Post #715171

2025-01-22 15:49 UTC

In light of US tech oligarchy setting its sights on Wikimedia Foundation, a historical detail I did not know before: #Wikipedia became the non-profit it is today partly as the result of a labour strike of Spanish Wikipedia editors who disagreed with the proposed inclusion of advertisements. Initially, it was not clear what revenue model Wikipedia would get, and Wales moved towards a for-profit model already a year after launch. However, rather than working for free, so Jimmy Wales could profit from their labour via advertising, Spanish contributors forked Spanish Wikipedia as the Encyclopedia Libre Universal. Under the threat of losing the editorial community of such a large language, Wales conceded and set up the non-profit. That is to say, however imperfect they are, all the digital commons we have are the result of ongoing struggle and hard work to keep them as commons. Via Las Redes Son Nuestras (https://www.consonni.org/es/publicaciones/las-redes-son-nuestras) by @teclista Update with more info: https://post.lurk.org/@rra/113873611500414068

Replies (30)

@rra@post.lurk.org 2025-01-22 19:16

Wow this struck a chord, it seems I was not the only one who was not aware of this story! Some additional info: @teclista@mas.to shared that the protagonists are on the fedi as well (of course they are!): https://mas.to/@teclista/113872887620692513 @__nate__@mstdn.social wrote about the episode in several papers (for example: https://networkcultures.org/cpov/2011/01/15/spanish_fork/) and also a book: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/W/bo19085555.html @rwg@aoir.social also wrote about the episode in a book: https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt14bssk4.9 "in the light of US tech oligarchy setting its sights on Wikimedia Foundation" was referring to things such as https://hachyderm.io/@molly0xfff/113868325221306547 Finally, I don't have a soundcloud to promote, but I'd really like to see the first paid position for Trust & Safety on the fediverse get funded: https://givebutter.com/givingmastodon please chip in if you care about digital commons

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@alxhu@greifswald.lgbt 2025-01-22 16:08

@rra@post.lurk.org @teclista@mas.to I honestly wish Wikia/Fandom would work the same way

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@teclista@mas.to 2025-01-22 16:12

@rra@post.lurk.org I think @erchache2000@paquita.masto.host and @jdelacueva@mastodon.social would like to see this toot ;)

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@erikkemp@tukkers.online 2025-01-22 16:13

@rra@post.lurk.org @teclista@mas.to Super interesting, I didn't know that as well!

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@cellularmoose@fosstodon.org 2025-01-22 16:24

@rra@post.lurk.org @teclista@mas.to Wait, what's going on with tech oligarchs and Wikimedia?

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@tk@bbs.kawa-kun.com 2025-01-22 16:36

@rra@post.lurk.org @baltakatei@twit.social In light of US tech oligarchy setting its sights on Wikimedia Foundation, a historical detail I did not know before Is this a recent development? :blobfoxdisgust:

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@kouett@soc.kouett.net.eu.org 2025-01-22 16:38

@rra@post.lurk.org @teclista@mas.to Wales has the for-profit wikipedia with fandom/wikia now

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@rwg@aoir.social 2025-01-22 17:19

@rra@post.lurk.org @teclista@mas.to Yes! I wrote about this in my first book in 2014. I used it to speculate what might happen if Facebook users did a labor strike.

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@babble_endanger@freeradical.zone 2025-01-22 17:24

@rra@post.lurk.org Wow I didn't know that! Here's Wikipedia's own article on it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enciclopedia_Libre_Universal_en_Espa%C3%B1ol

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@baguette_al_pastor@mastodon.social 2025-01-22 17:54

@rra@post.lurk.org @teclista@mas.to Verdaderamente la avaricia descontrolada es una amenaza hoy más que nunca. Buen post. Viva España.

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@kaito02@mastodon.social 2025-01-22 18:19

@rra@post.lurk.org @teclista@mas.to Jimbo still got the for-profit he wanted, in the form of Wikia (now Fandom)

Open ##3099185
@dirkblank@nrw.social 2025-01-22 19:21

@rra@post.lurk.org @teclista@mas.to You can read about the Power structur in Wikimedia https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_power_structure

Open ##3099187
@growfediverse@my-place.social 2025-01-22 18:54

@rra@post.lurk.org @teclista@mas.to exactly. That’s why I’ve been resharing that #TechWorkerWildcatStrike from bluesky. Even though he’s quiet now (dunno kicked from 🦋 or just ragequit?) I think he was on to something. All the tech workers who work on redundant platforms that do microblogging and short form vid are probably gonna see big layoffs unless they go old school labor organizing 👀

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@Phracker2Art@mstdn.social 2025-01-22 19:43

@rra@post.lurk.org @teclista@mas.to Say, didn't Hitler and Mussolini privatize a bunch of shit? I feel like we're seeing history repeat itself, and not in a good way.

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@LuisPita@mastodon.social 2025-01-22 20:02

@rra@post.lurk.org @teclista@mas.to _ I didn't know that either. You make me feel that we Spaniards are useful sometimes.

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@rugk@chaos.social 2025-01-22 20:17

@rra@post.lurk.org Can I read this on Wikipedia? 🙃 Edit: found it https://freeradical.zone/@babble_endanger/113873169219803463 @teclista@mas.to

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@jackyan@mastodon.social 2025-01-22 20:46

@rra@post.lurk.org @teclista@mas.to Very interesting, and it doesn't surprise me. I knew of Wales as the guy from Bomis (the adult photo site), and that was very much for profit. Wikipedia was actually a Bomis subsidiary.

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@microblogc@paquita.masto.host 2025-01-22 21:20

@rra@post.lurk.org @teclista@mas.to Ooh. I did edit in Enciclopedia Libre Universal, when at the same time I edited Wikipedia. I had no idea about the strije, maybe I came late and lost it. My idea at that time —which I shared with members of both project, without luck— was making Enciclopedia Libre a simpler version of wikipedia, so children could understand it.

Open ##3099193
@toychicken@mastodon.social 2025-01-22 22:41

@rra@post.lurk.org @teclista@mas.to nudging this thread on to the desk of @workingclasshistory@mastodon.social ...

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@Nfoonf@chaos.social 2025-01-22 22:50

@rra@post.lurk.org sometimes I have the impression, a lot of American activists are just three capitalists in a trenchcoat.

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@joenepraat@todon.nl 2025-01-23 00:23

@rra@post.lurk.org When I was in the Wikipedia bubble (before 2010), Wales was a libertarian. I think he now supports labour or such, don't know where he stands for now. Anyhow on the Dutch Wikipedia we had an incident with him (or his peers) suddenly putting some charity ad from Virgin owner and fellow libertarian Richard Branson on top of all pages. That typical entrepreneur 'see me being a good guy' kind of shit. It was removed by a moderator, and moved back by Wales his tech-guys, and removed by a moderator, removed etc, etc. Finally the moderator won. 🎉

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@dagelf@mastodon.social 2025-01-23 00:58

@rra@post.lurk.org @teclista@mas.to Explains a lot!

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@xarvos@outerheaven.club 2025-01-23 01:04

@rra@post.lurk.org @teclista@mas.to that would explain wikia/fandom

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@russss@chaos.social 2025-01-23 01:42

@rra@post.lurk.org This Wired article is interesting because it includes a quote from Jimmy Wales claiming that it was Larry Sanger who insisted that Wikipedia had to have ads. I'm not sure I trust Wales, Sanger, or Enyedy as reliable narrators though. https://www.wired.com/story/wikipedia-spanish-fork/

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@RepresentativeSample@mstdn.party 2025-01-23 03:40

@teclista@mas.to @rra@post.lurk.org Interesting! I never knew that. Yeesh - imagine a for-profit Wikipedia.

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@spas_kolev@wikis.world 2025-01-23 11:14

@rra@post.lurk.org @teclista@mas.to Spanish fork was a factor but what really killed the advertising idea was the surprising success of the donation banner campaigns. Initially those banners were also controversial, seen as going out of the project's scope.

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@riley@toot.cat 2025-01-23 12:07

@rra@post.lurk.org Always remember: Wales is your garden variety techbro; he just haven't had the opportunity that Melon had. @teclista@mas.to

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@OpenSauce@fosstodon.org 2025-01-23 12:37

@rra@post.lurk.org @teclista@mas.to Friendly reminder that you can grab offline copies of Wikipedia from here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Database_download

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@the1goit@fedia.social 2025-01-23 12:56

@rra@post.lurk.org @teclista@mas.to fun fact, it was cause of elon telling people not to donate to Wikipedia that made me donate to Wikipedia out of spite.

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@dacig@mastodon.social 2025-01-24 07:49

@rra@post.lurk.org @teclista@mas.to Further proof that collective action gets everybody to a better place than a single providential genius leader.

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