Leonhard LassFeb 25, 2024
Dan Gillmor

How can we prevent Wikipedia from crumbling under the weight of "AI" garbage spewing, and disinformation specialists' gleeful use of the garbage?

@molly0xfff says you can help best by becoming a Wikipedia editor.

It's not difficult. We all need to participate.

https://www.citationneeded.news/become-a-wikipedian-in-30-minutes/

(I'm assigning this to my students.)

Become a Wikipedian in 30 minutes

What will we do if Wikipedia falls to the type of AI-generated garbage that seems to be proliferating on the web? The number one thing you can do is learn to edit, and I will walk you through how to get started in only 30 minutes.

Citation Needed
Feb 25, 2024 at 6:06pmWeb
Show threadAjayFeb 25, 2024
@dangillmor @molly0xfff On the positive side, Wikipedia has an opportunity to start charging the AI modeling companies for using its content for training their models #history #AI https://traffic.libsyn.com/yinhistory/EP73-Artificial_Intelligence.mp3
Show threadbseFeb 25, 2024
@dangillmor @molly0xfff For instructors wishing to run classroom editing assignments, there's great support from Wikiedu - I've done several with my students. See
https://dashboard.wikiedu.org/
Wiki Education Dashboard

Wiki Education Dashboard for Wikipedia editing projects

Show threadbseMar 1, 2024
@dangillmor @molly0xfff Wikiedu interviewed NDSU Mineralogy student Zoe M, having noticed students' work over the years on creating new #Wikipedia articles. The post: https://wikiedu.org/blog/2024/02/28/filling-gaps-in-the-mineral-cabinet/
Filling gaps in the mineral cabinet

In Wiki Education’s Wikipedia Student Program, students are assigned to edit a Wikipedia article on a course-related topic by their higher education instructor. For some students, they pick s…

Wiki Education
Show threadChris WhoFeb 25, 2024

@dangillmor @molly0xfff Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

Reminds me of the old joke of "The bad thing is anyone can post anything on the internet. The good thing, is that anyone can post anything on the internet"

Show threadErosBlog Bacchus has moved!Feb 25, 2024
@dangillmor @molly0xfff Does that mean that the existing Wikipedia community has decided to stop being insufferable assholes to newbie editors, and to somehow enforce this new resolve?
Show threadOliverCFeb 26, 2024

@ErosBlog @dangillmor @molly0xfff I hope so. Here's a quote from the youtube:
"overwhelmed by the policies".

I thought at first it was a typo for "overwhelmed by the police".

Show threadErosBlog Bacchus has moved!Feb 26, 2024
@OliverC @dangillmor @molly0xfff Yeah, it's not the policies, it's the supercilious assholes who delight in enforcing the policies in the most frustrating and least welcoming possible way. Which is to say, the toxicity of the community.
Show threadThe DoctorFeb 25, 2024
@dangillmor @molly0xfff Already on my fourth Wikipedia account because the first three got banned for correcting LLM generated misinformation because "AI is the future!"
Show threadMatt HodgkinsonFeb 25, 2024
@drwho @dangillmor @molly0xfff No admins I know of welcome AI-generated content. Can you provide links or details?
Show threadThe DoctorFeb 26, 2024
@mattjhodgkinson @dangillmor @molly0xfff It wasn't AI-generated stuff, it was the folks who look for "woke" edits and brigade the accounts off of Wikipedia.
Show threadTim ChambersFeb 25, 2024
@dangillmor @molly0xfff Adding @wikipedia and @wikimediafoundation to this thread!
Show threadMike Gifford, CPWA @FOSDEMFeb 25, 2024
@dangillmor @molly0xfff I should find ways to chime in more than I do.
Show threadkattekrabFeb 26, 2024

@mgifford @dangillmor @molly0xfff

Fun fact: I started the fairy Wikipedia page in 2002 🧚🏽‍♂️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻

Show threadMike Gifford, CPWA @FOSDEMFeb 26, 2024
@kattekrab @dangillmor @molly0xfff That makes sense... :)
Show threadBunnyPixelFeb 25, 2024
@dangillmor you cant stop it. 90+% of the entire web will be written by bots in the coming years.
Show threadRobert TaylorFeb 25, 2024
@dangillmor @molly0xfff geesh, what could possibly go wrong
Show threadTim Ward ⭐🇪🇺🔶 #FBPEFeb 25, 2024
@dangillmor @molly0xfff Wot happens if you say to an AI "write a Wikipedia page about me"?
Show threadMolly WhiteFeb 25, 2024
@TimWardCam @dangillmor tried it about a year ago, wouldn't recommend it
Show threadTim Ward ⭐🇪🇺🔶 #FBPEFeb 25, 2024
@molly0xfff @dangillmor Excellent! Exactly the sort of thing one might expect! Saves me the trouble of trying it - thanks!
Show threadlocalzukFeb 26, 2024

@dangillmor @molly0xfff I edited for years, totting up thousands of edits over time. But then the culture got worse and worse. It became a bureaucratic mess to do even the simplest of edits.

So I gave up. Unless the accusatory, passive aggressive attitude of those with elevated powers on the site is sorted out, many good editors will not return.

Show threadLoy HenaFeb 26, 2024

@dangillmor
In france, we can't. As queer persons our accounts are being banned because we were vocal about trans issues (Wikipedia-fr wanting to deadname alive trans people, and us saying they should not)

@molly0xfff

Show threadtrinity-1686aFeb 26, 2024
@dangillmor @molly0xfff @n8fr8 to be honest, seeing how French Wikipedia is administered by tranphobes, I don't think Wikipedia is the kind of project I want to contribute to right now 😞