by Don B. Louterfist

“I used to call it my ‘cluestick,’ but then I realized it was just a baseball bat,” says Wales

Jimbo “Jimmy” Wales, considered by many to be the “godfather” of Wikipedia, was recently stripped of advanced permissions on the site he co-founded after making false corruption allegations against one of its more respected volunteer administrators.

Here’s an account of what happened.

Origins: Admin for hire (or not)

In early 2023, someone we’re calling “Person X” received a message from an unknown sender. These people haven’t been identified and the contents of this message haven’t been made public, but allegedly the sender claimed to have influence over a Wikipedia admin and could get the admin to post an article on behalf of Person X — for a fee of $15,000. (For the record, you don’t have to be an admin to post new articles on Wikipedia.)

This is a run-of-the-mill scam. The mention of a particular admin’s name in the scam message is no guarantee that the admin is involved with the scheme, or even aware of it. As for what can be done proactively in this situation, Wikipedia recommends e-mailing their “paid-editing hotline.” An inexperienced Wikipedia user might not know about this process, but maybe the site’s founder should know.

Enter Jimmy “Jimbo” Wales, who was privately contacted by Person X and made aware of this message. Wales is a co-founder of Wikipedia (though he’s often claimed to be the “sole founder”), and although he hasn’t been involved in the day-to-day operations for many years, he’s still frequently contacted by people wanting to go “straight to the big boss.” His reputation among Wikipedia users is… complicated,

…continue reading Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales Loses Powers in Admin-Bribery Controversy