Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2024-11-06/From the editors
Editing Wikipedia should not be a crime
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Some people may not legally read Wikipedia. Some people may not legally edit Wikipedia. Some countries like China, Russia, and Turkey have at times prohibited it, and people have even been jailed for "evading" this censorship. A huge portion of the world's population have been affected by the censorship or are currently threatened by it. We support the Wikimedia Foundation's efforts to fight censorship in the courts. Reading and editing Wikipedia should not be crimes.
In the lawsuit Asian News International versus the Wikimedia Foundation, a company and the court have sought to remove privacy from Wikipedia editors and to censor the Wikipedia article about the court case. We are unaware of anything extraordinary about these editors or that article. They seem to be typical Wikipedia editors doing typical editing, and the censored Wikipedia article is a fact-checked summary of reliable sources which meets Wikipedia's quality control standards. See The Signpost's other coverage of this story in this issue of the newspaper.
As Signpost editors, we should clarify The Signpost's editorial independence, because people have asked about it. We have been an independent newspaper for almost two decades. What we say about The Signpost is also true for Wikipedia's editorial independence, and for the independence of all Wikimedia projects. As we prepared to write the story of the deleted article and the editors who are defendants in the lawsuit, our fellow Wikipedia editors encouraged us to contact the Wikimedia Foundation, its legal team, or its board of trustees for permission, direction, and advice on publishing. Their fear was that because the Wikimedia Foundation deleted the article about the court case, then it could be a burden for them and for us all if they had to also delete our journalism about the court case.
Let there be no misunderstanding: there is no Wikipedia editor channel of communication for editorial guidance regarding The Signpost, Wikipedia articles, or any Wikimedia content. This is a good thing for Wikipedia editors and readers. Nearly all user-generated content platforms including YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and the rest all have staff governance, staff editorial policymaking, staff moderation, and appeals to staff as their mediation strategy. Only Wikipedia is different. Wikipedia is the only media platform where the users set the rules, write the content, moderate it, and make ourselves open and transparent to criticism and dialogue.
The Wikimedia Foundation does have a limited role in editorial policy. For one, they ensure that we stay aligned to the Wikimedia Mission, "to empower and engage people around the world to collect and develop educational content under a free license or in the public domain, and to disseminate it effectively and globally." There has never been a challenge to our mission; most Wikipedia editors love this. The other major role that the Wikimedia Foundation plays in editorial policy is ensuring that we editors comply with the law. While Wikipedia editors have a lot of opinions about copyright reform and an enthusiasm for openness, the editorial community is also in agreement to abide by the law. Editing Wikipedia should not be a crime.
If you believe in the Wikimedia Mission and you follow the law and our internal rules, then you are good enough to edit Wikipedia, and you are good enough to have conversations about social and ethical values, and you are good enough to join discussions about what is happening to our colleagues targeted by lawsuit and our Wikipedia article that has been censored. You are also good enough to submit journalism to The Signpost, whether that means your own fact-checked narrative of the case, your own op-ed, your own summary of Wikipedia community discussion forums, or your own interviews with anyone concerned who volunteers to speak.
The Signpost has editorial guidelines like any other newspaper. This is not anarchy, and not a democracy, as there are rules here as there are throughout Wikipedia. Please be aware now and when this happens again in the future, there is not now and there never has been any suggestion that any Wikipedia editor needs to check in with anyone at the Wikimedia Foundation to write anything. If you want to know the rules of Wikipedia, then your only option is to consult the highest editorial authority, which is the volunteer Wikipedia community of editors who register Wikimedia accounts and talk openly, publicly, and permanently within the discussion boards and guidelines of Wikipedia.
When you have something to say of broad interest to the Wikipedia community, then please share that as journalism, and do not be afraid. You have the right to submit journalism to The Signpost, and everyone else has the right to read it.
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