 Wikipedia is a problem for Musk/Trump. Not, as Musk says, because it's "woke." Because it's one of our last reliable tethers to a consensus reality. Therefore, an antidote to disinformation. It's not making anyone money. It's not enshittified. Of course it's not perfectโit's an endeavor of imperfect cooperating humans. But it needs protection and support. https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-takes-aim-wikipedia-fund-raising-editing-political-woke-2005742 264 comments
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  @SnowshadowII @gleick Wikipedia is a living document. It evolves and changes as the human understanding of the world evolves and changes. Downloading Wikipedia, imho, would be a bit like downloading a weather forecast. I am aware it is ever evolving and it will continue as such unless Trump and Elon have their way. Americans need to prepare for the worst. If this was a serious suggestion, please don't scrape the Wikipedia website. Torrent the dump instead: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Data_dump_torrents Or get @kiwix and download a ZIM file containing the Wikipedia in the language of your choice. Not suggesting scraping so thanks for these suggestions. Good advice for everyone!!๐  @SnowshadowII @gleick NOT a silly question. (there are NO silly tech questions) Here's the solution: https://fedifreu.de/@chpietsch/113710470289148980 ETA: and if you don't understand how to ...send out an S.O>S to all the techies on fedi using the Tech and Fediverse and computer hashtags--someone is sure to reply  @SnowshadowII @Darkphoenix @gleick thank you. This is one reason why I have been buying more books lately. I'm just getting to collecting the reference books that I want to have. This will definitely go into my files. @arisummerland Books are always an excellent choice to keep on hand. @gekko3k @SnowshadowII @Darkphoenix @gleick sometimes I say apologies to the trees @Darkphoenix @gleick @Darkphoenix @gleick You still download it but using torrent prevents a massive traffic jam on the internet @SnowshadowII @Darkphoenix @gleick you used to be able to hack/make an "off-grid" wiki ... https://www.hackster.io/news/stay-informed-during-the-apocalypse-with-an-off-grid-wikipedia-device-b37332c7bc1d @martin_fff Edited to add: Perhaps you might be interested in adding US and tech hashtags to your reply? __________ @SnowshadowII @gleick and the volume is shared over several nodes. So kinda similar to block chains @Darkphoenix @Darkphoenix @SnowshadowII @gleick The Wikipedia dumps everyone's talking about here are text-only, no images. As a result, the files are smaller than one might expect; under 30GB. Smaller than a Windows OS install, smaller than most triple-A games. Would fit on a modern smartphone easily. My local computer store often hands out USB drives bigger than that for free. So the data is safe enough, many copies can be made. It's the social network Wikipedia creates and is created by that's vulnerable.  No, you can actually easily fit its text on a hard disk or SSD. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia%3ASize_of_Wikipedia There are some websites backed by data far too large for one computer to manage (commonly called โbig dataโ), but Wikipedia is, somewhat surprisingly, not one of them. Although all the images and videos and such add to its size. Not sure how large those all are. @clintruin @gleick Fuck musk but please donโt promote destroying other people property. Musk couldnโt care less.  @clintruin @gleick I have a Tesla . When I bought it I didnโt realize the levels that this asshole would aspire to be. Keying my car will not change that. Are you serious? @clintruin @gleick and yes your fuck ton of people are keyboard warriors. I know โa fuck ton of peopleโ who are decent adults who can exchange thoughts without inciting vandalism in angst against a billionaire. Grow up.  It's particularly concerning given the part of Project 2025 that takes aims at non-profits and seeks to give the government the authority to take away a non-profit's status due to "supporting terrorism" which is a term with no meaningful definition associated with it. So if, for example, conservatives label a human rights movement like BLM "terrorist" and wikipedia simply doesn't host right-wing misinformation about the group the GOP could define that as "support for terrorist groups"  @gleick  I didn't donate to The Wikipedia for years. Because I wrote so many articles for them and thought that was an unpleasant experience* in some ways and more than enough free labor for me. But last year I relented and started a donation and this makes me think it was a good idea after all. It's decent enough and THAT is becoming rare online.   @futurebird @gleick I've been donating about twice a year - I get a lot of use from it, more so now every other source has been enshittified. If it's not clear I think it's a good idea to donate to them if: 1. You use it. Now's a nice moment to start. It will bolster confidence in the face of these public attacks. You can always check in later when the winds shift and stop the donations later.  @futurebird @gleick I started donating 2-3 years ago. Small amounts โone timeโ. I figured I likely use it an average of 3/4 times a day! Itโs indispensable in some interest areas. Geology and rocks/minerals.  @futurebird @gleick I really wish I could! Due to legislative issues in my country, it is not possible for Wikimedia Foundation to collect donations from here. And we have a right-wing goverment with some Maga-symphatizers in power right now, too.. ๐ฌ That's good. If they can get a boost in donations they could pad that a little more. It's nice that their finances are transparent, isn't it? That's a decent endowment but not as much as it seems for one of the most popular websites on the internet in the whole world. You've brought this up before, but I do not agree that we don't need to worry about the first and most common source that people use globally. I don't think we should be that naive. 500K is a fat paycheck, but it is not obscene. Maybe we can complain at them and get it down to 250k but any less than that wouldn't be reasonable. I'm not exactly an uncritical fan of The Wikipedia at all. But come on.  Right, people get salty about six figure salaries and the obscene reality is that thatโs logarithmically closer to the poverty line than the income of most Fortune 500 CEOs. I'm all for finding someone to do the job for maybe a third less. That's part of the oversight they live with and that's good. Too many things have no such oversight. Think of a 22 million dollar salary, and that dwarfed by stock options and who knows what else self dealing. @MichaelTBacon @futurebird @gleick I personally don't think it's particularly useful to compare anyone's salaries to those of Fortune 500 CEOs, logarithmically or otherwise. I find it more instructive to compare them to the rest of the country, the people who aren't blessed with Fortune 500 CEO incomes. @futurebird @gleick I haven't brought this up before, so I think perhaps you're confusing me with someone else. The only non-profits that are durable and get things done have big endowments. It is the correct way to operate. @futurebird @gleick ๐คท if you are aware of how much money Wikipedia has in the bank and you want to donate to help them grow their endowment, sure.  @futurebird @jik @gleick you know, if Musk is potentially going after them, a couple of hundred million feels like it could melt away fairly quickly in a big lawsuit. It's a lot of money, but it's not "one of the most visited websites in the world" lot of money, especially when you look at the others. I think I'll start donating again. @futurebird @gleick I donate every year, and love that they remind me. Wikipedia rules.  @gleick @gleick well fuck Elon Musk. Iโm donating monthly now. Possibly due to spite or possibly due to solidarity, but Iโm not one to analyze my feelings much  @gleick Thanks for the reminder. Donated. With the bonus good feelings from resisting the will of authoritarianism.  @gleick First time financial supporter. Support free knowledge and fight fascism at the same time. Two causes in one, and it's tax-deductible. ๐ @gleick First they came for the trans people, but I was cis so I didnโt care. @gleick I swear to shit, if these fuck heads try going to war with Wikipedia I'm going to fully lose my mind. DX @gleick @gleick if musk says 'don't' then I guess we know what has to happen.   @gleick Funny how Wikipedia used to be the butt of jokes as a reliable info source, and now I trust it more than the mainstream media.  @gleick What an awful human being. Musk has just made me increase my contribution to Wikipedia. Won't you join me?    @gleick wikipedia is not โantidote to disinformationโ You want an example? I once intentionally put a fake on wikipedia. This fake was reprinted by several newspapers, which were โauthoritative sourcesโ for wikipedia. All further attempts to roll back the information to the true state were rebuffed by the wikipedia administration @gleick just made a donation. First, because I love Wikipedia and second, because I hate that fucking idiotic morron slime fuck Felon Mush  @gleick Wikipedia is the only place on the Internet where people from across political opinions come together and hold fact checked discussions to decide on a unified narrative of what is and isn't real. Wikipedia is the only website in the top 10 where there is actual consensus among its users on what reality even is.  @gleick President Musk hasnโt even taken office yet and he wants to invade Greenland and Panama, change Denali and now heโs bullying Wikipedia! This is out of hand. My fighting spirit is starting to surface again!  @gleick I don't even *like* Wikipedia and I think Apartheid Manchild needs to have his hands kept off of it.  @gleick not meant to truly burst this bubble because i mostly agree, but sometimes wikipedia 'consensus' isn't truly consensus.  @gleick I and others are endeavoring to make a federated version of Wikipedia. It's great, but can always be bought and corrupted. Join us!  @gleick every time I see his face, I want to hit it repeatedly with a hammer until it stops making noises. @gleick hoping more people will help edit Wikipedia, add important documented missing info @gleick Without our shared reality from information sources like Wikipedia, journalism, academia, democracy ends up stifled, which is probably what these people are after. I think Wikipedia, like the Internet Archive, are making plans to mirror globally so that if they are banned in the US they can continue elsewhere. @gleick hasnt the Wikimedia foundation been making mountains of cash, more than enough to keep Wikipedia running for many many years to come?  @gleick More than that, it preserves an edit history with a list of who changed what and when and has associated discussion pages. It shows a history of debate/discussion around an issue. It makes erasure of history very difficult, when users know how to use it. @gleick https://usingsources.fas.harvard.edu/what%E2%80%99s-wrong-wikipedia Use ScienceOS. Far more reliable. Reminder to download @kiwix and use it to store local backups of the #Wikipedia, in all languages that you speak. The second best moment, with the best one having been the time before Wikipedia allowed #GenAI texts in. @gleick  @gleick Horrible! He destroys too much.... Time to target Musk by ignoring Twitter, boycott Tesla, etc.! @gleick anyways with their shitty AIs they have surpassed wikipedia. People are laaaazy and things like chatgpt or grok are now more popular by desgrace. "In 2022, the elder twin officially changed her name to Vivian Jenna Wilson, reflecting her gender identity as a trans woman and using her mother's surname because she no longer wished to be associated with Musk." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk#Relationships_and_children  @gleick This is honestly a better advertisement for me donating to Wikipedia than any of these banners has ever been.
@gleick #Give to #Wikipedia. How much? Until it feels good. Theyโre going to need all of it if this bunch rally the #trolls against them. Bollocks! I've been ignoring those annoying pop-ups, but if Evil Dusk wants rid of it, I'll set up a recurring donation. @gleick I see that a bot army has been hitting the Newsweek fairness monitor too... A sign of things to come โน๏ธ Funny enough, Elon obviously fears the "public" he is trying to agitate... "The New York Times reported in September that Musk's security apparatus has grown significantly as he has become more well-known and outspoken. He travels with many as 20 security professionals, who often carry guns and have a medical professional in tow, according to the newspaper." You know you disgruntled too many people, if you need an army to protect you.  @gleick  Iโve just increased my donation to Wikipedia to ยฃ5 per month โค๏ธ @gleick thanks for this information, i definitively will give extra money to wikipedia ๐ I've just setup a monthly donation to #Wikipedia I encourage everyone to do it too - it feels great ๐๐ช Even a small amount such as $2 / month, multiplied by hundreds of thousands of people, will defeat fascists. Together, WE are stronger, wealthier and more powerful than psychopaths like Musk. @gleick I look something up in Wikipedia almost every day now - much more often than, say, 10 years ago. It's an island of actual facts-based information in the vast ocean of uneducated opinions and outright lies. Musk's hatred towards it is utterly unsurprising, and it further confirms that Wikipedia is a good thing. @gleick consensus doesnโt define reality. Just because you agree with something doesnโt make it true. If there is a bias in consensus, then it is just group think. There is well established studies that Wikipedia does lean. You canโt completely discount the leftโs argument just because you donโt agree with it. There is a growing rift in community and consensus on whatโs true. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consensus_reality    |
Gregory's Server
@gleick I contributed some of my money to Wikipedia this month. I agree with you about its good works.