[Wikimedia-l] WMF employee writing articles for $300

Mon Jan 6 07:29:40 UTC 2014

Sarah used to be a DJ in Indianapolis.  I don't find it very surprising
that she'd write an article about a nightclub in Indianapolis. That would
probably also explain the use of unusual sources - surely someone who used
to DJ in Indy is more familiar with local music sources there than most
people would be.

----
Kevin Gorman

On Sun, Jan 5, 2014 at 11:20 PM, Oliver Keyes <ironholds at gmail.com> wrote:

> As an apparent "Wikimedia insider"; I think that if the allegations are
> substantiated they need to be addressed. I don't mean to run interference
> on that. I mean to try and undercut any attempt to turn a subject worth
> discussing substantively into an excuse to crow. My objection is not that
> you raised this allegation, it's that you insist on posting four hundred
> word screeds about how hard-done by you are and how this demands that
> people accept you were right all along. If you actually care about the
> substance of the discussion, stop doing that. If you don't, just stop.
>
>
> On Sun, Jan 5, 2014 at 11:10 PM, Russavia <russavia.wikipedia at gmail.com
> >wrote:
>
> > Steven,
> >
> > Did it occur to you that the reason the account is anonymised is that
> > one would likely not want it to be found out? It also beyond the
> > realms of imagination that "Wikipediocracy trolls" would create an
> > account on 6 January 2012 as a joe-job account, and sit on it all this
> > time and then have Odder (who is certainly no friend of
> > Wikipediocracy) find out about it, and let him beat them to the punch.
> >
> > But here's a little more evidence for you. From that screenshot, you
> > will notice in September Sarah earned $96 from a job which is
> > described as "Wikipedia Writer Editor". The information for that job
> > is found at https://www.odesk.com/jobs/~01fb1fd477c79e30b0 (and I have
> > taken the liberty of uploading it at
> >
> >
> https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8j_w_yHF5ymdHQzTkJkRkY5TWM/edit?usp=sharing
> > )
> >
> > From this we can ascertain the following:
> >
> > * The job was posted on 3 September 2013
> > * The client is in the United States
> > * Sarah was one of 9 applicants for the job, applying on 4 September 2013
> > * The client was interviewing 2 applicants, and they ended up hiring
> Sarah
> > * On 4 October 2013 (a Friday), the client last viewed this job -- the
> > little question mark pop-up says "This is when the client last viewed
> > or interacted with the applicants for this job." - in all likelihood
> > this is when the information was provided to Sarah.
> >
> > From Sarah's contributions between this period we can see that she was
> > involved in creating and editing articles relating to Turkey, Algeria,
> > Guatemala, creating articles such as
> > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugénie_Luce, etc
> >
> > On 6 October 2013 (-8 GMT), after editing articles on places/people in
> > Moldova and Ukraine, at 12:14 she made this edit
> > (
> >
> https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stephen_III_of_Moldavia&diff=prev&oldid=576031919
> > ).
> > At 13:53, a little under 2 hours later, Sarah posted
> > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melody_Inn_(nightclub). Again, this is a
> > somewhat puff piece article, out of sync with what she was editing at
> > the time, with sourcing that one wouldn't really expect in an article.
> > The wording at
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melody_Inn_(nightclub)#Music
> > is especially telling. Then
> >
> https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1935&diff=prev&oldid=576044989
> > is done straight afterwards. That it was posted a little under 2 hours
> > after her edit to the Stephen III of Moldavia article would correlate
> > with the 2 hours that she billed the client for cleaning the article
> > up to make it presentable, receiving $96. Then it was back to normal
> > editing. Not bad for 2 hours editing on a Sunday afternoon, eh?
> >
> > And surely you can understand why people would post this information
> > publicly. Already on this very list I have been attacked by no less
> > than 4 Wikimedia insiders (yourself included) who are clearly trying
> > to run deflection and interference. Emailing the WMF and Sue
> > privately, so that it can be quietly ignored, or swept under the
> > carpet; this is the experience of many people in the past, so why
> > waste one's time. And anyway, doesn't the public, including the media
> > whom I have also taken the liberty of advising that this issue exists,
> > have a right to know that such things are happening on a project that
> > prides itself on how transparent it is.
> >
> > Steven, does this smell like trolling and an elaborate "set up Sarah"
> > joe-job? People can continue to bury their heads in the sand, attack
> > me for trolling, run interference, and believe in vast conspiracies
> > and other such nonsense. I will look at this logically, and taken in
> > with information that Odder provided, it's couldn't be clearer.
> >
> > What isn't so clear is how Sue and Jimmy will respond......
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Jan 6, 2014 at 1:34 PM, Steven Walling <steven.walling at gmail.com
> >
> > wrote:
> > > On Sun, Jan 5, 2014 at 3:42 PM, Russavia <russavia.wikipedia at gmail.com
> > >wrote:
> > >
> > >> Odder has published a fantastic blog piece at
> > >>
> http://twkozlowski.net/paid-editing-thrives-in-the-heart-of-wikipedia/in
> > >> which it is revealed that a WMF employee is engaged in undeclared paid
> > >> editing on English Wikipedia, and charging what it appears to be $300
> > per
> > >> article.
> > >>
> > >> I have cc'ed both Sue and Jimmy in on this email, but also sending to
> > this
> > >> list as I know they, and other WMF employees, do use this list, and I
> > think
> > >> it would be pertinent that they respond publicly to the issues raised
> > here.
> > >> It is ever so more important given that the undeclared paid editing
> > >> occurred AFTER the whole Wiki-PR debacle (Sue's press release, WMF's
> > >> cease-and-desist, and of course the resultant media attention).
> > >>
> > >> What do Jimmy and Sue believe should occur given that such editing
> > violates
> > >> Wikipedia policies and also Jimmy's so-called Bright Line Rule. In
> > relation
> > >> to Jimmy's line, many are still clueless as to what exactly this
> Bright
> > >> Line is (it's not very bright), and how it should be applied in
> > practice,
> > >> so Jimmy, if you are out there, your comment is requested on that.
> > >>
> > >> Cheers,
> > >>
> > >> Russavia
> > >>
> > >
> > > I'm with David and Nathan here.
> > >
> > > The "evidence" presented is an anonymized oDesk account and a
> screenshot.
> > > Screenshots are very easily doctored, and Wikipediocracy trolls have
> many
> > > reasons to attack a Wikimedian like Sarah. I wouldn't be surprised if
> > > they'd go so far as to set up a fake account using her picture and
> > > information.
> > >
> > > If you really cared about solving this, you could try emailing Sarah,
> her
> > > superiors, and Sue directly. Considering many staff don't follow high
> > > volume lists like Wikimedia-l, especially on the weekend, it's not
> > exactly
> > > the best way to get a response from the WMF. It is, however, a great
> way
> > to
> > > stir up bullshit drama.
> > >
> > > I'll hold out for Sarah's comment, if she feels comfortable. Otherwise
> > > smells like trolling.
> > >
> > > Steven
> > > _______________________________________________
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> >
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