As far as I could see this story lacked any facts, not even one tangible example of attempted manipulation. I'd appreciate a link if I misunderstood the press coverage. It might be a good use of resources to just keep saying "please provide an example" before responding to what is probably itself fake news. Otherwise one keeps on focusing on flying teapots rather than stuff that matters for open knowledge. Thanks, Fae https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/LGBT+ http://telegram.me/wmlgbt On 12 Jan 2018 21:48, "Lucy Crompton-Reid" <lucy.crompton-reid@wikimedia. org.uk> wrote: Dear all I just wanted to give the Wikimedia UK community a heads up that Wikipedia may be in the spotlight in the coming days, as the Daily Mail and the Sun are planning to run a story tomorrow about how MPs have (apparently) been given briefings about concerns Russian trolls are planting ‘fake news’ on Wikipedia to corroborate the false information they spread on Twitter. The stories are likely to say that not enough checks are being done by Wikipedia to make sure the content on the site is not fake. I'm not personally aware of any such briefings to MPs regarding Wikipedia, although the most recent oral evidence to the DCMS Fake News inquiry does refer to known Russian sources on WikiLeaks (with particular reference to the US election). Obviously I'm assuming that the UK press will know the difference between Wikipedia and WikiLeaks, but the claims are apparently linked to the inquiry and this is all I've been able to uncover this evening. The Wikimedia Foundation press team has sent a short response to these claims, as follows: Wikipedia’s open, transparent model is uniquely resistant to misinformation. Anyone can edit Wikipedia, to fix mistakes or expand articles, provided their contributions are neutral and based in reliable sources. Thousands of people do just this on Wikipedia every day. Nearly every edit ever made to Wikipedia is available to the public, so anyone can see how an article has changed over time. Wikipedia is always improving, and this open model creates accountability and means that bias tends to be rooted out quickly, leading to a more balance version of the facts over time. Best wishes Lucy -- Lucy Crompton-Reid Chief Executive Wikimedia UK +44 (0) 203 372 0762 Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered Office Ground Floor, Europoint, 5 - 11 Lavington Street, London SE1 0NZ. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects). *Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal control over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.* _______________________________________________ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l(a)wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk _______________________________________________ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l(a)wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk

On 17 January 2018 at 13:24 Harry Mitchell &lt;hjmwiki(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote: Would it be worth Wikimedia UK's while to put out a blog post talking about quality control processes (ad-hoc as they are) on Wikipedia? Not so much as a direct reply - both because these articles look like they're just filling empty column inches, and because we obviously can't prove a negative (that "Russian trolls" *aren't* running amok on political articles). Rather as a timely reminder of what Wikipedia is about and how the 'wisdom of the crowd' makes it quite difficult to grossly distort its content. I could say something about what admins do, though there I'm sure there are people who spend more time on politicians' biographies than I do.

I am always looking for people to write blogposts. Perhaps a few people could crowdsource a blogpost about how Wikipedia does quality control, listing various ways like human peer review, edit filters, bots, etc... I'm sure some of you will know how this is done better than I do. Here - I've started an open Googledoc <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1E5EfSV-qoiiA20lWuK_QKhn8qijiUBe5ZNmQCZyKqbk/edit?usp=sharing>. Anyone is free to contribute. <http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail> Virus-free. www.avg.com <http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail> <#m_-8636929772461878280_m_2002940969239252742_DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2> John Lubbock Communications Coordinator Wikimedia UK +44 (0) 203 372 0767 <+44%2020%203372%200767> Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Office 1, Ground Floor, Europoint, 5 - 11 Lavington Street, London SE1 0NZ. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects). *Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal control over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.* On 17 January 2018 at 13:45, Charles Matthews < charles.r.matthews(a)ntlworld.com&gt; wrote: _______________________________________________ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l(a)wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk

Was there any response to the Mail's article blaming us for suicides? It says they contact Wikipedia, presumably the WMF.

Hi Doug (and all) The DM contacted me (via the press email at Wikimedia UK) late on Monday afternoon for comment. I immediately contacted the press team at the Foundation, as I knew they were sent the report on online suicide prevention last year. WMF had said at the time that they were formulating a response in conjunction with their legal team, which I now know that they sent however I didn't get a copy of their response until Tuesday. Monday is Martin Luther King Day (a bank holiday) in the States and so staff at the Foundation were out of the office. John and I therefore drafted a response to the Mail's request, however in consultation with several key board members at WMUK we decided not to formally comment (although I did give some background information to the editor on the way Wikipedia works). We are discussing our strategy for dealing with negative press stories and in particular the ongoing antipathy coming from the DM. Best Lucy On 20 January 2018 at 19:07, Doug Weller &lt;dougweller(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote: -- Lucy Crompton-Reid Chief Executive Wikimedia UK +44 (0) 203 372 0762 Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered Office Ground Floor, Europoint, 5 - 11 Lavington Street, London SE1 0NZ. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects). *Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal control over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.* _______________________________________________ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l(a)wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk