[Foundation-l] [WikiEN-l] Lobby takeover of wikimedia projects, particularly English wikipedia

[White Cat]

Although it is a well known issue, this issue has finally made its way to
spotlight with the ongoing CAMERA incident on English wikipedia... I am sure
English wikipedia's arbcom will come up with a reasonable conclusion and the
purpose of this email is not related to the CAMERA arbcom case directly.

Due to the very nature of wikis they are very open to outside interference
and manipulation. Although there had been many discussions on the matter,
they never generated the intended level of brainstorming.

I am sure someone can provide a brief history of past external manipulations
so I will avoid listing them on this email.

You may be under the false impression that large wikis such as en.wikipedia
is invulnerable to such attacks, but this would be a fatal mistake. English
wikipedia is probably the most vulnerable language edition of wikipedia. If
a lobby group were to secure some 10 admin accounts they can effectively
overwhelm any process we have on English Wikipedia.

So lets discuss possible solutions and precautions.

I recommend that foundation pass a ruling on the matter of lobby takeovers.
Although it goes without saying along with NPOV, spelling it out has
benefits and no harm. This way we can more easily and promptly purge them on
wikis that did not have a serious conversation on this matter enough to come
up with a policy.