Want to create a Wikipedia article about yourself, or edit the article that’s already out there to make yourself look better? Go ahead: Wikipedia policy discourages the practice, but there’s nothing really stopping you, especially if you’re working from an anonymous IP address. Anyone can do it—even parliamentary staffers.
Snappy & Friends, a short animated show sponsored by Kellog's Rice Krispies, first aired sometime in 1949. In 1968, a visionary toy scientist named Alex Cartwright created an artificially intelligent robotic arm that could play full games of Stratego, Battleship, and Candyland, to the delight and vague unsettlement of its opponents. One of the defining rock bands of the hippie era was Digital Lady, an acoustic-guitar-and-kitchen-utensils ensemble that featured the brother of Richard Nixon's press secretary on percussion.
In Chapter 10 of his 2012 book Atheism and the Case Against Christ, Matthew S. McCormick provides a list of "gods and religions in history that have fallen out of favor." Between the Chinese deities Jade Emperor and Ji Gong on this list sits Jar'Edo Wens, an exotic-looking nonsense phrase some Australian guy added to Wikipedia seven years prior.
The army of volunteers that keeps Wikipedia running is comprised mostly of men, many of whom are often obsessively devoted to its upkeep. One such man is Bryan Henderson, known on the encyclopedia as Giraffedata, who would take strong issue with the way he's introduced here.
This week, Wikipedia's highest governing body finalized its decision regarding the Gamergate encyclopedia page—the subject of a fight nearly as intense and long-running as Gamergate itself. Despite the organization's repeated insistence that it is not taking sides in the conflict, it ruled to punish five editors who were specifically targeted by a coordinated Gamergate attack.
Wikipedia's entry on Muhammad was first published on November 8, 2001. It was eleven sentences long. Over the next few years, several thousand new words were added and edited, but it wasn't until 2005 that an image of Muhammad was attached: A 16th-century painting depicting the Islamic prophet. Two hours later, the painting was pulled down. The next day, the original uploader reinstated the art, along with a note for the editor who'd removed it: "Pls. explain yourself."
For nearly as long as the antifeminist culture war known as Gamergate has raged across the internet, a microcosm of the battle has taken place on Wikipedia. Should Gamergate defined as a push for ethics in gaming journalism, or a paranoid campaign against women in gaming? This week, Wikipedia's highest court made a major decision in favor of the former.
