Non-English Editions of Wikipedia Have a Misinformation Problem

slate.com

8 pointshunter-23 comments

Maybe. Or maybe the Slate itself has a misinformation problem and Wikipedia is just fine? Why would we take Slate's word over Wikipedia's?

> Non-English Wikipedia communities tend to be much more isolated, resulting in inherent bias on certain topics.

Isn't this just a reflection of the biases of these language communities (usually equating a country)? If so, what are we outsiders to do about it? For example, non-Japanese Wikimedia staff forcing content or administrative change in the Japanese Wikipedia is unlikely to be well received by its inhabitants.

In a lot of cases there is specific bias. For the Italian version, for example, a few right-wing admins banded together and systematically misrepresented the issues related to the Italian Eastern border, including insisting to prioritize “Italian” names for sites that are not in Italy anymore (and used to be only for a very brief period before WWII). It would be funny if it weren’t a conscious attempt to influence the mainstream.

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