer" - Alcala won a date, but the woman rejected going out with him afterwards, unknowingly saving her life. Alcala spent decades imprisoned waiting for his execution only to die of natural causes in 2021. As with many serial killers, him topping this Report owes to a movie on Netflix, Woman of the Hour (#5), where Alcala is played by Daniel Zovatto. |
| 2 | Lyle and Erik Menendez | |
1,468,336 | |
More murderers on Netflix, albeit with only two victims, their parents, to take advantage of the inheritance before the police caught on. Their show has been out for a month yet loads of viewers still check this page for more info, as well as October news of their possible resentencing in December, which, if approved, would make the brothers available for parole and possibly released due to "time served". |
| 3 | Liam Payne | |
1,269,238 | .jpg) |
The shocking death of the former One Direction member at just 31, who fell off a balcony in a Buenos Aires hotel, is still being felt. Police is still determining if it was a suicide or an accident, stating several medications and energy supplements were found in his room, along with a whiskey bottle, and that the emergency medical team that witnessed Payne's death had arrived after the hotel's manager called reporting on an "aggressive man" who was thrashing his room. |
| 4 | Venom: The Last Dance | |
1,266,811 | .jpg) |
Venom wasn't a good case for a franchise of Spider-Man characters without the actual Spider-Man, but made over $850 million, and an extra $500 million came out of sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which at least embraced the silliness and Tom Hardy going insane as Eddie Brock to be more watchable. The trilogy ends in Venom: The Last Dance, the directorial debut of Kelly Marcel, who co-wrote the previous two movies, where Venom is hunted by aliens from his home world who want to release the evil Knull, and reviewers already disliked it for many problems, including hit-or-miss comedy (Venom wanting to join a singalong of "Space Oddity" is amusing, but him dancing to "Dancing Queen" is just cringeworthy). Yet audiences might again provide good box office to the Lethal Protector, as the movie made $95 million worldwide before Sunday. |
| 5 | Woman of the Hour | |
1,242,489 |  |
This American crime thriller film, released on Netflix on October 18, is the directorial debut of Anna Kendrick, who also plays Cheryl Bradshaw, the woman who in 1978 won a date with #1 in a matchmaking game show only to refuse to go out with him, thus avoiding being included in his murder spree. |
| 6 | Deaths in 2024 | |
1,028,425 |  |
Mumbling good morning & raising my head A bad breath kiss to my pillow pet I take a look at the day turns & stay in bed... |
| 7 | Fernando Valenzuela | |
882,113 |  |
"El Toro", who pitched for the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1980 to 1990, died on October 22. The Mexican player played for various other teams seven more seasons. In his time with the Dodgers, his screwball pitch won him two World Series (1981, 1988) and earned him the NL Cy Young Award (1981) and the Gold Glove Award (1986). |
| 8 | Fascism | |
762,276 |  |
With election season in the United States (#10) coming up, an increasing number of citizens are wondering what that word means that everyone keeps calling each other. |
| 9 | Kamala Harris | |
722,806 |  |
One of the candidates from #10. |
| 10 | 2024 United States presidential election | |
697,072 |  |
This election enters its final stretch with the Democrat (#9) and Republican candidates still neck-and-neck, at least according to the polls. A record number of mail-in ballots have already been cast ahead of November 5. |
Exclusions
- These lists exclude the Wikipedia main page, non-article pages (such as redlinks), and anomalous entries (such as DDoS attacks or likely automated views). Since mobile view data became available to the Report in October 2014, we exclude articles that have almost no mobile views (5–6% or less) or almost all mobile views (94–95% or more) because they are very likely to be automated views based on our experience and research of the issue. Please feel free to discuss any removal on the Top 25 Report talk page if you wish.
Most edited articles
For the September 21 – October 21 period, per this database report.
| Title | Revisions | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Deaths in 2024 | 1948 | Aside from the ones listed above, the deceased of the period included Ethel Kennedy, Gavin Creel and Paul Di'Anno, and many people who had entries in the last report (Maggie Smith, Kris Kristofferson, Dikembe Mutombo, John Amos, Hassan Nasrallah, and Pete Rose). |
| 2024 Atlantic hurricane season | 1585 | Every year from June to November strong winds form storms and cyclones in the Northern Atlantic. Three major hurricanes appeared so far in 2024, Beryl, Helene and Milton. (and let's give a shout out to WP:TROP, a very dedicated bunch that always updates and creates quality articles documenting hurricanes) |
| Hurricane Helene | 1446 | After this cyclone was formed on September 24, it climbed through Mexico, Honduras, Cuba and the Cayman Islands before making landfall in Florida, and until its dissipation on September 29 became the deadliest hurricane in the US since Katrina with 252 deaths, along with $45 billion in damages that range from the initial landfall devastation to floods and power outages as Helene went further inland. |
| Joker: Folie à Deux | 1324 | A historical failure, which hadn't even covered its massive $200 million budget after three weeks in theaters. A big cause is general disappointment from viewers who wanted the sequel to the wildly successful Joker to live up to the subtitle meaning "madness for two" simply by pairing the Joker and Harley Quinn, only to receive a weird hybrid of courtroom drama, psychological thriller and jukebox musical (in short, the expectations were Bonnie and Clyde, the end product was a non-comedic version of Chicago). |
| Hurricane Milton | 1310 | Resuming the hurricane season, one even stronger than Helene even if it arrived with less severe winds in the US, while still causing even costlier damages at $50 billion. |
| List of Kamala Harris 2024 presidential campaign endorsements | 1191 | A list of people supporting the Democrat. In case you're wondering, List of Donald Trump 2024 presidential campaign endorsements had 577 edits. |
| Timeline of the Israel–Hamas war (27 September 2024 – present) | 1071 | Against most expectations, the Israel-Hamas war ran to the end of a first year; the ever-present chaos in the Middle East seems far from over. |
| Timeline of the Israel–Hezbollah conflict (17 September 2024 – present) | 895 | |
| Antisemitic trope | 803 | Given the above, a very relevant topic, hence the cleanup was valid, even if it was unfortunately mostly provided by a user who ended up banned. |
| 2024 Pacific typhoon season | 785 | On the other side of the Americas, tropical cyclones were also formed. The current one is the deadliest since 2013, mostly owing to Typhoon Yagi between August 31 and September 8 on Southeast Asia and Southern China, and Typhoon Krathon between September 26 and October 4 in the Philippines and Taiwan. |
| Bigg Boss Marathi season 5 | 775 | One of the Indian Big Brothers, whose season ended on October 5, crowning influencer Suraj Chavan. |
| History of Christianity | 687 | Earlier this year, this Vital Article was promoted to Good status. Its first Featured Article candidacy was archived on the same day it was started, so the editors are clearly intent on delivering a page that won't raise objections the second time around. |
| 2024 Israeli invasion of Lebanon | 650 | Controversial Lebanese political party and militant group Hezbollah has a long-running feud with Israel, and they took advantage of Hamas invading and starting a war last year to fire rockets of their own. Israel kept on fighting back (between October and February, the estimates were 978 Lebanon launches of artillery fire across the border, and 7,948 incidents from Israel), and decided to escalate in September, including an airstrike on the Hezbollah headquarters. |
| Liam Payne | 642 | The death of the One Direction member was shocking and let to lots of updates. |
| 2024 Major League Baseball postseason | 638 | America's pastime had its playoffs, and the 2024 World Series will be one between the country's biggest cities, namely New York Yankees vs. Los Angeles Dodgers. |
Wikimedia tech, the Asian News International case, and the ultra-rare BLACKLOCK
Wikipedia is a social machine in which people and software tools interact to build an encyclopedia. In considering the court case Asian News International vs. Wikimedia Foundation, here are some of the technologies which affect this case.
WP:BLACKLOCK
The "black lock" is a tool which the Wikimedia Foundation applies to completely disallow anyone from editing a given Wikipedia article. Right now, the only English Wikipedia article with a block lock on it is Asian News International vs. Wikimedia Foundation.[blacklock 1] Currently, there is no easy way to determine which Wikipedia articles have ever had a black lock. The Wikipedia community used to maintain a log at Wikipedia:Office actions/Log, but had trouble managing it. There are data feeds which contain Wikimedia Foundation office actions which are difficult for humans to interpret, such as at Meta-Wiki, but in general, the only way to get information about Wikimedia Foundation locked articles is to find a human who already knows and ask them.
"Wikipedia is the free encyclopedia which anyone can edit", and the Wikipedia community wants to encourage discussion and development for all Wikipedia articles. Applying a black lock to an article immediately maximizes attention to that topic. There is no discrete way to use this feature, and attempts to use the black lock to gain privacy will only trigger the Streisand effect.
The black lock is part of Wikipedia:Protection policy, which are other article locking mechanisms for other purposes. The other locks are in the control of Wikipedia volunteer administrators, not the staff of the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikipedia administrators almost always use locks as a way to halt unproductive conflict within Wikipedia articles, and to instead direct editorial disputes to the associated Wikipedia talk page where editors can permanently and publicly log their article critiques while also seeking editorial consensus with their colleagues.
- ^ The article's talkpage is also so protected; see Category:Wikipedia Office-protected pages for the full list of pages.
User privacy features
The Wikipedia community places high value on global access to Wikipedia for both readers and editors. Everyone has the right to read Wikipedia, and everyone has the right to edit Wikipedia. Regarding readers, Wikipedia is the rare website which seeks to avoid spying on and tracking its readers. In the context of the Asian News International case, the more relevant right is safety and privacy for Wikipedia editors.
The safety and privacy protection extends to editors of who are here to build an encyclopedia. The usual activity for that is identifying reliable sources, then summarizing and citing those sources in Wikipedia articles as an editor. Based on information which the Wikipedia community has, the editors in the Asian News International case are good editors doing good editing in the Wikipedia way.
Editors have a right to privacy as described in the Wikimedia Foundation Privacy Policy. One way that Wikipedia offers privacy is by allowing editors to register user accounts then edit through a username, rather than their offline legal identity. Information which might be associated with a user account includes an email address and the IP addresses from which that user edits. IP addresses are private, and the Wikimedia Foundation resists sharing them.
In the case of Asian News International, that organization asked the Delhi High Court to order the Wikimedia Foundation to reveal the IP addresses of three editors who had edited the article about the organization. Editors who have edited this article have reported distress at this news. The Wikipedia community strongly objects to revealing the IP address of users, as this privacy protection is one of the foundations of trust between Wikimedia users and the Wikimedia Foundation. For more reactions, check the public community discussion forums on the subject.
English Wikipedia intensely and continuously discusses editor privacy, including in the context of moderation and a class of volunteers who investigate misconduct in the Wikipedia:CheckUser role. It is also common knowledge that Wikimedia projects generally disallow editing through virtual private networks or Tor according to the meta:No open proxies rule. Right now in October 2024, the big news in this domain is that the Wikimedia Foundation is rolling out a new type of account called "Temporary Accounts" which permits users to edit for a limited time, then have certain private account information deleted. All of these features and tools include a complex interplay of Wikipedia editors governing the project with a mix of social consensus and technological tools to manifest community design and wishes.
Archive Today
Archive.today, formerly called archive.is, is a mysterious archiving website which an unknown, non-Wikimedia entity operates. It has no formal relationship with Wikimedia projects. In practice, however, the website is the best, easiest, or only option which Wikipedia editors have to gain access to certain deleted Wikipedia articles. To access the last version of "Asian News International vs. Wikimedia Foundation" all you need to know is archive.is/ and a five letter code. It is impossible to gain a basic understanding of this story for journalistic purposes without seeing the deleted article. Discussions about this case throughout the Internet and social media point to this archival copy hosted at that site.
Accessing the deleted article is necessary because Wikipedians tell stories through Wikipedia articles. The Signpost is attempting to create journalism about this story, but the best explanation would be simply linking to the Wikipedia article for the topic, were it not deleted. One insight which a reader would gain from seeing the Wikipedia article would include that a lot of journalists have already written about this court case. Observing that, a reader should then wonder why the court feels that it is problematic for Wikipedia editors to summarize and that journalism, when the information in Wikipedia originates from external journalism.
The Signpost is an independent newspaper and has no special private access to anything in the Wikimedia platform. There are bureaucratic processes for publicly asking for such things. The Signpost made requests to see the deleted text with permission from Wikipedia Administrators and Wikipedia Oversighters, who are volunteer community moderators with specific and different user permission. Administrators do not have access at all due to the black lock. Oversighters have access, but are bound by a non-disclosure agreement to only share content at the direction of the Wikimedia Foundation. Neither of these groups could share the text, so no reviewers in the Wikimedia community have access to the deleted text through the Wikimedia platform.
Questions arise: our Wikipedia editor colleagues whose privacy is under threat seem to be in danger. To what extent should the Wikipedia user community of editors support them? When organizations are sued, they typically do not publicly discuss their court cases. The Signpost does not have access to the inner workings and thoughts of the Wikimedia Foundation, and while the Wikimedia community generally trusts the Wikimedia Foundation for protection, the community and the foundation are different entities and have different values, objectives, and motivations. When the Wikimedia community of editors organizes its own advocacy and responses, then we need our own sources of information, our own conversations, and our own leadership.
A number of Wikipedia editors contacted The Signpost to recommend that journalists here not produce journalism about this story without permission of the Wikimedia Foundation, and that the lack of access to this article through the Wikimedia platform was the Wikimedia Foundation's way of ordering the volunteer community of editors to avoid discussion of the article within the Wikimedia platform. The end result is that now Wikipedia editors turn to anonymously-run third party websites like archive.today to access a copy of the deleted article. The Signpost would like to clarify its understanding that accessing this article, discussing it, and producing journalism about it is aligned with Wikimedia community interests, and not contrary to any Wikimedia Foundation rule. There is no conflict here. It just happens that in this case, part of the Wikipedia community and Signpost technology workflow includes a third-party archive run by a mysterious anonymous Internet entity.
Man quietly slinks away from talk page argument after realizing his argument dumb, wrong
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PLANO, TEXAS — Hoping that nobody would notice, electrical engineer and Wikipedia editor Randall Pickenplace deleted his half-written comment and removed Talk:Miffeplatz-Helmkraupft interference from his watchlist Thursday, following the crushing realization that his argument was both incorrect and stupid.
"I really thought I had something there", said Pickenplace, 35, of his aborted attempt to add several paragraphs on turboencabulator leakage to the "Causes" section of the article.
For the previous six days, Pickenplace had been engaged in a vigorous back-and-forth with the article's creator, Gretchen Fairchild, on both the sourcing for the passage and its dueness in the article. Pickenplace provided citations to IEEE publications about turboencabulation-induced interference, and cited several textbooks that mentioned the effect. Fairchild responded by pointing out retractions and errata that cast doubt on the phenomenon.
"At first, I got the revert notification, and I was like 'how could someone be such a dumb jackass?' and undid the edit", Pickenplace said. "But now I'm thinking that someone might actually be me."
Pickenplace began to have doubts around the third day of the argument, when he noticed several journal articles had Fairchild listed as a coauthor. A subsequent attempt to find more publications about Miffeplatz-Helmkraupft interference turned up nothing relevant to winning the argument, although it did turn up https://prestigiousham.ac.uk/faculty/~gqfairchild/index.html (last updated in 2005). "That was when I kind of started to see the writing was on the wall," said Pickenplace. "Next to the PhD in digital signal processing."