patrick.net

http://www.returnofkings.com/120700/wikipedia-is-a-dire-warning-of-what-happens-when-you-let-social-justice-freaks-take-over

Since I first began editing Wikipedia in 2004, I've observed its devolution (paralleling that of RationalWiki) from a rapidly-growing collaboration run by slightly left-of-center secular humanists, who at least attempted to allow their critics' viewpoints some semblance of fair coverage, into a much more blatantly and unapologetically SJW-dominated platform that stifles dissent.

Adding content to Wikipedia has always has been a frustrating, disappointing experience. It's always been a challenge to make even high-quality content stick. And there have always been dickheads around whose attitudes have made the experience less pleasant. Yet, in recent years, it seems to have gotten worse.

As the number of volunteers willing to edit Wikipedia has been declining, there's been increased interest in paid editing. If you build up a reputation for quality work, you can make hundreds or thousands of dollars per article writing on behalf of companies, organizations, people, etc. who want you to handle their Wikipedia reputation management. You just write the article, have one of your many on-call meatpuppets post it to Wikipedia for you, and collect your payment.

Plus you can have the client sign up to pay you an annual fee for continuing to edit the article on their behalf as needed. The reason the pay is so high is that only a few people are familiar enough with the labyrinthine complexities of Wikipedia rules and culture to be able to successfully navigate the process. There's an alphabet soup of obscure Wikipedia policies, guidelines, and essays, each with its own acronym, that Wikipedians make reference to in discussions.

Like prosecutors, the administrators interpret the rules broadly to proscribe their adversaries' behavior, and interpret rules narrowly that contain exceptions the accused might cite in their defense. They demand strict application of rules when doing so favors their side; but call for flexibility to depart from the rules when that would suit their purpose instead. Meanwhile, in accordance with the SJW tactic “Isolate and Swarm”, users like Endercase who have an inconvenient habit of pointing out that the emperor wears no clothes get marked for elimination.

It used to be that, despite Wikipedia's flaws, it was still a place where you could have some useful accomplishments as a content creator. But now, while spergs continue to quietly build about 90 percent of Wikipedia's useful content, outside of areas like biology, science, medicine, the War of 1812, etc., Wikipedia has mostly devolved into a playground for entryist SJW trolls. Meanwhile, the donations continue rolling in from well-meaning chumps.

Wikipedia sucks. It's a propaganda machine to fool the dumb masses.

#politics