Who Writes Wikipedia? (2006) • Hacker News Board

Re: Who Writes Wikipedia? (2006)

#31

Post by bawolff » Tue, Mar 03, 2020, 11:46 AM UTC

Proziam wrote: post #27

draugadrotten wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The political bias of wikipedia editors is horrible in most smaller countries. You mention Israel and Croatia. I can add Sweden. For an example, compare the wikipedia entries of the two largest parties in the Swedish parliament. One, Socialdemokraterna, starts with a blurb on how the party provides public welfare and the party slogan ("av var och en efter förmåga, åt var och en efter behov"). Compare with the second…

Almost all social platforms on the internet have a left-leaning tilt because, at least partially, the left (historically) organizes much better than the right does. This is one of those "well duh" statements once it's said out loud, considering the left's entire platform is about unification and social issues in most countries. That said, there are signs that point to a change in that recently (the second amendment r…

Is that true? I've always thought that the right was mildly more hierarchial (which i would describe as "organized") and the left a little bit more grass roots. That said i have no sources and another ancedote doesn't mean much.

Re: Who Writes Wikipedia? (2006)

#32

Post by Double_a_92 » Tue, Mar 03, 2020, 11:48 AM UTC

quanticle wrote: post #22

Wales is right about one thing, though. This fact does have enormous policy implications. If Wikipedia is written by occasional contributors, then growing it requires making it easier and more rewarding to contribute occasionally. Instead of trying to squeeze more work out of those who spend their life on Wikipedia, we need to broaden the base of those who contribute just a little bit. The problem is that, as a commu…

> "guilty until proven innocent"

I think that's still a good approach. You want Wikipedia to be a trustworthy source, not one where everyone can add their half-knowledge without any checks.

Maybe making the discussion pages more "interactive" might help a bit. People could share their ideas, interesting sources or other inputs in a casual way and someone more skilled in writing and researching could use that to write the proper article.

Re: Who Writes Wikipedia? (2006)

#33

Post by watwut » Tue, Mar 03, 2020, 11:59 AM UTC

Proziam wrote: post #27

draugadrotten wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The political bias of wikipedia editors is horrible in most smaller countries. You mention Israel and Croatia. I can add Sweden. For an example, compare the wikipedia entries of the two largest parties in the Swedish parliament. One, Socialdemokraterna, starts with a blurb on how the party provides public welfare and the party slogan ("av var och en efter förmåga, åt var och en efter behov"). Compare with the second…

Almost all social platforms on the internet have a left-leaning tilt because, at least partially, the left (historically) organizes much better than the right does. This is one of those "well duh" statements once it's said out loud, considering the left's entire platform is about unification and social issues in most countries. That said, there are signs that point to a change in that recently (the second amendment r…

In what way is right more disorganized or was? Both extreme right and moderate right are full of groups, think tanks, movements, grass root movements and what not. Whether you decide right as economics or as dealing with social issues (women, race) or religious, it was never disorganized.

Re: Who Writes Wikipedia? (2006)

#34

Post by bawolff » Tue, Mar 03, 2020, 12:07 PM UTC

It would be interesting to redo this analysis now. 2006 was a long time ago. In 2006 wikipedia was in a very rapid growth phase; lots of topics still didn't have good coverage yet. In 2020, I can't remember a recent time where a mainstream topic didn't have extensive coverage on en wikipedia. Do the masses still write most of Wikipedia now that the low hanging fruit has been written?

Re: Who Writes Wikipedia? (2006)

#35

Post by sswaner » Tue, Mar 03, 2020, 12:08 PM UTC

giansegato wrote: post #7

I miss Aaron so much

Twice this morning, in less than an hour I am hit with profound sadness when reminded of the injustice of Aaron’s treatment at the hands of a system we call “land of the free”.

I started the morning curious about a Markdown syntax question and was reminded that Aaron also contributed to md. [https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/]

Re: Who Writes Wikipedia? (2006)

#36

Post by DiogenesKynikos » Tue, Mar 03, 2020, 12:09 PM UTC

Proziam wrote: post #27

draugadrotten wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The political bias of wikipedia editors is horrible in most smaller countries. You mention Israel and Croatia. I can add Sweden. For an example, compare the wikipedia entries of the two largest parties in the Swedish parliament. One, Socialdemokraterna, starts with a blurb on how the party provides public welfare and the party slogan ("av var och en efter förmåga, åt var och en efter behov"). Compare with the second…

Almost all social platforms on the internet have a left-leaning tilt because, at least partially, the left (historically) organizes much better than the right does. This is one of those "well duh" statements once it's said out loud, considering the left's entire platform is about unification and social issues in most countries. That said, there are signs that point to a change in that recently (the second amendment r…

On English Wikipedia, the tilt is not exactly "left." It's generally more "liberal" (in the American sense). The group of editors that controls American politics articles pretty clearly isn't feeling the Bern, for example.

But this is highly dependent on the topic area. Some pages are controlled by relatively right-wing pro-Israeli editors, others are controlled by pro-Palestinian editors (and many are caught in the tug-of-war between these groups). Different groups control different topic areas, and some of those groups can be extremely right-wing.

Re: Who Writes Wikipedia? (2006)

#37

Post by defertoreptar » Tue, Mar 03, 2020, 12:19 PM UTC

Proziam wrote: post #27

draugadrotten wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The political bias of wikipedia editors is horrible in most smaller countries. You mention Israel and Croatia. I can add Sweden. For an example, compare the wikipedia entries of the two largest parties in the Swedish parliament. One, Socialdemokraterna, starts with a blurb on how the party provides public welfare and the party slogan ("av var och en efter förmåga, åt var och en efter behov"). Compare with the second…

Almost all social platforms on the internet have a left-leaning tilt because, at least partially, the left (historically) organizes much better than the right does. This is one of those "well duh" statements once it's said out loud, considering the left's entire platform is about unification and social issues in most countries. That said, there are signs that point to a change in that recently (the second amendment r…

I was under the impression that this was because the left skews younger, and Gen X and millennials are more active and capable online.

Re: Who Writes Wikipedia? (2006)

#38

Post by Proziam » Tue, Mar 03, 2020, 12:29 PM UTC

bawolff wrote: post #31

Proziam wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost all social platforms on the internet have a left-leaning tilt because, at least partially, the left (historically) organizes much better than the right does. This is one of those "well duh" statements once it's said out loud, considering the left's entire platform is about unification and social issues in most countries. That said, there are signs that point to a change in that recently (the second amendment r…

Is that true? I've always thought that the right was mildly more hierarchial (which i would describe as "organized") and the left a little bit more grass roots. That said i have no sources and another ancedote doesn't mean much.

The vast majority of large social movements have their origins in the left. Climate change, most social justice movements, the push for higher minimum wage, immigration reform, etc.

In general, people leaning 'right' are less interested in social initiatives on the whole. In the US, one of the most common talking points from the right is the desire to be 'left alone' by the government or social movements.

The only issue the right seems to really be organized about (in the US) is guns, and that's because a huge percentage of military folk lean that direction.

Re: Who Writes Wikipedia? (2006)

#39

Post by fergie » Tue, Mar 03, 2020, 12:37 PM UTC

giansegato wrote: post #7

I miss Aaron so much

I miss him, and I miss people like him. At one point he embodied "web" culture. Seems like a long time ago now.

Re: Who Writes Wikipedia? (2006)

#40

Post by Proziam » Tue, Mar 03, 2020, 12:38 PM UTC

defertoreptar wrote: post #37

Proziam wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost all social platforms on the internet have a left-leaning tilt because, at least partially, the left (historically) organizes much better than the right does. This is one of those "well duh" statements once it's said out loud, considering the left's entire platform is about unification and social issues in most countries. That said, there are signs that point to a change in that recently (the second amendment r…

I was under the impression that this was because the left skews younger, and Gen X and millennials are more active and capable online.

Age is a component, but it doesn't adequately explain the difference in movements that occur in the real world as well as online. Universities have students organizing protests against right-wing figures quite frequently, and it was almost exclusively the left who pushed for the $15 minimum wage - despite both parties populations being affected heavily.

From what I've seen (living in US, Germany, and Sweden) no matter where you go there is a difference in 'wiring.' [0]And according to some sources I've read there appears to be some science behind that as well.

[0]https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/10/can-you...