Andreas Kolbe Profile picture
Jan 6 5 tweets 3 min read
Now an Ars Technica article quoting a cryptic #Wikimedia statement saying there are “material inaccuracies” in the reports.

“There was no finding in our investigation that the Saudi government ‘infiltrated’ or penetrated Wikipedia’s highest ranks”

arstechnica.com/tech-policy/20…
“And there are in fact no ‘ranks’ among Wikipedia admins … While we do not know where these volunteers actually reside, the bans of any volunteers who may have been Saudi were part of a much broader action globally banning 16 editors across the MENA region.”—#Wikimedia statement
Full #Wikimedia statement on the Saudi Arabia story now published on the Wikimedia-l mailing list:

lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/lis…
The Wikimedia Foundation is technically correct of course: admins are admins. But Arabic Wikipedia only had 26 administrators, and the Foundation banned 7 of them. When there are only 26 administrators for the entire Wikipedia site, that makes any one of the 26 "high-ranking".
The Ars Technica article now contains an update quoting DAWN Executive Director @sarahleah1 saying the #Wikimedia Foundation is playing technical word games. She's right, of course (see tweet above).

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More from @Wikiland

Jan 8
1/ 🧵 Here are some of the things about the alleged #Saudi interference in #Wikipedia, the related bans of Arabic Wikipedia admins enachted by the #Wikimedia Foundation, and the Wikipedians jailed in Saudi Arabia that keep getting missed, or are misreported.
2/ The two Wikipedians jailed for 8 and 32 years respectively were arrested in summer 2020. One had his sentence increased from 5 to 32 years in summer 2022. dawnmena.org/saudi-arabia-g… They were volunteer editors – hobbyists, not Wikimedia staff.
3/ Neither of the jailed Wikipedians was an administrator at the time of their arrest. They had their admin rights withdrawn years before, because they weren’t using them: xtools.wmflabs.org/ec-rightschang… xtools.wmflabs.org/ec-rightschang… They were still active editors though.
Read 12 tweets
Nov 15, 2022
Wikipedians are rebelling against "unethical" fundraising banners the Wikimedia Foundation wants to display on Wikipedia in coming weeks, calling them "guilt-tripping", "immoral", "This is not a fundraiser for Wikipedia – this is a fundraiser for the WMF" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia…
Background: The Wikimedia Foundation has increased its revenue goal for this year to $175 million, a $20 million increase (actual hosting costs are about $2.5 million) foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolutio…
Wikimedia salary costs have increased by $20 million year on year – $88 million in 2021-2022 vs. $68 million in 2020-2021, a 30% increase foundation.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?ti…
Read 5 tweets
Sep 14, 2022
This year, once again, so many people are led into thinking Wikipedia is "broke" and must be "saved". In fact, the Wikimedia Foundation is richer than ever, with hundreds of millions in assets, 8-figure annual surpluses and $350K executive salaries. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia…
You wouldn't think so from the fundraising emails currently being sent out, telling people to donate "to keep Wikipedia online", saying it's "awkward to ask", etc. A recent poll of Wikipedia volunteers condemned these emails as unethical and misleading. lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/lis…
It's all about "maximizing revenue". If people want to throw money into a bottomless pit, fine; but let's not pretend that the money is needed "to keep Wikipedia online". The numbers in the financial statements tell a different story: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia…
Read 4 tweets
Aug 11, 2022
The Wikimedia Foundation has released mock-ups of the Jimbo emails that will be used from September to November to ask past donors for more money—ostensibly to "keep Wikipedia online", as though the Foundation didn't have assets and reserves of ~$400M. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia…
Each email address associated with a past donor will get three emails. Email no. 2 tells people they can unlock bronze, silver, gold and platinum "badges" if they continue donating each year. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia…
Nothing wrong with accepting donations of course but it would be nice if people were not left with a false impression as to what the money is used for, because keeping Wikipedia online and ad-free has little to do with it. Wikimedia is richer than ever. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia… Image
Read 5 tweets

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