simonw 12 days ago

Yikes that letter is alarming.

> In view of public criticisms, including those expressed by Wikipedia Co-Founder Dr. Lawrence M. Sanger, regarding the opacity of editorial processes and the anonymity of contributors, what justification does the Foundation offer for shielding editors from public scrutiny?

Larry Sanger has been criticizing Wikipedia for more than 20 years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Sanger#Criticism_of_Wiki...

The author of that letter is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Martin_(Missouri_politician... - "the first U.S. attorney for D.C. in at least 50 years to be appointed without experience as a judge or a federal prosecutor".

2
ZeroGravitas 11 days ago

The Heritage Foundation has been open about their desire to strip Wikipedians of anonymity, this is just the government putting that plan into practice:

https://slate.com/technology/2025/02/wikipedia-project-2025-...

squarefoot 11 days ago

If the HF is behind this, then Wikipedia is doomed beyond any legal defense. Back it up entirely and move it overseas.

grafmax 11 days ago

Authoritarian regimes thrive on fatalism and despair. But they also inspire resistance. We did not have mass protests a few months ago. Our society is in deep crisis and the outcome can still swing either way.

For all the progress they’ve made in dismantling our democratic institutions, deep incompetence runs through this administration.

Our efforts should be still directed to fighting their overreach. It is not the time to retreat.

buyucu 11 days ago

The easiest solution is for the Wikimedia Foundation to move out of Us jurisdiction to a more democratic country.

guerrilla 11 days ago

I don't think that would work. The US would just attack those countries as they are doing right now, trying to force us to give up DEI and ESG.

grafmax 11 days ago

It’s questionable whether this bully continues to have as much influence as it thinks it does.

guerrilla 11 days ago

I don't see any signs of succesful resistance yet.

fugalfervor 11 days ago

China is doing just fine resisting the bullying. EU can do the same.

GoblinSlayer 10 days ago

EU already tried.

fugalfervor 10 days ago

they should try harder.

douglasisshiny 11 days ago

To be more clear, it's operatives of the Heritage Foundation who now work in the government putting this into place. Does anyone think Trump actually does much day to day? He often seems completely unaware of what's going on in his own government. I invite anyway to watch his evening press conferences where he's handed a bunch of Executive Orders, is told what he's signing (he has no clue), and signs it.

zeroonetwothree 10 days ago

Too bad there's not a maximum age for being elected president.

satanfirst 11 days ago

Their entry on Wikipedia is well worth a read:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Heritage_Foundation

Kind of explains a lot in the balancing act in Trumps rise to power while trying to look like a marionette for various interests this term. They should remember Hitler's rebellion from his masters.

cutemonster 11 days ago

Trump is dumb and 80 though. But if he had been 40 and intelligent.

Vance is 40, I wonder how intelligent or not is he?

sterlind 10 days ago

he might be intelligent, but he has negative rizz. the only person excited about Vance 2028 is Peter Thiel.

the_mitsuhiko 11 days ago

Getting really bad vibes from this. Plenty of people in power are unhappy with Wikipedia for years. So far it’s an amazing source and surprisingly neutral given the complexity of the problem. Would not want to lose it in a political fight.