Wikipedia:Activist
This is an essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
Wikipedia is a very popular reference source on the Internet. Therefore,
Activists can affect Wikipedia's
Below are guidelines for determining if an article is being unduly influenced by activists, as well as advice on how to deal with the various problems caused by violations of Wikipedia's policies.
Basic ways to spot activists
Editors operating in good faith, not seeking to promote specific views, will usually try to find some way to cooperate, collaborate, and compromise with almost all other editors. Rather than just insisting on
This flexible approach to policy interpretation, depending on whether or not it aligns with the activist's views, applies to all areas of policy,
In this section only essential techniques are covered. Consummate editors in difficult areas of Wikipedia have written at length on the more subtle aspects.
Hostility
Activists don't want any other editors taking their articles off message. So, activists will try to drive away editors they don't approve of. The method used to accomplish this is usually to make the other editors feel very unwelcome in the activists' articles. The activists will display consistent and continuous incivility, including personal attacks, hectoring comments, biting edit summaries, baiting, condescension, and just plain rudeness. Often the activists will revert unwelcome edits with curt or misleading edit summaries, then ignore attempts to discuss their reverts on the article talk page. The activists will especially engage in passive or aggressive incivility and hostility if they don't think they are being watched closely by Wikipedia's administrators, which may be because several of the activists are administrators themselves.
Many times the unwelcome editors will protest that their personal point of view on the topic is the same as the activist's. It doesn't matter. If the editor interferes with keeping the article on message, they will be treated with the same amount of hostility as any other unwelcome editor.
One WP behavioral guideline directs us to give new editors some leeway. We understand that new editors may need some time to learn how we do things around here and what the policies and guidelines are and how they are applied. Activist editors, on the other hand, will usually be just as, if not more, rude and mean to the newbie participants as to any other unwelcome editors.
The incivility by activists usually follows the same pattern. First, the activists will revert the unwelcome edits with curt, dismissive edit summaries. Then, if the reverted editor starts a discussion about it on the talk page, the activists, if they respond, will belittle the editor's opinions in that discussion, such as by telling the editor that they appear to have little-to-no knowledge of the subject matter, that they obviously don't understand what the source is really stating, that they should read the discussion page archive before participating further, and/or that their edit added no value to the article's content. The activists may accuse the other editor, directly or indirectly, of being a sockpuppet or editing on behalf of a banned editor. Even if this is true, they have no right to object to edits that add information. In extreme cases, the activists will gang up and pile on the editor with uncivil comments either on the article talk page or on the editor's user talk page. The end goal is the same, to influence the editor into moving on, the sooner the better.
Removal of information
Removal of information contrary to what the activists know is "right" is frequently seen. Wikipedia generally prefers to use policy to determine how much of a source to include, and requires that the reliability of any source be evaluated in context. Removal may be justified by inappropriate application of policies. For example, an activist may inappropriately claim that a source is not
Wikipedia processes like
Addition of poorly sourced material
Activists promoting a cause have been known to use poor quality sources. If they belong to an organized cause they may rely on publications issued by the organizations, some of which violate Wikipedia's prohibition on self-published sources. Foreign language sources, including those which would not be considered reliable or independent, are sometimes used unnecessarily in place of English-language sources. Activists may rely excessively on primary sources and use them to support original research conclusions. They may also misrepresent the contents of reliable sources.
Activists may argue that special circumstances require the use of these sources. Activists can say that the mainstream media or scientific community is biased against their cause, that their field is too specialized to be covered adequately except in their preferred sources, that the sources are needed to provide balance to other viewpoints found in more reliable sources, that movement publications are the best available sources for information about the cause, or that other editors are too ignorant to understand the issue or too biased to judge the sources adequately. They may even say that sources are unnecessary because an asserted fact is common knowledge.
Addition of well-sourced but biased material
Conversely, activists' organizations may have their own libraries and individual activists may have their own collections. This accumulation of sources, used non-neutrally, gives activists access to obscure publications which are difficult or expensive for other editors to verify. The WikiProject Resource Exchange can help in locating and verifying obscure sources.
Source misrepresentation
Sources may be acceptable but represented unfairly, resulting in a misleading summary. An example is presenting a
A classic example is claiming that Charles Darwin himself ultimately affirmed that evolution was "absurd in the highest possible degree", by quoting a part of an introduction, instead of the chapter's conclusion that it is plausible, with its explanation on how it could occur. Other than misrepresenting Darwin's work, it also serves to dismiss more evidence of evolution that was not yet available in his time, like that supplied by molecular biology and genetics and to disregard the scientific consensus about evolution.[2]
Biographies of living people
Another sign that ideological activists might control a topic is their treatment of
On the other hand, if someone tries to do the same thing to the BLP of someone who agrees with their ideology, Wikipedia's BLP-related policies suddenly become holy writ, strictly interpreted and strenuously enforced with pharisaical fervor. Normally reliable sources, such as major newspapers, suddenly become unreliable, partisan, self-published, rantings from fringe fanatics and cranks.
Conflicts of interest
Activism does not always involve a specific "cause". Sometimes editors act out of a personal connection, which might involve their own organizations, national or ethnic heritage, family associations, or religious affiliation, and in some cases this might represent a
For example, an editor from Country X may edit exclusively articles pertaining to Country X, its social institutions and politicians, and may themself be personally involved in Country X. They may be an active member of Wikiproject Country X. In such cases, it is important to be aware of potential bias, but so far this does not describe a conflict of interest. If, however, their involvement reaches the point, for example, of authoring or editing articles in which they have a direct personal connection, or about persons or institutions from Country X known to them personally, there is a potential COI.
In extreme cases, such a COI may be evinced by the user uploading photographs of themself or family members – or even their place of birth – in articles that have only a remote connection. Or turning their user page into a personal website, contrary to Wikipedia guidelines.
While it is perfectly acceptable, and even expected, for editors to write and shape articles in areas of interest, they must be careful to avoid engaging in activism for those interests, especially when they have a strong personal connection. Editors must guard against engaging in activities which border on self-promotion or other forms of conflict of interest, for either themselves, members of their family, their friends or organizations with which they are affiliated.
Wikipedia's conflict of interest rules, set forth in
The weakness of the Conflict of Interest policy is just that – it is weak. It's not even a policy, it is a "behavioral guideline". Editors are allowed to edit articles about themselves, their spouses and children, preferably with the COI disclosed. A COI must be disclosed, however, in cases when it involves payment for editing. Editors with a COI should not be condemned when they edit Wikipedia to correct misinformation about themselves, or to add information that improves an article. But problems arise when an editor uses their position to advance their personal or professional interests.
What can you do about it?
A cautionary note: Never accuse any specific editor of being an activist, lest they charge you with violating
Are they there?
The major issue is "Are they there?" Is the topic area controlled by a group sharing a definite point of view? Is there just a coincidental overlap of editors on a topic?
Activists who've been banned may try to return to the project using sock accounts. If they are identified as socks and blocked then their contributions may all be reverted. In a dispute, activists may accuse opposing editors of being socks of a banned user, whether that is correct or not.