Censorship creep on Wikipedia shocked me when I tried to update a local history page

I used to think Wikipedia was the last free place online. Last month I tried to add a paragraph about a 2018 protest in my town of Eugene Oregon and the edit got reversed within 2 hours. The reason given was 'not enough mainstream news coverage' even though I had 3 local sources. Now I see how they use 'reliable sources' as a gatekeeping tool to kill certain stories. Has anyone else hit this wall on Wikipedia?

2 comments

2 Comments

janac5919d ago

Oh man, three local sources? That’s practically peer reviewed in the world of small town news. I tried updating a page about a local farmer’s market that’s been running for 15 years and got flagged because the Wikipedia gods decided a city council meeting minutes wasn’t a “reliable source.” I mean, what’s next, do I need a notarized letter from the mayor? It’s like they think local news is just fan fiction or something. It’s wild how “consensus” really means “five guys in a chat room with a grudge against your zip code.”

the_uma19d ago

I've been there with city council minutes too. Best trick I learned is to find a local newspaper article about the same thing and use that instead. Even a tiny weekly paper's website counts as "independent" to them.