Mastodawn

John Carlos Baez

The new CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation worked at J.P. Morgan and Lehman Brothers. The Foundation has now fired a longtime lead developer and disbanded the team whose job was to listen to volunteers. Most of the people they fired were union organizers. Wikipedia’s editors are now threatening to strike. To stand in solidarity with them, sign the petition:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wiki_Workers_United_solidarity

For more, read on!

(1/2)

Wikipedia:Wiki Workers United solidarity - Wikipedia

John Carlos Baez 1d ago

For more on the situation, read this:

(2/2)

https://medium.com/@jakeorlowitz/wikipedia-is-doing-the-capitalist-thing-56a393232943

Big Tech’s Anti-Labor Playbook Has Come for Wikipedia

TLDR: In ten days last month, the Wikimedia Foundation fired the longtime lead developer of MediaWiki and disbanded the team whose entire…

Medium

baconandcoconut 1d ago

@johncarlosbaez That's bad news. I wonder what the process was for choosing this CEO.

@baconandcoconut
> wonder what the process was for choosing this CEO.

Likely a fast transfer of tiny tiny sums, some tens of $ thousands, from technazi’s knowledge destruction fund into the pockets of eligible members of the foundation’s board of directors.

@johncarlosbaez

@johncarlosbaez This article is ai?

John Carlos Baez 23h ago

@malice - no. You can read about the author, Jake Orlowitz, online.

@johncarlosbaez https://medium.com/@jakeorlowitz/coming-out-of-the-ai-closet-c11eebc8b7e7

I don't even care to read, tricking people into reading undisclosed ai text is just disrespectful

Coming out of the AI Closet

For a while now, I’ve been quietly using AI in my writing. A lot.

Medium

@johncarlosbaez (on the authors part, not yours, if you didn't know)

John Carlos Baez 8h ago

@malice - okay, thanks for letting me know.

@malice @johncarlosbaez Well spotted!

@malice Somehow I picked up on the AI style and I was like "it looks AI... but it couldn't be... this is someone who actually wrote a book and is actively involved in labour issues".

I am quietly disappointed, but at least I can still spot the stuff

Kagan MacTane (he/him)19h ago

@malice @johncarlosbaez Ugh, but well spotted and thanks for letting us know.

Xaela Enjoyer 🦎19h ago

@malice @johncarlosbaez

"Coming out of the AI Closet" oh FUCK THIS GUY

(Edited to fix what my word-replacer, uh, replaced)

Kévin ⏚8h ago

@november @malice @johncarlosbaez generic cishet white guys always find a way to try and hijack something to feel special. Don’t see him getting kicked out of his house at 16

BradleyKSherman 23h ago

@johncarlosbaez My wife keeps telling me to get rid of my shelf-filling paper version of the Encyclopedia Britannica, but now I have a new excuse.

@johncarlosbaez I think torrenting a large portion of wikipedia to an SSD is a great way to preserve the knowledge there.

@return0media @johncarlosbaez kiwix works well

@cyplo awesome. thanks for enlightening me.

Anthony David 1d ago

@johncarlosbaez

The problem can be fixed with only one firing (unless they brought a gaggle of lackeys with them).

Lea 💚🧵🛠️📊🥧🇺🇦🇵🇸1d ago

@johncarlosbaez An die deutschsprachige #Wikipedia Crowd: Betrifft uns das? Sollte ich meine regelmäßige Spende an die #WikimediaFoundation überdenken?
#wikimedia #deutschland

Niko Trimmel 1d ago

@leamusi Spenden an die WMF per se überdenken, die haben genug finanzielle Rücklagen. Spenden an nationale Vereine (Wikimedia Deutschland, oder Österreich etc) ist mMn sinnvoller. @johncarlosbaez

Nadia/Надя/नाडिया/娜迪亚/ نادية 23h ago

@nitrml @leamusi @johncarlosbaez Ich habe den Bedarf, Wikipedia zu klonen, nicht vorausgesehen.

Marion 🦋☀️1d ago

Das frage ich mich auch, aber aktuell bin ich erstmal entspannt. Die Betreiber in D sind ein lokaler Verein. Ich denke, wenn es da Schwierigkeiten gäbe, würden die sich rühren...

@johncarlosbaez

@Sagesse @leamusi @johncarlosbaez der lokale Verein betreibt gar nichts, das ist eher ein Fanclub/Lobbyorganisation/Anlaufstelle für Unterstützung der ehrenamtlichen Autor*innen und auch Softwareschmiede, hat aber mit dem eigentlichen Betrieb der Website nichts zu tun

Marion 🦋☀️20h ago

@poupou
Danke. Was heißt dann die Entwicklung bei der Wikimedia Foundation konkret für die deutsche Wikipedia-Seite? Hast du da genauere Informationen?

@leamusi @johncarlosbaez

@Sagesse @leamusi @johncarlosbaez bei dem deutschen Verein gibt es einen Betriebsrat und insoweit geordnete Verhältnisse. Die Kündigung von Brooke Vibber ( @brooke ) bei der WMF sehe ich mit großer Sorge, kenne aber auch keine Details

Marion 🦋☀️19h ago

Danke.

@leamusi @johncarlosbaez

@leamusi @johncarlosbaez es ist immer viel hilfreicher, zum Projekt mit Edits beizutragen als zu spenden. Geld ist das kleinste Problem von Wikipedia.

Martin Schröder 🇺🇳15h ago

@leamusi
@wikimediaDE hat einen Betriebsrat.
@johncarlosbaez

#Wikipedia #WikimediaFoundation #wikimedia #deutschland

withinity 1d ago

@johncarlosbaez This makes me sad. There has been so much pressure on wikipedia over the last year or so. Its a bit of a canary in the coal mine. I should probably download a backup of it just in case we start losing things.

Robin Adams 19h ago

@withinity @johncarlosbaez Wikipedia makes that easy for you here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Database_download

Wikipedia:Database download - Wikipedia

@withinity @johncarlosbaez yeah kiwix works well for this

狐ヴィクシー 1d ago

@johncarlosbaez How was this CEO picked? Seems hostile to the very principles of Wikipedia.

Niko Trimmel 1d ago

@KitsuneVixi it is not unheard of for managers to quit wallstreet jobs and be great in non-profits, because they want to do something with a higher purpose. The work history itself is not the problem here imo @johncarlosbaez

jz.tusk 22h ago

@nitrml @KitsuneVixi @johncarlosbaez

The work history *is* a caution sign though. And if this is one of her first actions, ....

mancube 22h ago

@jztusk @nitrml @KitsuneVixi @johncarlosbaez *his* first actions?

jz.tusk 21h ago

@mancube @nitrml @KitsuneVixi @johncarlosbaez

I have no idea. It's the first one I've heard of.

Niko Trimmel 20h ago

@jztusk I'll give you a hint: the CEO's first name is Bernadette.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernadette_Meehan

@mancube @KitsuneVixi @johncarlosbaez

Bernadette Meehan - Wikipedia

Karl Heinz Häsliprinz 1d ago

@johncarlosbaez Can't they just fork off to a different website?

Refurio Anachro 1d ago

Sure, you can download, say, the english Wikipedia, that's a few terabytes or so. If you also want history and discussions you gain a few magnitudes. Also hosting, but let's not forget they do a lot of filtering, support for authors, handling the insanity that is the internet in general, devs, lawyers, and there is certainly more!

Going without or even against WMF is bound to be difficult, so let's try and save it!

@KarlHeinzHasliP @johncarlosbaez

gkrnours 1d ago

@RefurioAnachro @KarlHeinzHasliP @johncarlosbaez https://browse.library.kiwix.org/#lang=eng
a few terabytes being 0.1

Kiwix Library

Refurio Anachro 1d ago

Thanks! I forgot where I looked it up last time.

@gkrnours @KarlHeinzHasliP @johncarlosbaez

Francesco Marini 23h ago

@gkrnours @RefurioAnachro @KarlHeinzHasliP @johncarlosbaez not including Wikimedia (i.e. pictures, videos, audio files, etc), though. As far as I know, that’s another 400 TB or so?

super_user_do 1d ago

@johncarlosbaez Holy fuckin shiet man, that is genuinely scary. How do we contribute?

AzureArmageddon 1d ago

@johncarlosbaez noooooo alt right war machine has come for one of the last bastions of truth FUCK

Edit: Signed the solidarity page and added the badge to my profile for what its worth. Im not a huge contributor, unfortunately.

EndicottRoad59 1d ago

@johncarlosbaez Another move right out of the fascist playbook: control information, control the people.

bituur esztreym 23h ago

@johncarlosbaez ouch. had seen the rest but missed the information in your first sentence.

GhostOnTheHalfShell 23h ago

@johncarlosbaez

One of the demands should be the immediate resignation of the CEO.

You cannot hire people from finance for business they are too polluted.

Herr Bischoff 23h ago

@johncarlosbaez What I’d like to know is how such a person gets voted/hired into such a position in the first place. How is this even possible? I honestly don’t understand it. Does the board support the actions? Are there any reliable official statements or rationale for the actions?

@johncarlosbaez it’s too bad that the editor leading the strike effort has a history of supporting white nationalists: https://doi.org/10.1080/2201473X.2024.2358697

Christo. London, England 22h ago

@johncarlosbaez
Wikipedia has been murdered

@johncarlosbaez Ugh, do we need to make a EU fork of Wikipedia as well. Such a bother. In the mean time maybe they don't need a monthly donation anymore.

...and I need to check on my backup of Wikipedia.

Franchesca 19h ago

@aanee @johncarlosbaez yeh, can we fork it and continue? I don’t want to support the current fuckwits in charge, but I do want this project to go on!

Djembro, RO, supports 🇺🇦🇬🇪22h ago

@johncarlosbaez

Guess I should stop my monthly donation.

HumanBeing 22h ago

@johncarlosbaez Has anyone seen anything happen to signed petitions other than data mining? I'd sign one but I've never seen anything come of it.

wtrabex 22h ago

@johncarlosbaez

This sounds like bad news all around.

@johncarlosbaez

Wikipedia is the single most important thing on the Internet, and must be protected at all costs.

Isidoro 21h ago

@johncarlosbaez en mi opinión, creo que todo responde, cómo siempre, a un interés económico y ahora también del control de la información, la IA recopila muchísimos datos de Wikipedia y ésto hace que Wikipedia sea un caramelo muy jugoso.
Quizás esté equivocado o no, no lo sé.

Poloniousmonk 21h ago

@johncarlosbaez

I have to be an editor to sign. Stupid. I give Wiki money. Well, I used to. They were the last bastion of unenshittified attempts at truth telling.

I am so congenitally unsuited for a post-factual world. I wish someone would kill me--this world hurts my brain, constantly. Actually, I just have to wait a few years and I'll be very, very valuable. I genuinely know things; the next generation will have to rely on us old fucks to determine fact vs. fantasy.

minentromaxinfo 21h ago

@johncarlosbaez Fuck. However this is why I setup an offline copy of Wikipedia this year with Kiwix. The internet is not a safe place for anything that's not monstrously fascist these days.