Mastodawn

Alex / catileptic

"TLDR: In ten days last month, the Wikimedia Foundation fired the longtime lead developer of MediaWiki and disbanded the team whose entire job was to listen to volunteers. Most of the people they fired were union organizers. Wikipedia’s editors are now threatening to strike in solidarity. The Foundation is sitting on $296 million in reserves and a freshly profitable AI revenue stream. This is a confrontation with global implications"

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

Koen de Jonge - SynQ May 27

@catileptic I hope journalists like @EricChrSmit and @Marloezovic have already read this and will write about it soon.

tsadilas May 27

@catileptic who is actually voting in the foundation and takes this kind of decisions?

tsadilas May 27

@catileptic These people I guess https://wikimediafoundation.org/role/board/

Board of Trustees – Wikimedia Foundation

The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees oversees the foundation and its work, as its ultimate corporate authority.

Wikimedia Foundation

Melroy van den Berg May 27

@catileptic I hate Wikipedia

Lord Tom Klopf of CZ

@catileptic even wikipedia is getting enshittified, say it ain't so!

Simon Brooke May 27

@catileptic What's crazy about this is that it is entirely possible and legal to fork the Wiki. Both code and data are open source. And if you were going to fork the wiki, the people you would want to have on your team would be, IDK, maybe Brooke Vibber and the folks who are trusted by the volunteer editors?

So #Wikipedia are basically saying to the custodians of their crown jewels, we don't need you any more, get out of here.

This may turn out to be one of those historic strategic errors.

Juho Mäntysalo May 27

@simon_brooke @catileptic

To quote the article:

>[Wikimedia Foundation] holds $296.6 million in reserves[.] [In addition] The Wikimedia Endowment sits on $169.4 million in, up $25 million in a single year. Wikimedia Enterprise [- -], just turned profitable on $8.3 million in revenue, a 148% jump from the prior year.

If you fork Wikipedia, you have to both replace that circa half billion dollars they've saved for server upkeep and employee salaries, AND get new revenue to replace it.

Bitter Donald May 29

@iju @simon_brooke @catileptic
No, if you fork Wikipedia, you have to have a financial backend to support it. Doesn't need to be nearly that large.

Simon Brooke May 29

@bitterdonald @iju @catileptic It could start quite small; and very probably, a lot of existing Wikipedia donors could be persuaded to switch. Yes, you probably wouldn't get the big corporates at first, but if volunteer editors switch to the new wiki, so it continues to improve, you would eventually.

#Wikipedia
#Solidarity

Juho Mäntysalo May 29

@bitterdonald @simon_brooke @catileptic

You don't need all the half a billion immediately, and indeed even for the current Foundation that's nigh three years of operating expences

But if you are imaging a fork that takes over Wikipedia in scale as well, you need that monies and you need it pretty fast.

And half a billion is a lot of money just to leave on the table because you can't get some people at the top fired.

Fairness4All May 29

@iju @bitterdonald @simon_brooke @catileptic Depends on who forks it I guess. See grokipedia ugh

Steven Zekowski May 27

@catileptic
I feel like a sucker for donating (a small amount) to wikimedia fdn every year.

@steve_zeke @catileptic Me too!

JimmyB (he/him)May 28

@steve_zeke @catileptic me too. That stops now

Steven Zekowski Jun 6

@catileptic
I finally got around to reading this in its entirety (shame on me for taking so long). I love #Wikipedia. I refer to it at least once daily. These management changes and decisions make me sad and angry. These are #technology #labor and #EconomicJustice issues.

https://medium.com/regarding-wikipedia/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 MediaWiki’s most influential developer and disbanded the team whose entire job…

Medium

Steven Zekowski Jun 6

@catileptic
> Bernadette Meehan became CEO on January 20, 2026, recruited from a career that included Wall Street stints at J.P. Morgan and Lehman Brothers, a spokesperson role at the National Security Council, senior leadership at the Obama Foundation, and most recently a posting as U.S. Ambassador to Chile. Four months in, the longtime lead developer of MediaWiki is fired, the team that personifies community service is dissolved, and the union is in open confrontation.

Steven Zekowski Jun 6

@catileptic
> This is what Wiki Workers United is asking for. Transparency and accountability from leadership toward both staff and movement communities. Real staff input on annual planning before decisions are finalized. An end to inconsistent hiring, firing, and promotion practices. The ability to safely dissent. Mental health support for the workers who deal with the community directly. Their organizing principle, borrowed from disability rights, is nothing about us without us.

Nimona RESISTS May 27

@catileptic I've just canceled my autopayment donation because of this.

Aline Blankertz May 28

@catileptic Having worked at the second biggest organisation of the Wikimedia family after the Foundation, I am not surprised at all.

The management puts pressure on employees who are part of the workers council, questions about substance are turned into communication challenges, and the internal “AI” inevitability doctrine was not to be questioned, among other things. (Plus a very unhealthy culture…never worked in a place that hierarchical - but pretending the opposite)

caramel beurre salope 🔜 EMF May 28

@catileptic fuck wmf board. theyre the ones who should be fired.

caramel beurre salope 🔜 EMF May 28

@catileptic they appropriated a collective tool serving humanity as a whole, and are actively undermining its governance and operations by punishing the workers running it for daring to ask for better working conditions. this is unforgivable

JimmyB (he/him)May 28

@catileptic I’ve cancelled my regular subscription…

@catileptic see also: "Thinking of cancelling your Wikipedia donation? Don’t. Read this first." https://medium.com/@jakeorlowitz/thinking-of-cancelling-your-wikipedia-donation-dont-read-this-first-228f1984ed23
(Since several people here mentioned canceling donations)

Thinking of cancelling your Wikipedia donation? Don’t. Read this first.

You’re right to be furious about the layoffs, but walking away sends exactly the wrong message.

Medium

Magnus Ahltorp May 29

@simulo @catileptic ”But whatever you do, send money to Medium, because that’s the most important thing”

Anyone else want to plug posts on Medium?

AskPippa🇨🇦Jun 13

@catileptic I'd like to hear what some of the people who were fired have to say. I don't think any of them were quoted in the stories I've read.