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2024-10-19

A scream breaks the still of the night

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By Igordebraga, Vestrian24Bio, CAWylie, Rahcmander, Ollieisanerd
This traffic report is adapted from the Top 25 Report, prepared with commentary by Igordebraga, Vestrian24Bio, CAWylie, Ollieisanerd and Rahcmander.

You wanna know about atrocity, atrocity (September 15 to 21)

Rank Article Class Views Image Notes/about
1 Lyle and Erik Menendez 3,493,715 Oh look, another case of criminals topping this list after a Netflix show. The Menendez brothers were the sons of an entertainment executive who one day in 1989 decided to repeatedly shoot their parents with 12-gauge shotguns, passed as innocent so they could spent the inherited fortune, but the police eventually caught on, arrested them and their 1996 trial sent them into life sentences. Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story (#8) tells this story, with Cooper Koch as Lyle and Nicholas Chavez as Erik.
2 Sean Combs 1,507,229 As recently sung by Kesha, "wake up in the morning like fuck P. Diddy!" Last year this rapper's former partner Cassie Ventura filed a lawsuit accusing him of sexual assault (and at a certain point security footage of him beating her in a hotel was leaked), other people took the opportunity to also denounce Combs, in March some properties of his were raided by Homeland Security, and now "Puff Daddy" has been downright indicted by a federal grand jury in Manhattan, charged with sex trafficking and racketeering, with allegations his commercial enterprises were used for felonies of their own. Combs has pled not guilty and was twice denied bail, so he remains in a detention center while awaiting trial.
3 Deaths in 2024 976,004 Don't they ever have to worry?
Don't you ever wonder why?
It's a part of me that tells you
Oh, don't you ever, don't ever say die
Never, never, Never Say Die! Again!
4 Tito Jackson 818,581 "—I'm Michael Jackson! You are Toto!
—You mean Tito! Toto is what we ate last night for dinner."
So, right after a jokey lyric in the obituary comes an addition to it. 15 years after the most famous member left this world, breaking Wikipedia along the way, another of The Jackson 5, who in 2012 reunited under their second name The Jacksons, went to attend the Great Gig in the Sky, namely Tito Jackson, at the age of 70. Along with performing Tito helped push more of the Jackson family onto the music business as his sons formed their own group, 3T.
5 Laura Loomer 700,884 This U.S congressional reject remains in the orbit of politics, namely as an influencer to Donald Trump. On September 12, towards the end of the second presidential debate, Trump made the claim of Haitian immigrants stealing pets in Springfield, Ohio, and eating them. This partly arose from Loomer's perpetuating the rumor in social media.
6 Beetlejuice Beetlejuice 693,903 Like on Stranger Things, Winona Ryder plays a mother who sees her child get dragged onto a separate dimension. Only this time around it's a daughter who goes to the afterlife, forcing Lydia Deetz to get help by summoning Beetlejuice (mwahahaha!), still pining for her after 36 years. Along with Ryder and Michael Keaton, there's also the return of Catherine O'Hara as Lydia's stepmom (but not Jeffrey Jones as her father, who gets a gruesome off-screen death given the actor's criminal record) and most importantly of director Tim Burton, along with the addition of Jenna Ortega as the daughter. Reviewers and audiences alike appreciated how Beetlejuice Beetlejuice retained the same funny and outlandish tone of the original, and the film has led the North American box office for three weeks straight while earning over $300 million worldwide.
7 Shōgun (2024 TV series) 675,653 This FX historical drama set in 17th century Japan garnered much praise earlier this year, and has now followed by converting 18 out of 25 Primetime Emmy nominations, the single most awarded season ever, with the wins including Outstanding Drama Series and Best Actor and Actress in Drama to Hiroyuki Sanada and Anna Sawai. This probably speaks well of the incoming seasons based on the rest of the Asian Saga. (and given no other Emmy winners came close to entering this week, Baby Reindeer, which like Shōgun appeared a lot in the Report in the first semester, took home Best Limited or Anthology Series, and Best Comedy went to Hacks, beating The Bear, which even the ceremony's opening monologue questioned whether it's a comedy)
8 Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story 617,889 Season 1 of this Ryan Murphy true crime show sullied our humble list by pasting a cannibal dead for nearly 30 years all over our records page and downright as the most viewed page of the year. So I must express a relief that in spite of providing another #1 subject, this time around the numbers won't go as high as Dahmer's did.
9 The Greatest of All Time 614,818 Kollywood Thalapathy Vijay's penultimate film before he moves onto politics, an action thriller film released two weeks ago and that has shattered many records for a Tamil film already. It has so far grossed over ₹450 crore (US$52 million) and has became the highest-grossing Tamil film of 2024 and the third highest-grossing Indian film of 2024. It also became the third highest-grossing film in Tamil Nadu, the fifth highest-grossing Tamil film in overseas, the fifth highest-grossing Tamil film of all time, the 11th highest-grossing South Indian film of all time and the 29th highest-grossing Indian film of all time. It became the fourth film of the actor to reach the ₹300 crore (US$35 million) mark after Bigil (2019), Varisu (2023) and Leo (2023); the actor also became the only Tamil actor to have three consecutive films to do so. It became the sixth Tamil film to reach the ₹400 crore (US$46 million) mark within 11 days of its release. The actor's last film, tentatively titled Thalapathy 69 has been now officially announced as a political action thriller film and is scheduled to be released in October 2025.
10 Agatha All Along (miniseries) 605,989 The 11th television series in the MCU produced by Marvel Studios, via its new Marvel Television label, had its 2-episode premiere last Wednesday; with new episodes set to premiere every week, and a 2-episode finale on the Devil's Night. It follows up WandaVision, which ended with the villainous witch Agatha Harkness being put under a spell that made her think she was a character in an old sitcom. After 3 years, Agatha, still played with scenery-chewing gusto by Kathryn Hahn, gets her own show, where she is taken out of that spell by a goth kid and decides to recruit a new coven to recover her powers before some old enemies (who in the comics are her grandchildren!) come to confront her.

See into my eyes, you'll find where murder lies (September 22 to 28)

Rank Article Class Views Image Notes/about
1 Lyle and Erik Menendez 7,386,763 These American brothers who were convicted in 1996 of the murders of their parents managed to top the list thanks to the second season (#5) of the Netflix biographical anthology series which was based on their life story (and if you click the article you might notice the page name is now spelled without an accent).
2 Maggie Smith 3,006,977 Dame Margaret Natalie Smith died at the age of 89, leaving behind a storied career that included two Oscars (Best Actress for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and Best Supporting Actress for California Suite) and memorable roles like a Greek Goddess in Clash of the Titans, an elderly Wendy Darling in Hook, a stern nun in Sister Act, a stern witch in the Harry Potter movies, and a witty countess in Downton Abbey.
3 Sean Combs 1,968,290 Last night, I couldn't even get an answer. Well, the answers regarding the rapper also known as Puff Daddy and (P.) Diddy are turning out to be quite unsavory. His success in music and business (he's possibly a billionaire) led to wild "white parties" full of sex and drugs, and many crimes that sent Combs to court, most notably hundreds of accusations of sexual misconduct. The press and social media are also digging up who used to hang out with Combs.
4 Hassan Nasrallah 1,140,433 The leader of #7, a Lebanese militant group designated as a terrorist organization by many countries, was killed once the group's headquarters were bombed by Israel.
5 Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story 1,034,454 The second season of the American biographical crime drama anthology television series Monster, centers on the 1989 murders of José and Kitty Menendez (portrayed by Javier Bardem, pictured, and Chloë Sevigny), who were killed by their sons, #1 (portrayed by Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez). It premiered last week on Netflix and achieved massive viewership numbers, despite being subject to controversies as well. Which means it's just like season 1 two years ago, only this time the Wikipedia views aren't high enough to revolt the writers of this Report.
6 Deaths in 2024 992,961 Jean, Jean, you're young and alive
Come out of your half-dreamed dream
And run, if you will, to the top of the hill
Open your arms, bonnie Jean
7 Hezbollah 807,182 The Israel–Hamas war is close to completing its first year, to the chagrin of everyone not named Benjamin Netanyahu. The Zionist state took the opportunity to retaliate constant bombings by the militant group ruling over neighbor country Lebanon, with actions like the Lebanon pager explosions and the airstrike that killed #4. The international community fears it will escalate to another major armed conflict as some are already predicting a WW3.
8 Murder of Felicia Gayle 751,513 While a journalist being found dead from 43 stab wounds in her own home in 1998, and her killer (Marcellus Williams) was charged, convicted and sentenced to death in 2001, should be shocking in and of itself, his appeals since then, coupled with DNA evidence supporting his innocence and Gayle's family not wanting him to be executed, did not sway the State of Missouri (state seal shown) from ending his life on September 24.
9 Devara: Part 1 751,115 As two Indian films leave the list, a new one enters. Written and directed by Koratala Siva (pictured), this Tollywood action-drama film starring N. T. Rama Rao Jr in his 30th film as a lead actor was released last Friday. This film also marks Saif Ali Khan, Janhvi Kapoor and Shruti Marathe's Telugu acting debuts. The film opened to mixed reviews from critics and grossed over ₹250 crore (US$29 million) in just 3 days against a budget of ₹300 crore (US$35 million).
10 Daniel Dubois 677,941 "Are you not entertained?", the IBF heavyweight champion shouted to the crowd of 96,000 at Wembley Stadium, after defeating opponent Anthony Joshua on September 21.

The death call arises, a scream breaks the still of the night (September 29 to October 5)

Rank Article Class Views Image Notes/about
1 Lyle and Erik Menendez 4,565,092 These American brothers who were convicted in 1996 of the murders of their parents managed to top the list for the third consecutive week, thanks to a Netflix show based on their lives and crime.
2 Kris Kristofferson 2,788,936 The American country music star and actor died on September 28 aged 88. Kristofferson had hits like "Me and Bobby McGee" (which topped the charts when covered by Janis Joplin), was a member of the country group the Highwaymen, and his acting roles include 1976's A Star Is Born, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Blade and the 2001 Planet of the Apes. His death leaves Willie Nelson as the last surviving member of the Highwaymen.
3 Joker: Folie à Deux 1,771,197 While a HBO Max series based on a Batman villain missed out, a film based on another Batman villain has made it to the list. The 2019 Joker film (which is unrelated to both the old DCEU and the upcoming new Rebooted DCU, thus being labeled as DC Elseworlds) had a sequel greenlit within a month of its release as it made over $1 billion and went on to win two Academy Awards, while also managing to be nominated for Best Picture, the first DC film to do so. The sequel has Joaquin Phoenix reprising his role as Arthur Fleck/Joker along with the addition of Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn, and somehow the marketing sold Bonnie & Clyde but the film itself was Chicago, a crime/courtroom musical (except in not being a comedy, in spite of the protagonist being a clown!). Just about every critic questioned what director Todd Phillips was doing, and audiences are also not as enthralled by Folie à Deux, with low expectations for the opening weekend's numbers and thus the possibility of the hefty budget that can be as high as $200 million leading to a big box office bomb.
4 Sean Combs 1,310,093 The rapper who once bragged that "It's All About the Benjamins" now needs to see if his fortune estimated near the billion mark can save him from a long stay in prison – hasn't fully worked yet, he was twice denied bail – for a laundry list of accusations, including sex trafficking, racketeering, and overall creation of a criminal enterprise. In the meantime the public discovers which celebrities used to be friends with "Puffy", and musicians like Kesha, Maren Morris and Joe Jonas are removing references to him from their songs.
5 Devara: Part 1 1,211,130 This Tollywood action-drama film starring N. T. Rama Rao Jr (pictured) in his 30th film as a lead actor was released last week and opened to mixed reviews from critics and has so far grossed over ₹370 crore (US$43 million) against a budget of ₹300 crore (US$35 million).
6 Pete Rose 1,188,107 Pete Rose, who died at 83 and was also known as "Charlie Hustle", was named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team for a career that included three World Series titles, most notably two as part of the Cincinnati Reds team nicknamed "Big Red Machine". Yet his legacy was tarnished when in 1989 an investigation discovered Rose, then the coach of the Reds, was betting on the team's own games, leading to a permanent ban from MLB and subsequently being ineligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame.
7 Deaths in 2024 1,088,743 From #2's work:
Yesterday is dead and gone and tomorrow's out of sight.
Lord, it's bad to be alone.
Help Me Make It Through the Night.
8 Jimmy Carter 1,040,620 The 39th American president already became the longest-lived U.S. president in 2019, and now, defying expectations after nearly two years in hospice care, Carter celebrated his 100th birthday on October 1, becoming the first former president to reach the age of 100.
9 Dikembe Mutombo 993,594 A Congolese basketballer who died at the age of 58 of a brain tumor. He had a great proficiency in blocks and rebounds, earning him the nickname "Mount Mutombo" and four NBA Defensive Player of the Year Awards; he only couldn't get a championship ring, at most being in the 2001 NBA Finals as part of the Philadelphia 76ers. Dikembe Mutombo was also known for extensive humanitarian work, including financing a hospital in his hometown of Kinshasa which he named after his mother.
10 John Amos 891,050 This American actor died at age 84 in August, but it wasn't announced until October 1 (even his own daughter didn't know). Amos was famous for portraying the adult Kunta Kinte in the TV miniseries Roots, as well as his role as patriarch James Evans Sr. in the sitcom Good Times, a character which was killed off because of Amos' dissatisfaction with how African Americans were portrayed.

Exclusions

  • These lists exclude the Wikipedia main page, non-article pages (such as redlinks), and anomalous entries (such as DDoS attacks or likely automated views). Since mobile view data became available to the Report in October 2014, we exclude articles that have almost no mobile views (5–6% or less) or almost all mobile views (94–95% or more) because they are very likely to be automated views based on our experience and research of the issue. Please feel free to discuss any removal on the Top 25 Report talk page if you wish.


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Off to the races! Wikipedia wins!

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By Bri, Gråbergs Gråa Sång, Jonatan Svensson Glad, robertsky, Smallbones, and HaeB

"Politics of perception" persistence is perplexing, but proof is pending

The Independent Journal Review, borrowing from The Daily Caller, recently claimed that your Wikipedia donations might be funding "feminism and racial justice", instead of just keeping the lights on. The Commune Mag and OpIndia then joined the fray, alleging that Wikimedia's finances are tied to shadowy donors. Karah Rucker of Straight Arrow News listed left-leaning leaders like Art+Feminism and Black Lunch Table—programs we've previously highlighted in The Signpost. Meanwhile, in yet another familiar critique of Wikipedia's alleged political leanings, Voz branded the platform as “Wokepedia”, saying it is the world's largest encyclopedia in one sentence, and it "now resembles a sort of Orwellian authority" in the next one.

At this point, it's like watching a rerun. Every few weeks, a new outlet accuses the free encyclopedia of the mind-numbing non-napping known as part of the politics of perception. Next, Matt Walsh, a commentator for The Daily Wire (not the most reliable source, to be honest), described a scene from his own movie Am I Racist?, where a supposed "white-guilt" group tries to get him arrested by reading the Wikipedia article about him to the police. See previous Signpost coverage on Walsh's commentary. – JSG, S

A Hoosier hurrah! Indy Wiki Conference video

WISH-TV reported on the latest edition of WikiConference North America, which took place in Indianapolis from October 3 to October 6. The station interviewed Nigerian Wikimedian James Popoola—a frequent contributor to Wikidata and The WikiVibrance Project—Justin Clark, the digital initiatives director at the Indiana State Library, and the conference's organizer, Dominic Byrd-McDevitt. As further highlighted in the article, the mayor of Indianapolis, Joe Hogsett, proclaimed October 4 as "Wikipedia Day", while the IU Indianapolis Library received $280,000 from the local Library Fund in order to improve information on Indiana's digital heritage on Wikipedia. – S

Keeping AI at bay – with a little help from volunteers

Devex reported on how Wikipedia's army of human volunteers is being hailed as its greatest weapon against the rise of artificial intelligence. Interviewed by the platform, Wikimedia Foundation CEO Maryana Iskander emphasized that while AI churns out a lot of "slop" by prioritizing speed over accuracy, Wikipedia's crowdsourced approach has kept it a beacon of reliable information. Despite the hype surrounding the AI's quick progress, Iskander notes that Wikipedia's human editors remain cool and confident, because, well, it turns out that good old-fashioned community curation still works.

Additionally, 404 Media has picked up on the formation of WikiProject AI Cleanup (see previous Signpost coverage), created by volunteers to tackle a growing problem: AI-generated content that introduces errors or misleading information into articles. ExtremeTech also highlighted the surge of "AI-generated garbage," including a fabricated article about a non-existent Ottoman fortress and incorrect information added to existing articles. Even with the challenges posed by AI, at least this human editor is confident that community-driven curation will remain the best guarantor of quality. – JSG

Massive pay to play

Ashley Rindsberg shows "How Wikipedia is Becoming a Massive Pay-to-Play Scheme" at Pirate Wires, writing that "a boomtown industry feeding an insatiable demand for services like article creation, editing, management and deletion has emerged." One of his first targets is Pakistani company Abtach, which is reportedly tied to "at least 130 different Wikipedia editing front companies that operate under domains like Wikicreatorsinc.com, Wikicreation.services, Wikipedia Pro, Wikipedia Legends, and USAwikispecialists.com." See this story in The Signpost for more details.

For examples of slightly more sophisticated paid editing, Rindsberg provides links to articles about British investment immigration consultancies, Canadian frozen foods producers, cellulite-busting self-massage accessories, custom T-shirt retailers, Swedish online travel agencies, German disinfectant brands, industrial waste management companies, RegTech software firms, as well as packaging producers, electronic device recyclers, and self-storage chains. That's just what he considers "black hat" paid editing.

The more sophisticated "white hat" editors are linked to articles on Bain & Co, Yelp, Qualcomm, Kaspersky Lab, software company Forcepoint, the RSA Conference, as well as a New York Times exec and corporate clients like Reddit, MetLife, Accenture, Intel, IBM, Hubspot, Hilton, Vox Media, Dick's Sporting Goods, United Airlines, Amdocs, Gallup, Allergan, Breyers, Vimeo and Waymo.

Along the way, he mentions several of the better known scandals involving paid editing, including MyWikiBiz (see related Signpost coverage), Legal Morning (see previous Signpost coverage) and WhiteHatWiki (see see previous Signpost coverage). It's an excellent introduction to paid editing on Wikipedia, and you shouldn't be surprised if you see some of these names again.

In the words of Rindsberg, "the question this leaves us asking is whether we can really apply the historic term 'encyclopedia' to a sprawling network of thousands of articles carefully pruned by the PR departments of billion dollar companies, or if Wikipedia is something else entirely." – S

From clickbait to culture

A crossword published in USA Today by constructor Ada Nicolle featured an unexpected nod to Wikipedia. One clue highlighted Annie Rauwerda, founder of the popular Depths of Wikipedia accounts on Instagram and other social media platforms, which showcase quirky and obscure content from the site. Other clues celebrated Icelandic-Canadian heritage, such as a reference to Gimli, Manitoba—the Canadian town with the highest population of Icelanders outside of Iceland itself.

In a recent interview with The Michigan Daily, Rauwerda reflected on how her account has grown into a hub for curious readers and Wikipedia enthusiasts, emphasizing the thrill of discovering—and correcting—obscure content. She also discussed the unique challenges of maintaining the account while navigating Wikipedia's complex editing rules, and the role her platform plays in demystifying the editing process and encouraging new contributors. From clickbait headlines to deep dives into obscure history, Depths of Wikipedia has evolved into a cultural phenomenon that brings new visibility to the weird and wonderful corners of our beloved encyclopedia. – JSG

Kamala Harris accused of plagiarizing from Wikipedia in co-authored book from 2009

According to a report by Stefan Weber, an Austrian media researcher noted for his work as a "plagiarism hunter", current US Vice President and presidential candidate Kamala Harris "copy-pasted a Wikipedia article" into her 2009 book Smart on Crime (co-authored with Joan O'C. Hamilton), alongside plagiarism from other sources. The allegations were publicized by US conservative activist Christopher Rufo in what may be intended as an October surprise ahead of the November 5 presidential election. (Rufo and a co-author had previously investigated plagiarism in academic publications by Harvard University president Claudine Gay, contributing to her resignation.)

The New York Times summarized a different plagiarism expert's initial reaction as stating that "the errors were not serious, given the size of the [book]." However, a day later the same expert (Jonathan Bailey, who runs a site called "Plagiarism Today") followed up to clarify that his statement had been based on the examples provided in Rufo's post only, and that after reviewing the full dossier by Weber, he judged "the case [to be] more serious than I commented to the New York Times" although he still maintained that "the pattern points to sloppy writing habits, not a malicious intent to defraud." Specifically, Bailey stated that

"The most serious allegation concerns Wikipedia. Harris’ book contained roughly two paragraphs copied from Wikipedia without citation. To be clear, that is plagiarism. It’s compounded by the fact that Wikipedia is typically not seen as a reliable source, and, according to Weber, there was an error in the information."

The Harris campaign rejected the plagiarism allegations outright as "a partisan attempt to weaponize a 15-year-old work", as summarized in a Washington Post article. Conversely, Harris' political opponent JD Vance seized on them by posting on Twitter/X "I wrote my own book, unlike Kamala Harris, who copied hers from Wikipedia." The WaPo article also reported an unnamed source as claiming that while Harris' involvement in the book included "reviewing drafts", she "was not involved in the formatting of outside excerpts and citations".

The Wikipedia article in question is Midtown Community Court, which according to Weber was plagiarized in this revision. – H

In brief

No one has uploaded a photo of racehorse Wikipedia yet, so here is Rysdyk's Hambletonian, great-great-etc. grandsire of Wikipedia
Not yet! Still nobody has uploaded a photo of racehorse Wikipedia. So here is Bret Hanover, his great-great-great grandsire
A pacing racehorse. May we ask anybody who enjoys Ontario racetracks to take and upload a photo?
  • Wikipedia paces to victory: In an unexpected twist, Wikipedia isn't just for late-night research dives anymore—it's also the name of a harness racing horse! Standardbred Canada reports the nobly named Standardbred pacer, a three-year-old son of Mcwicked, came from five lengths back in the stretch to win an Ontario Sire Stakes Gold division race, overcoming Crush Kill Destroy, Unrivaled Hanover, Legal Attack and Chain Gang. The next time someone will say “Wikipedia is fast,” they won't just be talking about the servers.
  • Camille Herron's race for wiki supremacy: Multiple magazines and news outlets, including Runner's World, Canadian Running Magazine, Women's Health, and Athletics Illustrated all reported that ultrarunner Camille Herron went from trails to keyboards, getting flagged for editing her own Wikipedia page to emphasize her achievements, as well as removing some of the achievements in the article about Kilian Jornet — turning this into a race of reputation, rather than endurance. Wikipedia's neutrality got a workout as Herron's edits sparked controversy over athletes curating their own narratives. Actions have consequences, though—Herron was swiftly dropped by her primary sponsor, Lululemon, making this yet another high-stakes lesson in online reputation management gone wrong.
  • Recent research piece picked up: The Arabian Post picked up on a study comparing how people perceive credibility between Wikipedia, ChatGPT, and Alexa. While their coverage didn't mention The Signpost directly, it did link back to our Recent research piece from two issues ago. So, even though we weren't named, The Signpost served as a bridge between the original Nature article and international media coverage.
  • Wikipedia "winner" goes viral!: A viral screenshot of a Wikipedia page claiming Abhijeet Sawant as the winner of Bigg Boss Marathi season 5 has stirred up social media, leading to debates on whether it's true or just another case of Wikipedia vandalism. The buzz even got coverage by The Free Press Journal, which pointed out the ongoing confusion.
  • Goa's newest archive: Indian outlet Goamankat Times highlighted local Wikipedian Tanmay Pereira Naik's efforts to expand and improve articles related to Goa on Wikipedia, which include everything from documenting local history and politics to covering underrepresented topics like traditional cuisine and Goan personalities.
  • Wikipedia training camp: Nigerian newspaper The Punch reported that a group of 20 participants attended a Wikipedia editing workshop in Nigeria, hosted by the Tyap Wikipedia User Group. The workshop aimed to improve digital literacy and expand representation of Nigerian topics on the encyclopedia.
  • Portland City Auditor reopens Gonzalez case: After initially determining there was insufficient evidence to determine that the Portland, Oregon mayoral candidate broke campaign finance law by hiring a firm to burnish his Wikipedia page, the city auditor reopened the case. KOIN reports that "Gonzalez's office had paid a company called Codename Enterprises, operating under WhiteHatWiki, to assist with edits and contentious matters on Gonzalez's Wikipedia page." See also the report in The Oregonian and previous Signpost coverage here, here, and here. The next installment of this long running saga is expected with the release of the revised City Auditor's report on or before Halloween.
  • "Under the radar" page move rankles: Scholar Asaf Romirowsky criticised the article on Israeli apartheid in an interview for the Jewish Journal, saying that the Wikipedia article's title and opening paragraph are "a work of fiction"; the same article also claims that the Requested move to the current title was accomplished "under the radar". This is not the first page move controversy reported by The Signpost; find more about previous instances here, and here.
  • Spotlight on Bangladeshi Authors: An article in The Daily Star explored how Wikipedia categorizes prominent Bangladeshi literary figures like Abbasuddin Ahmed and Humayun Kabir. The piece highlighted issues with labeling writers based solely on linguistic or geographical ties, which sometimes results in misclassifications—such as identifying them only as "Bengali" or "Indian", rather than acknowledging their heritage. The article argues for more precise representation on Wikipedia to honor these authors' contributions to the cultural and literary history of Bangladesh, and to avoid losing the nuances of their identities due to historical geopolitical changes.
  • High interest in 5784: In its year-end Internet culture wrapup, the Jerusalem Post noted that "Israel's Wikipedia entry... [got] approximately 14,769,946 views in a year, more than Israel's entire population." Other Wikipedia pageviews were noted, as well as Google search and YouTube popularity, to gauge interest in various Israel-related topics (and some Jewish public figures in the US and elsewhere).
Who's been trolling who?
  • If sockfarms don't succeed, try, try again: University of Sydney researcher Olga Boichak writes in Foreign Policy about "How Russia Invaded Wikipedia", commenting on the nationwide splinternet and the creation of Ruviki, the government-backed fork of ru.wiki.
  • The silent majority?: The Wikipedia article for the 2024 Silent Hill 2 remake was recently locked after persistent disruptive editing aimed at lowering review scores. According to IGN, the edits skewed the ratings from various sources to make the remake seem less well-received. In a move straight out of the game's own playbook, admins had to put the page under "lock and key"—much like the puzzles and locked doors players navigate in Silent Hill 2—to keep the chaos at bay.
  • Are press releases news?: Outlets such as Business Standard and NewsTap both covered the Wikimedia Technology Summit 2024, with the former publishing a press release and the latter seemingly slightly rewriting it. The summit was hosted with IIIT Hyderabad and focused on enhancing inclusivity and innovation within Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects. The press release highlighted sessions on developing tools to better support diverse communities and promoting equal participation in tech development.
  • Check the stats first: UnHerd reported that Wikipedia recently renamed its article on the UK's grooming gang scandals to "Grooming gang moral panic in the United Kingdom", sparking controversy. The change, which was based on discussions citing sources like a 2020 Home Office report, was intended to reflect how the media and public framed the issue. Critics argue that the new title downplays the severity of the abuse, causing debate over whether Wikipedia is succumbing to political correctness at the cost of historical accuracy. The Wikipedia article highlights another government report and statistics that show that White men in the UK sexually abuse children more than Muslims or South Asians.
  • The court reads: Following the last issue's coverage of the ongoing legal case between India's Asian News Network and the Wikimedia Foundation, a dedicated article was written and published on 10 October 2024. However, the article has now been mentioned in the court on 14 October, and wasn't exactly well-received, as reported by Bar and Bench and Live Law. On 16 October, the court pretty much ordered a deletion of the article, which was snow-kept at a short-lived AfD.



Do you want to contribute to "In the media" by writing a story or even just an "in brief" item? Edit our next issue in the Newsroom or leave a tip on the suggestions page.


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One election's end, another election's beginning

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By Bri, HaeB, Oltrepier, Soni, Andreas Kolbe and Graham87
Preliminary results for 2024 WMF Board election

Board elections results

Christel Steigenberger
Maciej Artur Nadzikiewicz (left)
Victoria Doronina
Lorenzo Losa

The 2024 election for the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation is now complete. Preliminary results were announced earlier this week. 12 candidates ran for 4 Community- and Affiliate-selected Trustee seats in this election. The vote was conducted using a single transferable vote system, which transfers votes from eliminated candidates after each round to the voter's next preferred candidate.

The four candidates with the most votes were –

These four winning candidates will need to pass a background check and have all other bylaw requirements confirmed before they can be officially appointed at the board's December meeting.

Two of them (Doronina and Losa) are already on the board and were re-elected. The election came not long after the board's controversial refusal to ratify the "Movement Charter" after it had been worked on over several years (Signpost coverage: "Wikimedia community ratifies Movement Charter, Wikimedia Foundation rejects ratification"). As one Wikimedian noted on the Foundation-l mailing list: "Victoria and Lorenzo, who were greatly associated with the Movement Chart BoT veto some months ago, were reelected by the community, despite many predictions that they would suffer a big backlash for making public their positions, and a number of people was quick to predict their certain removal from office, especially Victoria."

A visual representation of the vote is given by the Sankey diagram above. Incoming Board member Nadzik also analysed some voting statistics on this page on Meta.

Congratulations to the winners and our thanks to the other candidates who ran in the election: Bobby Shabangu, Deon Steyn, Erik Hanberg, Farah Jack Mustaklem, Lane Rasberry, Mohammed Awal Alhassan, Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight, and Tesleemah Abdulkareem. – Sb, H, S

Administrator elections trial begins

After a year of fewer RFAs, a flood of candidates have signed up in the upcoming trial of Administrator elections. With the call for candidates having closed on 14 October, 35 candidates will be seeking to be elected (or re-elected) as administrator. The full list of candidates can be found on the respective AELECT subpage.

There were a total of 14 RFAs this year until October. Considering AELECT, this brings 2024 to 49, reversing a multi-year trend of fewer admin candidates in successive years. The latest year with more RFAs was 2015, with 53 candidates over the year.

However, it is not clear how many of said candidates will end up passing. As far as is known, the previous record for the number of active RFAs at once is 28 on 6 December 2005, per this discussion in October 2007. The elections will also use private voting via SecurePoll, which may skew the results.

The discussion phase will be open for 72 hours, from 22 to 24 October. Anyone may ask questions at the election subpages, and candidates are "encouraged" to reply. Voting begins from 25 October and will continue till 31 October, closing at 23:59 UTC. After three days for discussion and questions, the candidate pages will be closed for discussion, and voting begins.

Admin elections and other RFA reform efforts were last covered by The Signpost in the 26 September issue. – S

Administrators still in decline

Note: This section was prepared before the large number of applicants emerged for the administrator elections trial.

In prior Signpost coverage we discussed the declining number of active administrators:

Now, on 7 October, Rick Bot has recorded 418 active administrators, another record low count. The monthly averages of data reported by the bot daily were:

2024
Period daily average
January 465.7
February 473.3
March 448.2
April 438.3
May 438.3
June 434.6
July 435.4
August 432.5
September 425.4
October 421.0[a 1]
  1. ^ As of 10 October
Active admins, 2011 through mid 2019 (chart by Widefox)

For comparison, using the same methodology, the average number of active administrators in the past several years (also shown in a chart created earlier through mid 2019) was:

Other years
Period daily average
2017 543.0
2018 528.6
2019 515.1
2020 508.3
2021 487.2[b 1]
2022 470.0
2023 464.1
  1. ^ Data anomaly October-November, only 300 data points in 2021

A trend of declining numbers of active administrators is apparent in both the monthly and annual sets of data. If no more changes occurred after the 10 October data cutoff date, then 2024 would tally a loss of 43 over the 2023 average. The next greatest annual decline in this table was about half as many: -21.1 between 2020 and 2021. – B

CEO of the WMF's Brazilian affiliate signs an op-ed supporting research on disinformation

On September 27, Brazilian Wikimedian João Alexandre Peschanski was revealed to be one of the over 150 international researchers who co-signed a collective op-ed that deemed disinformation to be "one of the biggest short-term threats to humanity", and called for more protection and easier access to online data for those who study it and its perceived impact on public opinion.

This is a notable bit of news, since Peschanski—also known on-wiki as Joalpe—currently serves as the executive director of the Wiki Movement Brazil User Group, an association founded in 2013 and regularly affiliated to the Wikimedia Foundation since 2019.

The op-ed is available in several languages, including Spanish, German, Italian and Portuguese, and has been re-published by several media outlets. – O

Product and Technology Advisory Council appointed

The Product and Technology Advisory Council (PTAC) was appointed this week. This council was introduced as a one-year pilot program as part of Board of Trustees' three proposals in lieu of the Movement Charter.

Apart from WMF CPTO Selena Deckelmann and other WMF staff, the council includes:

According to the initial proposal, the 8 volunteer members would include 5 at-large technical contributors and 3 Wikipedia volunteers, at least one of who would be from the English Wikipedia. While it's not clear which category each selection was for, 4 volunteers have English Wikipedia as their most edited project – Sohom Datta, TheDJ, GorillaWarfare (also admin and OS), Benjamin Mako Hill.

PTAC was last covered by The Signpost in the 14 August issue. – S

News from WMF

The WMF published two bulletins since our latest Signpost issue – one for late September and early October respectively.

Of note were The Power of the Commons, an event hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation and other organizations as part of The Summit of the Future at the Headquarters of the United Nations and a new change to the Wikidata Query Service.

Highlights from the October issue include an e-mail from the "Wikimedia Foundation Board Governance Committee" and its Movement Charter debrief process (Spoilers: They'll collect feedback until January 2025).

More notably, nominations are currently open for positions on AffCom, Ombuds commission and the trust and safety Case Review Committee. AffCom plays an advisory role in official accession of new affiliates to the movement; the ombudsfolk are tasked with investigating complaints about infringements of the WMF privacy policy and related policies by CheckUsers, oversighters and others with access to sensitive user data; and the case review committee represents the community for appeals of certain trust and safety office actions. Applications for the Affiliations Committee close on November 18, 2024, and applications for the Ombuds commission and the Case Review Committee close on December 2, 2024.

Wikimedia Foundation has filed an amicus brief in a Mexican case known as Richter v. Google – more information about the case here, it is compared to Section 230 in the United States. Although Mexico does not have statutory Section 230 protections, the Internet Society says that they are subject to similar content moderation restrictions and protections due to international treaties with the U.S. and Canada.

– B, S

Knowledge Equity Fund: Final grantees announced, reports from 2023 grantees

Introducing the Round 3 Knowledge Equity Fund grantees

The Wikimedia Foundation announced a new round of grants from its Knowledge Equity Fund (see previous Signpost coverage), awarding "13 organizations in 10 countries, supporting work to address knowledge gaps and create and share new knowledge" with $1.362 million in total.

It also published impact reports for some of the Round 2 grantees announced in August 2023, and noted some highlights from three such reports:

Another round two grantee doesn't seem to have provided reports yet (but the Foundation "will share the rest of the final reports as we receive them"):

In the recent announcement, the Foundation notes that

Through multiple community conversations that we hosted in 2023, we heard feedback from volunteers about the goals and impact of the Knowledge Equity Fund which led us to make some key changes for our upcoming rounds of funding.

These changes include

  • More consistent and clear communication about the Knowledge Equity Fund, its grants and impact
  • Opportunities for movement groups to also receive grants for work they are doing to address knowledge equity
  • Clearer measures of impact for Knowledge Equity Fund grants

The announcement also states that

With the conclusion of Round 3, the Fund now has $815,000 USD left [from the $4.5 million it was set up with in 2020]. The Equity Fund will run one last “round” in the next 4 months, where we will choose a handful of the most impactful grantees from the first rounds and provide them with a final “top up grant” to deepen their work with the movement and ensure that the content they create is present on the Wikimedia projects.

– AK, H

Brief notes

Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2024-10-19/Serendipity Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2024-10-19/Op-ed Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2024-10-19/In focus Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2024-10-19/Arbitration report


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The Newspaper Editors

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By Svampesky
See also: Wikipedia:Identifying blatant advertising

Complaining about The Signpost and its self-righteousness is an exhausting task. Its poor editorial judgment continues, and it's almost unbelievable that, once again — contrary to WP:NOTPROMO — the newspaper mentions this same book. What a surprise, given its consistent blatant disregard for core Wikipedia policies. It's somewhat impressive how consistently it showcases this particular novel. We've moved well beyond subtle promotion, it's full-blown product placement now, complete with a link to the article about the publisher, which is, you've guessed it, tagged as containing promotional content. There is, needless to say, a double standard because if this book wasn't a novelization of Wikipedia, it wouldn't even get a footnote.

Man reading newspaper.
Researchers researching in their research facility for their research report
Figure 1: A graph from the researchers research report.

Many world-renowned researchers have researched this and produced many scathing research reports that found astonishing evidence that The Signpost violated Wikipedia's policies and guidelines regarding neutrality throughout the pre-order marketing window of this book. Through cutting-edge analysis of its coverage in their prestigious research facilities, worrying patterns of promotion, sensationalism, and undue weight in its reporting on this book were exposed in their bombshell research findings (shown in Figure 1). Wikipedia's policies and guidelines on maintaining a neutral point of view are made crystal clear, so it's scandalous that the newspaper — which is hosted on Wikipedia — ignored them when covering this book.

This unrequited love is made even clearer by the fact that the book doesn't even mention the newspaper. It takes real dedication to promote a single book this often, and it's reassuring to see that some things never change. Forfeiting neutral coverage in favor of incessant mentioning of this book is, to me, the beginning of the end of Wikipedia as we know it. If Wikipedia can no longer enforce a neutral point of view on its pages, it empowers editors to use the newspaper and its talk page subscriptions to launch outrageous promotional campaigns. It's a mockery of the need for neutrality to host this on Wikipedia. Imagine editing for Wikipedia, strictly adhering to policies and guidelines, and then seeing how the media elite of this website blatantly ignore all of these policies.


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