tech

Hundreds of prolific Wikipedia editors are threatening to go on strike

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Hundreds of prolific Wikipedia editors are threatening to go on strike

TL;DR

  • The Wikimedia Foundation disbanded the Community Tech team, composed of engineers and a manager who developed tools for Wikipedia volunteers.
  • Volunteers are angry, demanding the team's reinstatement and suspect the move is retaliation for unionization efforts.
  • The foundation states the disbandment is a restructuring to eliminate bottlenecks and improve efficiency by distributing the work among multiple teams.
  • A petition supporting a potential strike has been signed by over 700 editors.
  • Potential strike actions could include ceasing all non-essential edits, impacting content updates and potentially disrupting Wikipedia's role as a source for AI tools.