this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2026
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[–] DudeWhoYapsTooMuch@lemmy.world 4 points 9 hours ago

Wait wait wait, you mean the one place that literally shows the commentary of how unions actually do work, and show all of the evidence and STILL WON'T ACKNOWLEDGE UNIONS WHEN WORKING UNDER THEM? Holy shit, that's just evil. That's not stupid like a boomer or some tryhard trump supporter who clearly doesn't know anything. That's just evil.

[–] cantankerous_cashew@lemmy.world 5 points 15 hours ago

Wikimedia definitely doesn’t need your money and hasn’t for years

[–] Darcranium@lemmy.world 17 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Perfect timing. I just started donating to a new startup that seems as promising as Wikipedia once was. Nonprofit whose goal is to start their own universal basic income for users who don't want to wait for the government to start one. Now I can cancel my Wikipedia donations and not feel so bad

[–] Identikit@leminal.space 21 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

Well, tell us who this is so we can support the real ones!

[–] Darcranium@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago

Haha ok ok my bad it's called comingle and i think it's still in beta phase for another month...

https://www.comingle.us/

[–] Batmorous@lemmy.world 2 points 9 hours ago

Same, drop the details comment op!

[–] Auth@lemmy.world 9 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)

Whats going on here? I read wikimedia's statement and they seem open to staff unionizing if the majority vote to be represented by CWA. Why are they hiring union busting lawyers?

[–] 4grams@awful.systems 33 points 1 day ago

Yet more evidence for my “never trust a self described libertarian” stance. Hasn’t failed me yet.

[–] lechekaflan@lemmy.world 34 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Might as well mirror the whole site, run it elsewhere where the suits don't have control over people.

[–] spicehoarder@lemmy.zip 14 points 1 day ago (7 children)

I have an old 2023 copy of Wikipedia saved to my NAS using kiwix. This is probably the most recent version I'll ever need. But yeah, it's long overdue for some healthy competition, conflicts have been brewing for over a decade at this point.

[–] Batmorous@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago

Lots of things could do with more competition more than ever

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (2 children)

This is probably the most recent version I’ll ever need.

Assuming nothing historically significant happens after that download, sure.

I've got an ancient encyclopedia from the 1950s that my dad owned. Let me tell you how useful that's been over the years.

[–] monotremata@lemmy.ca 8 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

When I was a kid in the 80's, my sister and I found an old World Book Encyclopedia from the 50's that someone in our neighborhood was throwing out, so we brought it home. It had some interesting "facts" in it. E.g., did you know that guinea pigs are perfect as subjects for scientific research because they're unable to feel pain? 1950's worldbook did!

[–] Bluewing@lemmy.world 2 points 8 hours ago

That's the cool thing about knowledge. We learn new things all the time. 70 years from now, things we think are true today will be laughed at as ignorant and naive.

Like an old Sears catalogs, old encyclopedias are fun snap shots into the past and worth the read.

[–] piecat@lemmy.world 1 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Uhhhh there is no way that is true

[–] monotremata@lemmy.ca 4 points 16 hours ago

I mean, I don't have the encyclopedia anymore, so I guess I can't really prove it to you. But it was sort of my introduction to the idea that not everything in an encyclopedia is necessarily true, so it's pretty memorable for me. I recognize the irony of using another encyclopedia here, but Wikipedia mentions in the History section of its Pain in Animals article, "Researchers remained unsure into the 1980s as to whether animals experience pain." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pain_in_animals#History ) I obviously don't know the story about how the line ended up in World Book, but I know they employ fact checkers for every line in the book, so presumably in the 50's the line reflected some kind of scientific consensus, as bizarre as that sounds now.

[–] Madzielle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

I have a single volume of an 1875 encyclopedia, it's facsinating

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[–] whaleross@lemmy.world 39 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Cancelled my monthly. I'll start it again when I receive info that the workers have a union.

[–] Widukin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 day ago

Did the same.

[–] Eh_I@lemmy.world 25 points 1 day ago (10 children)

We should probably all be downloading the website and printing off the important stuff, like how to make fire and why the sky-spirits get mad sometimes.

[–] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 103 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (11 children)

This is bad.

…But I’m very worried about the future of Wikipedia.

Questionable leadership or not, it is a lighthouse in the information dystopia of the 2020s, which literally helps hold society together.

The far right wants it gone, and are not shy about screaming it, because Wikipedia is not compatible with fascism.

If it becomes hated by the left too, and ignored by the masses because of Big Tech blacklists it, I worry it won’t have the political support to keep its prominence.


And to be clear, I’m not worried about it dying. Wikipedia will stay where it is for decades.

I’m worried about it ceasing to be popular.

It doesn’t function as a uncontrolled source of information if no one sees it. Modern fascist censorship works by simply shifting attention.

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 6 points 1 day ago

Then they need to drop the losers behind this anti-union BS. This isn't a complicated problem. If they're against working people they don't deserve political support. Anyone who cares enough can rip the site and rehost it elsewhere anyway or preferably multiple elsewheres so we don't run into this issue again.

[–] iocase@lemmy.zip 52 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

The Wikimedia foundation vastly outpaces expenses. Despite doing their best to convince you if you don't donate $10 right now Wikipedia will literally evaporate 🥺🙏

They can afford to not pay like shit

They're also wasting massive amounts of money on things outside their core mission and scope.

[–] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I think you missed my point.

I'm not worried about them running out of funding. I'm worried about their reputation in the public's eye.

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[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Questionable leadership or not, it is a lighthouse in the information dystopia of the 2020s, which literally helps hold society together.

It pioneered a novel mechanism for collaborating on a project with minimal trust between contributors. But it was also riddled with bias and vulnerable to exploitation and as prone to cultivating disinformation as a universal source of truth.

Rather than fixating on the site as some last bastion of Web 1.0 nostalgia, we would do well to do better than Wikipedia.

Organizations like the Internet archive project have, imho, done as much or more than Wikipedia because of their commitment to accumulating primary source material. Managing that catalog and incorporating it into an encyclopedia of knowledge is much more than just stuffing a hard drive full of editor arguments and dead links from the old site.

[–] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 4 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (6 children)

Well, unfortunately, there is no project like that with Wikipedia's critical mass. Most attempts with any attention are rather horrific. See: Grokipedia.

If Wikipedia dies, nothing good will replace it.

I know that's a bit defeatist, but I really think its "the best we got." Nothing better is coming with the state the internet is in now.


And I just want to emphasize that maybe a small community could build something better. I know.

But in terms of "keeping a healthy knowledge base for civilization," that kind of project doesn't matter if no-one sees it. Wikipedia is valuable because its a reasonably sane default reference for billions of people, that isn't some megacorp or government.

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[–] Avicenna@programming.dev 34 points 1 day ago

I only donate from time to time but people who cancel recurring donations should write to them the reason as to why.

[–] Wispy2891@lemmy.world 63 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I don't understand this, the employees are few and the pr fallout + fighting this is much more expensive than just agreeing to what they demand

Plus it's a foundation and shouldn't have profit

[–] antonim@lemmy.world 30 points 1 day ago

the employees are few

WMF has 650 employees.

What they're going to demand is preventing arbitrary layoffs, less bullying in the workspace, etc. Supposedly the Foundation is very toxic workplace. It's not (just) about the money.

I hate this. I really hate this.

[–] grepe@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago

the startups and nonprofits alike peak when it's the people who do the actual work that create them to solve the actual problems yhey have and they fall when a bunch of mba's take over to "make money"...

[–] late_pessimistic@slrpnk.net 44 points 1 day ago

Wikimedia please fire whatever consulting firm told you it's a good idea to do extractive capitalism as a non-profit foundation, reliant on long-term community goodwill and sustainable work ethics with low turnover rate

[–] StupidBrotherInLaw@lemmy.world 48 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I was initially 80/20 against/for Wikipedia's stance. I tentatively agreed with Wales' criticism of identity tracking for the initial vote, but needed more information to form a solid opinion. Then I saw the mention of their hiring a union busting firm in addition to their current relationship with a known union busting law firm.

Fuck them, 100%. I immediately cancelled my ongoing monthly donation, which I've provided for years. Until the Wikimedia Foundation recognizes their unionized employees and works with them in good faith, they will get not a penny from me

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[–] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 23 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Was wondering when they were going to enshittify.

Fuck you, Dimmy.

EDIT: just realized something. I listen to Cory Doctorow's podcast and he starts each episode off with a lengthy list of scheduled appearances. He's been mentioning an upcoming appearance with Jimmy Wales. Looked it up. They'll be on the same stage on August 17th. Wonder if this will come up.

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