Wikipedia Doesn’t Know What to Do With Almost-Famous People
An arcane moderation process leaves public-ish individuals in a lurch when articles get too personal
Wikipedia bills itself as the encyclopedia “anyone can edit.” It’s a phrase that gives the impression of an online Wild West, but layers of intricate systems and rules are in place to make sure everything stays on track.
Sometimes, though, things go wrong. Rules are bent or used to justify bad behavior. The Wikipedia platform is leveraged as a tool for abuse.
Take the case of Jenny Nicholson. She makes videos for YouTube about theme parks, bad books, and porgs — the rotund, squawking bird creatures from Star Wars. She’s not an elected official, and she doesn’t run a Fortune 500 company. Yet, for a time, her Wikipedia page included deeply personal information, like names of old pets and when she got a certain job. It was stuff that went well beyond simple biography.
Deciding what goes on Wikipedia — in terms of who or what gets an article and what information should be included — is a complicated affair. The online encyclopedia has massive documents detailing criteria like notability of subjects, what sources of information are reliable, and how to write biographies of living people. For subjects that…
