Posted on 10/03/2019 7:32:57 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj
Have Absolutely Had It With Wikipedia's Nonsense & Tyrannical Editors
As someone who has been on Wikipedia for over 12 years, I've attempted on countless occasions to try to make my own contributions to the website. Besides correcting minor errors, my one main specialty was bringing up-to-date information on individual locations, going state by state. Meticulously researching census records, maps, online resources, etc. to try to improve said pages. It's a time-consuming endeavor, but I figure if it's helpful to others, perhaps a kid working on a research project, it's worth it.
Not anymore.
I'm sick to death of the blowback from attempting to "dare" improve the pages of individual communities. It was bad enough several years ago working on the state of Alabama (yeah, working in alphabetical order) only to have one editor summarily delete my contributions despite said research. I later moved on to working on Alaska, which was woefully out-of-date, and had not so much as a single thank you, but a snarky editor/mod who deleted and then made light of my contributions.
Then came this week. I was working on Arizona, and was slammed with a swarm of editors deleting everything I put into the articles, never mind I cited exactly what/where/when and how my research was done. Just removed and warned. I blew up (mildly) at two mods and told them if they wished to be of help, to go over the work/research line by line and locate what kind of "references" would satisfy their appetites. The final straw was trying to locate something as simple as an incorporation date for a particular city. Try as I might, I could not find the date anywhere online. I actually dared email the city manager who promptly replied and provided a pdf copy of the resolution from the '80s. I told her I would put the info on Wikipedia. It was removed THREE times and I was attacked for putting up "unsourced material." The last time was today. I was researching villages that were no longer in existence and had the temerity to change their designation to "ghost towns" and everything swiftly deleted by these same bullies this evening.
Y'know, I have absolutely had it with these power-hungry editor thugs who seem hell-bent on wanting to keep the place free from updated facts and hide behind "references" excuses and claiming "no original research permitted !" The whole damn website is FULL of original research or references to original research. Without it, there'd be no website of facts.
I would love to do this research and pages for another website that doesn't attack/criticize and remove it at the drop of a hat (and mind you, THIS ISN'T POLITICAL !), but I cannot seem to find one. Conservapedia barely exists and I'd have to create a page for every locale (and probably HTML, etc., which I'm not very good with), which would take eons to do. I'm just simply baffled otherwise. But I'm not going to toil one more second for a website that regards my meaningful contributions as a nuisance. Eff Wikipedia.
*ping to my thread*
Check these guys out-
https://infogalactic.com/info/Infogalactic:Introduction
I used to give money to Wikipedia. If what you say is true, no more gravy for their potatoes.
Are you sure it isn't political for those editors? You might have been blacklisted.
You’re smarter than they are. They know it...and can’t handle it. So they exercise the only power they have.
Sounds like Wikipedia is full-up with unhelpful gatekeepers.
Going the way of Snopes.
Thanks for that. I checked it out and looked up Obama. Wow! No praise and fawning over that bastard. They must be conservative or libertarian.
-PJ
I can’t believe that website has the audacity to beg for money.
A mirror site, apparently, but those pages haven’t been updated in at least 4 years. Otherwise, it seems like a joke (website title, at least).
It is an indispensable resource.
Thank you for the efforts you have made to keep it accurate and updated.
After reading your Comments about Wiki’s editors, my first thought is that your name/account has been black balled - probably because at some point in time you made a politically Conservative correction to a Wiki article.
That would be a mortal sin at Wiki.
My advice - make up a new name/account and see if they let those edits pass through.
That’s effectively the type of info I try to put in (well, not weather, but mostly numbers-based info).
This is typical of a page I edited:
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ak_Chut_Vaya,_Arizona&oldid=919361430
And this is what they returned it to:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ak_Chut_Vaya,_Arizona
Now which page do you find more helpful ?
During the Bush years I cited early Founders comments in support of the Senate approving nominations- and was rejtcted and roundly abused on Wiki.
During the Obama years my very same cite was resurrrected with approval LOL!
See post #15. If they lose their $hit over a little nothingburger edit as this, why bother doing anything for them ?
I admire your patience.
“power-hungry editor thugs...” I totally admire your patience. Jimmy Wales has issues and the best two things about Wikipedia is 1) the code, and 2) the potential. Like television, Wiki is all potential and no solid information. Friends don’t let friends use Wikipedia. Just read one book a week or two a month and then the internet is just for fun.
It might be, but I’m not adding anything political. Just dates, population figures. In my post #15 edit, pointing out the fact that a “populated place” has ceased to be or that it’s even on an Indian Reservation. They breathlessly demanded a reference ! Click on the damn map ! It’s on a Res, and there’s NOTHING left there ! I cross-referenced 3 different websites to confirm it. It’s not enough for them, so they scream, “original research !” as if that is enough to remove from WP.
It’s crazy and sad. And these jackasses show off on their pages how GREAT they think they are. Know what’s on my page ? Nothing. Because I don’t spend it making myself look great, I actually make contributions.
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