The Solution to the Problem of Gwen

Various people have suggested that the solution to the problem of Gwen is to raise a fuss about it within the ranks of Wikipedia. I beg to differ. An important part of the Gwen Gale/Heidi Wyss story is that the checks and balances within Wikipedia have failed. When oversight is conducted intermittently by quasi-random, self-selecting individuals, it is clear that it just does not work in a reliable fashion. That is exactly the kind of fragile structure which a focused group of friends or interest group members can chew up and eat for breakfast.

It is clear that the Wikipedia power structure is fundamentally corrupt. Like the nobility in medieval Europe, a class of what are essentially thugs has seized power and will use it to defend their position against all comers. No serious standards of morality, judgement or even common sense are applied. Wikipedia admins are power-hungry people who just want to defend their turf, hold on to it and, if possible, extend it. They derive psychological gratification from exercising power over others. 

The system doesn't work and it is naive to think otherwise. It is like going to a third world country where torture is practised routinely by the police and lodging a complaint with the police about the fact that they practice torture. Is that going to work? Obviously not. It will either have no effect or it will land you in a torture cell too. 

No. The solution to the problem of Gwen Gale is journalism. Real journalism - not blogging, either, although blogging may help get the message out. This is a real story. It is not some insignificant internet happening. Like it or not, Wikipedia has become an important source for information to a large chunk of the world's population. It has just killed off Encarta, for example. 

Think of it this way. Imagine there was a Microsoft executive who happened to fancy herself as a great auteur and had penned an amateurish work of fiction which she was unable to get published. Wanting to drum up interest in her literary efforts, she inserted some articles about herself in Encarta and made it look like she was a potential Nobel prize-winner. 

This abuse was not picked up by whatever checks and balances existed within Encarta, and the articles went out to the world in an edition of the encyclopedia which remained current for one year. Tens, maybe hundreds, of thousands of people all over the world saw and read those articles and were briefly misled into believing that the executive was a notable feminist and science fiction author. 

After a year or so, the abuse was discovered; the articles were removed; and the executive was reprimanded. However, she had managed to cultivate contacts within the company power structure so well that she was able to escape any serious punishment. Not only that, but she was actually being considered for a position on the Micrsoft board.

Is that a story? That's a story. That's a story that could be included in virtually every serious newspaper in the world. It's a story that could be featured on 60 Minutes, be the subject of a book and have Hollywood take an option on it. It's a story that needs to get out there. So forget about making complaints within Wikipedia itself. Focus instead on journalism. If you have any journalistic contacts, tip them off about the Great Wikipedia Heidi Wyss scandal.