This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Kiefer.Wolfowitz (talk | contribs) at 16:18, 25 May 2013 (→Relations with governments: suppression, not censorship, following talk page discussions objecting to censorship, which was in the RS). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 16:18, 25 May 2013 by Kiefer.Wolfowitz (talk | contribs) (→Relations with governments: suppression, not censorship, following talk page discussions objecting to censorship, which was in the RS)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) Wikipediocracy logo | |
 Wikipediocracy screenshot taken May 18, 2013 | |
| Type of site | Blog and forum |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| URL | www.wikipediocracy.com |
| Commercial | No |
| Registration | Optional, required for some features |
| Launched | March 16, 2012; 12 years ago (2012-03-16) |
| Current status | Active |
Wikipediocracy is a website for discussion and criticism of Misplaced Pages. Its contributors have discussed problems with Misplaced Pages and its parent corporation the Wikimedia Foundation and have sometimes provided journalists with background information on controversies, such as
- a Misplaced Pages editor pursuing vengeance against his literary rivals by writing negative articles about them;
- the Russian-language Misplaced Pages censoring information about home-made drug paraphernalia.
A Wikipediocracy concern that Wikimedia Foundation employees were allegedly vandalizing Wikipeda resulted in the diagnosis of a software error, which explained the previously mislogged vandalism.
Mission
The site describes its mission as being:
"to shine the light of scrutiny into the dark crevices of Misplaced Pages and its related projects; to examine the corruption there, along with its structural flaws; and to inoculate the unsuspecting public against the torrent of misinformation, defamation, and general nonsense that issues forth from one of the world’s most frequently visited websites, the 'encyclopedia that anyone can edit.'"
Daily Dot reporter Kevin Morris has stated that the website is "known for digging up dirt on Misplaced Pages's top brass."
Investigations of Misplaced Pages controversies
Wikipediocracy contributors have investigated problems, conflicts, and controversies associated with Misplaced Pages. One investigation found an editor likely to be responsible for a hoax article on the "Bicholim conflict" which lasted five years on Misplaced Pages before being challenged.
Revenge editing
More recently, Wikipediocracy members contacted Salon.com reporter Andrew Leonard to alert him about the "Qworty fiasco", providing background information on Misplaced Pages editor Qworty and writer Robert Clark Young. This background information led to Leonard's writing an article, Revenge, Ego, and the Corruption of Misplaced Pages, which published the fact that "revenge editor" Qworty was indeed Young. Just before the publication of Leonard's article, Qworty had been banned from editing biographies of living persons (on Misplaced Pages) by this message:
some of your comments ... are extremely troubling when considered in light of your edits and the “rants” you posted last month, which were deeply unfortunate and reflected negatively on the project. If you do continue or resume editing in the future, you are directed not to edit biographical articles concerning any living person (other than yourself and excluding reversion of obvious vandalism) and not to make disparaging comments about any living person on any page of Misplaced Pages. I hope you will understand that at this point, these restrictions are in the best interests of all concerned.
Relations with governments
Wikipediocracy contributors have assisted in reports on other controversies with Misplaced Pages. For instance, when the Russian government threatened to shut down the Russian-language Misplaced Pages if it refused to delete descriptions of marijuana paraphernalia, Wikipediocracy's Twitter feed was the source credited by The Daily Dot to document the suppression of marijuana "inhalation devices" by editors of the Russian Misplaced Pages description.
The involvement of Wikipediocracy members in criticism of Misplaced Pages has been discussed by news stories covering Jimmy Wales's relationship with the government of Kazakhstan and the Gibraltarpedia controversy.
Wikimedia Foundation
A Wikipediocracy blog post reported on what appeared to be persistent vandalism to Misplaced Pages from IP addresses owned by the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF). Responding to the allegations, WMF spokesman Jay Walsh told Daily Dot reporter Kevin Morris that the IP addresses did not belong to the Foundation office but to the Foundation servers for the Wikimedia projects. He stated that the addresses were assigned to some edits due to a misconfiguration. Morris tested Walsh's contention and found that it seemed to be accurate.
Domain ownership
Gregory Kohs, owner of MyWikiBiz, is a contributor to Wikipediocracy and owns the domain registration for Wikipediocracy.com.
See also
References
- "wikipediocracy.com info". alexa.com. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
- "Wikipediocracy". Retrieved 19 May 2013.
- ^ Morris, Kevin (23 April 2013). "Misplaced Pages says its staffers are not vandalizing Misplaced Pages". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
- Morris, Kevin (1 January 2013). "After a half-decade, massive Misplaced Pages hoax finally exposed". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
- ^ Nichols, Martha; Berry, Lorraine (May 20, 2013). "What Should We Do About Misplaced Pages?". Talking Writing. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
- ^ Leonard, Andrew (17 May 2013). "Revenge, ego and the corruption of Misplaced Pages". Salon.com. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
- Morris, Kevin (9 April 2013). "The Daily Dot - Misplaced Pages pot article loses bongs, gets OK'd in Russia". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
- Morris, Kevin (25 December 2012). "The Daily Dot - Misplaced Pages's odd relationship with the Kazakh dictatorship". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
- Alfonso, Fernando (25 October 2012). "The Daily Dot - Misplaced Pages's Jimmy Wales breaks silence on resurgence of influence-peddling scandal". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
- Orlowski, Andrew (26 October 2012). "Wales: Let's ban Gibraltar-crazy Wikipedians for 5 years". The Register. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
- Hogsky, Roger. "Busy day at the Wikimedia Foundation office?". Retrieved 24 May 2013.
- "Announcing a new Misplaced Pages criticism site | Wikipediocracy". Wikipediocracy. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
- Kohs, Gregory. "Cover-up begins in Misplaced Pages's Gibraltar scandal". Wikipediocracy. Retrieved 21 May 2013.