Why Wikipedia’s highway editors took the exit ramp.

[Ognistysztorm]

Why Wikipedia’s highway editors took the exit ramp.

https://slate.com/technology/2023/12/wi ... geeks.html

[ChaosMeRee]

If the roads editors wanted to stay on Wikipedia, they just needed to copy what Jess Wade did.

Because whatever it was Jess did (suck Stephen Harrison's dick?), it means she can......

* Write Wikipedia articles that are almost if not entirely based on non-independent primary sources (faculty bios, awards/speaker bios, press releases, papers). This is entirely wiki-legal because apparently the world's media doesn't write about women or minority scientists much. I'm pretty sure they also ignore roads too!

* Make up her own notability criteria ("Citation metrics are not a good estimate of who is / isn't a good scientist."), is a direct contradiction of NPROF ("The most typical way of satisfying Criterion 1 is to show that the academic has been an author of highly cited academic work – either several extremely highly cited scholarly publications or a substantial number of scholarly publications with significant citation rates.") She gets away with it because she has lots of fans who simply love what she is doing. She also has lots of critics, who she completely ignores, because who has got time for people who don't love what you love and don't have a positive mindset? I dare say the same could be said about roads people/topics.

* Conduct original research. She doesn't do this very often, but when she does, wow, does it backfire. The roads editors can surely say they have never created a media frenzy just by looking at a map. It was Jess who decided Katie Bouman should be a figurehead based on a single photo. Wow, did that backfire.

And holy fuck, if anyone personifies an editor just chugging along doing her own thing in her own niche areas of interest and not giving a damn about the wider community or purpose of Wikipedia, it is Wade. She is a virtual mute and she only does one kind of edit, to the point it is rather obvious she has her own workflow and templates. Others edit her articles to bring them into line with Wikipedia standards, but there is no interaction. It is as if they are either in awe of her unique talents at finding and adding a certain type of information, and do not want to disturb her. Or they think she's a fucking wierdo, but surmise that if her shit has to be on Wikipedia it should probably have categories and not be an orphan and all the other shite she just doesn't do because PRINCESS WADE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN ALL OF YOU DUMB CUNTS. I dare say there are many parallels here with the roads people/editing.

She could have her own wiki and do all this shit on her own in splendid isolation, and nobody would care but Wade. By definiton, her wiki's pages would be the highest Google result. It is only Wade who thinks the people she writes about DESERVE a Wikipedia article because being in Wikipedia is some kind of signifier of importance or worth, as opposed to simple notability. And that is MOST DEFINITELY not something that the first generation Wikipedia editors believed. It was activists like her who brought that shit into Wikipedia.

Sadly, the roads people, just like countless other people who mistakenly believed Wikipedia was both a general reference work and incorporated elements of an almanac, cannot do what Wade did. Because for all those people, there is no angle in it for the Foundation. No grift. No PR value.

Wade is a horrible cunt at times. Here she is taking the piss out of an editor for writing an article about a cat called Brexit but voting delete for one of her babies (Bouman!)...

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... =892199111

Note the placement too. PRINCESS WADE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN ALL OF YOU.

Were roads people ever so cuntish, and indeed were they ever even allowed to be?

Or is expressing yourself that way only something a Princess is allowed to do on Wikipedia?

[ericbarbour]

Wade is a horrible cunt at times. Here she is taking the piss out of an editor for writing an article about a cat called Brexit but voting delete for one of her babies (Bouman!)...
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... =892199111
Note the placement too. PRINCESS WADE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN ALL OF YOU.

More likely, she has supporters who will canvass for her on IRC and Discord, so the on-wiki "support" looks "better". As if the articles she writes are the "best".

JUST ONCE I would like to see Harrison say, right up front, that minor Wikipedo "cabals" like the Roads people are merely unimportant crazed ADHD nerds. And leave it at that--instead of trying to "spin" it as the wacky little happy world of Wiki or whatever crap Stephen Harrison uses to justify his Slate BSing. He fails to mention brutal past editwars in this area, and the brutal careers of maniacs like SPUI or Roy Chen.

[CarlsJunior]

1) Aggrieved "Highway" Editors were harassed when they cited the Department of Transportation which is not allowed. Allowed sources, in the media, are becoming more nonsensical. In the case of highways and roads allowed sources are simply non-existent.

2) "Highway" editors were lambasted for researching the topic and using their brains. For example, editors could not use common sense in saying a road (called west) goes north and south based on a map

3) Articles, about less important roads," that took highway enthusiasts tons of time and effort to create, were deleted by nimrods over and over again on a whim.

4) There were enough "road enthusiasts" to fire Wikipedia by setting up a specialty blog-wiki

4b) The head highwaymen (Ben) suggested Wikipedia is a “bureaucracy for the sake of bureaucracy." Or perhaps the few jerks running the joint are getting their jollies off.

I got a feeling more and more folks are firing Wikipedia..to include readers and editors.