Comment by simonw

Comment by simonw 18 hours ago

10 replies

View on Hacker News

Yikes that letter is alarming.

> In view of public criticisms, including those expressed by Wikipedia Co-Founder Dr. Lawrence M. Sanger, regarding the opacity of editorial processes and the anonymity of contributors, what justification does the Foundation offer for shielding editors from public scrutiny?

Larry Sanger has been criticizing Wikipedia for more than 20 years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Sanger#Criticism_of_Wiki...

The author of that letter is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Martin_(Missouri_politician... - "the first U.S. attorney for D.C. in at least 50 years to be appointed without experience as a judge or a federal prosecutor".

ZeroGravitas 11 hours ago

The Heritage Foundation has been open about their desire to strip Wikipedians of anonymity, this is just the government putting that plan into practice:

https://slate.com/technology/2025/02/wikipedia-project-2025-...

Reply View 8 replies
  • squarefoot 10 hours ago

    If the HF is behind this, then Wikipedia is doomed beyond any legal defense. Back it up entirely and move it overseas.

    Reply View 1 reply
    • grafmax 2 hours ago

      Authoritarian regimes thrive on fatalism and despair. But they also inspire resistance. We did not have mass protests a few months ago. Our society is in deep crisis and the outcome can still swing either way.

      For all the progress they’ve made in dismantling our democratic institutions, deep incompetence runs through this administration.

      Our efforts should be still directed to fighting their overreach. It is not the time to retreat.

      Reply View 0 replies
  • douglasisshiny 5 hours ago

    To be more clear, it's operatives of the Heritage Foundation who now work in the government putting this into place. Does anyone think Trump actually does much day to day? He often seems completely unaware of what's going on in his own government. I invite anyway to watch his evening press conferences where he's handed a bunch of Executive Orders, is told what he's signing (he has no clue), and signs it.

    Reply View 0 replies
  • buyucu 8 hours ago

    The easiest solution is for the Wikimedia Foundation to move out of Us jurisdiction to a more democratic country.

    Reply View 3 replies
    • guerrilla 7 hours ago

      I don't think that would work. The US would just attack those countries as they are doing right now, trying to force us to give up DEI and ESG.

      Reply View 2 replies
      • grafmax 2 hours ago

        It’s questionable whether this bully continues to have as much influence as it thinks it does.

        Reply View 1 reply
        • guerrilla an hour ago

          I don't see any signs of succesful resistance yet.

          Reply View 0 replies
the_mitsuhiko 10 hours ago

Getting really bad vibes from this. Plenty of people in power are unhappy with Wikipedia for years. So far it’s an amazing source and surprisingly neutral given the complexity of the problem. Would not want to lose it in a political fight.

Reply View 0 replies