So I’ve been an on/off (mostly off) Wiki editor for a few years. I’ve made a few pages on random academic stuff that probably no one has read. Occasionally I’ll read an article, find some bullshit like a poor source or an incorrect interpretation of a source, and then I’ll fix it. I’m sorry I’m a nerd.
So I randomly found some major bullshit on a page about communism. Wikipedia editors call it “original research” when an article has text that doesn’t match the reference that the editor is sourcing. So if you’re putting a NY Times article as a reference, and the article says “Nancy Pelosi has a delicious ass” and you write in the article “Californian congresspeople have sexy butts”, then you’re taking liberties with the truth. I don’t fucking expect anyone to say that that “Stalin crushed 2 divisions with his bare hands”. Obviously any article about communism in English will be somewhat negatively slanted as most sources in English are very negative.
Anyhow, I fixed a few things. “This isn’t sourced… this isn’t in the source… this is unproven opinion… etc”. OMG like fucking the same minute, my edits all get reverted. I get mean replies in the edits. Fine, I’ll put it in the talk page and tag the page with {{dispute}}. Rage flows on the talk page. I try to fix a few more downright lies on the page, also get reverted instantly.
So the chud complains in the admin noticeboard about me. The saints that spend their time refereeing that hellhole actually take my side and say that my edits are reasonable. Some small improvements happen on the page.
So get this, this chud is trying to edit 10 various pages about our relating to communism. The admin page is filled with him reporting tankies and trying to get them banned. The guy writes like two whole pages on my sins. Like Jesus, this is the first communism page that I’ve edited, and you’re going to war over the entirety of 1917-1950 USSR.
I’ll wake up to take a piss in the middle of the night. I’ll check my phone, and see this “Stalin was renowned for his genocidal mustache”.
So edits go:
4:11am -[genocidal] // unsupported by source and not neutral point of view
4:12am +[genocidal] // don’t make edits without consensus
Fuck guy, do you sleep?
Anyhow, he’s either a super dumb loser retiree that can’t comprehend how research works, or he’s part of a very smart op. Because being an aggressive dickhead works.
Then he messages a bunch of buddies and they all start hounding me on the admin complaint page about me. There’s legit no way to win.
Sorry for the rant. I intentionally did not mention the real article as Chapo.chat is searchable through Google.
o7 comrade. I just want to add that a few months ago I edited Elliot Abrams’ page to say that he was a war criminal in the first line. I cited Jacobin (cringe I know) but they were actually the only relatively established source I could find that would actually say that Abrams is a convicted war criminal (which he is!). My edit was removed within a day.
In related news, in these endless arguments I have with my left-lib dad about politics, I tried showing him that if you google “what is socialism?” you actually get a relatively decent result. The dictionary definition google provides is accurate. The issue is that this definition comes after several ads from PraegerU about how socialism is when the government steals your money and murders a trillion people.
I want to say that none of it matters. An awakened mind will find the truth. I read the Communist Manifesto when I was a teenager and it had no effect on me. I wasn’t ready. At the same time, decades of McCarthyism definitely had a major impact in America—BUT that McCarthyism wasn’t exactly falling on fallow ground, either.
Don’t even bother with wikipedia - it has round the clock intelligence services manufacturing consent
Instead help build
https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Main_Page
or
don’t you vote on consensus? we should have a brigade
“Wikipedia is/not a trusted source”
Stage One: Wikipedia is not a trusted source. It can be edited by anyone. Do not cite it - high school teachers
Stage Two: Actually, Wikipedia is a pretty great source. It has references that you can check and cite and serves as a great introduction to many topics - university
Stage Three: Wikipedia is another victim of capitalism - what was meant to be a showcase of true human freedom has turned into a playground for the powerful and the unhinged. Still it can be a introduction for the less political topics as long as you take it with a grain of salt.