wikipedia

Russian Wikipedia's 'smoking pot' page goes bong-less

Russian "Cheech and Chong" fans, rejoice! The Russian language Wikipedia page for "smoking Cannabis" is no longer under the gun from government censors, but to get totally free and clear of the law, it did have to hand over all of its paraphernalia.

Last week, Russian communications watchdog Roscomnadzor confirmed to RT that the page had been added to an Internet blacklist of sites with banned content launched by the Russian government last year.

The pot page is apparently just one of a handful on Wikipedia deemed to be in violation of Russian law (other includes an online library hosting "The Anarchist Cookbook" and its recipe for marijuana soup), but it appears that it may have been the last spliff straw for the government. Possession of marijuana is illegal in Russia, and penalties can often include harsh prison sentences.… Read more

BP accused of rewriting environmental record on Wikipedia

Oil giant British Petroleum is well-known for the Deepwater Oil Horizon disaster and its much-criticized handling of the cleanup's aftermath. But you might want to think twice before you read about the event, or the company's environmental record, on Wikipedia.

Angry Wikipedia editors estimate that BP has rewritten 44 percent of the page about itself, including information about its environmental performance.

This comes to light just as a federal judge has scheduled a hearing for April 5 on BP's request to prevent payments of what the oil company calls "fictitious or inflated claims" in a … Read more

Wikimedia Foundation launches travel site 'Wikivoyage'

Want to know more about the German spa city called Baden Baden, or "Bathing Bathing?" Or how to get to Khajuraho -- an Indian town known for its ancient erotic rock carvings? All this and more will be in the Wikimedia Foundation's new travel site, called Wikivoyage.

A bare-bones version of the site has already been up and running since September, but the official launch of the filled-out site is tentatively scheduled for January 15, according to Skift.

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales appeared on The Colbert Report yesterday and confirmed that the site would be launching "… Read more

Wikipedia's most-viewed articles in 2012 were...

English speakers seem to be interested in action movies, boy bands, and Facebook.

New stats compiled by Swedish software engineer Johan Gunnarsson detail the top 100 most-viewed articles on Wikipedia over the past year. The online encyclopedia doesn't create its own year-end list but does let people read its log files, according to AllThingsD. This top 100 list compiled by Gunnarsson, which comes in several languages, is the first time users can see Wikipedia's most popular articles over the course of a year.

For the English language Wikipedia, which is the most popular version of the site, "… Read more

Wikipedia now totally free to mobile users in the Middle East

A full 25 million mobile users in the Middle East can now use Wikipedia without worrying about data charges.

The Wikimedia Foundation and Saudi Telecom (STC) have teamed up to offer the free access through a program known as Wikipedia Zero. The goal behind this initiative is to help people in developing countries more easily get information through Wikipedia. Many users in these countries surf the Internet via mobile devices, so the Wikimedia Foundation tries to work with local carriers to eliminate data charges and other obstacles.

The foundation has given high priority to Arabic-language countries but has reached out … Read more

Wikimedia U.K. faces ethics probe, funding squeeze

Two weeks ago, a Wikimedia U.K. trustee named Roger Bamkin was exposed in a paid PR scandal that embarrassed the organization behind the Internet's community encyclopedia. Bamkin was accused of doing special favors on Wikipedia for a paid client, the tiny territory of Gibraltar.

A week later, Bamkin quit, but was not exactly apologetic.

But that's not the end of the story. Wikimedia U.K. has had control of its funding taken away and is under investigation by the parent Wikimedia Foundation.

A joint statement issued by the Wikimedia Foundation and Wikimedia U.K. said an ethics … Read more

Wikipedia honcho caught in scandal quits, defends paid edits

This past week, Wikipedia was rocked by revelations that high-level editors and the chair trustee of Wikimedia UK were providing personal clients with special favors and increased exposure on the Internet's encyclopedia.

At the center of the debacle were Wikimedia UK Chair Roger Bamkin and fellow Wikipedian in Residence Maximillion Klein, who had been openly advertising SEO pay-for-play services for clients on his Web site Untrikiwiki. Klein did not admit to anything, yet quickly removed damning Web site material, and Wikimedia UK Trustee Roger Bamkin -- at the scandal's center -- resigned.

Members of the Wikipedia editing community … Read more

Corruption in Wikiland? Paid PR scandal erupts at Wikipedia

Concerned Wikipedians raised the alarm Monday that two trusted men -- one a trustee of the Wikimedia Foundation UK, the other a respected Wikipedian In Residence -- are allegedly editing Wikipedia pages and facilitating front-page placement for their pay-for-play, publicity-seeking clients.

Jimmy Wales is not pleased.

It began this week when an interesting discussion started on the DYK ("Did You Know") discussion page.

Roger Bamkin, trustee of the Wikimedia Foundation UK, whose LinkedIn page describes him as a high-return-earning PR consultant, appeared to be using Wikipedia's main page "Did You Know" feature and the resources … Read more

Wikipedia to Philip Roth: Hey, you're not credible

If someone ever wrote a Wikipedia page about you, how much would you care what it said?

Would you pore over it every day and sit back with a slightly watery eye at your life's achievement, immortalized in the Web's factual museum?

Of course you would. So imagine if someone had said that you'd been inspired by David Beckham, when, in fact your inspiration had been David Hockney, wouldn't you attempt to set things right?

Ah, but with Wikipedia, it isn't necessarily so simple.

Please share the pain of Philip Roth. He's the author … Read more