GSoW - Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia
Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia is not a funny fake organisation for comedy purposes but a serious organisation of so-called skeptics to influence and manipulate Wikipedia articles in a systematic way.
The group was founded by Susan Gerbic, an American pseudo skeptical activist.
Founding
The following section is based on the article "Susan Gerbic"" from Wikipedia, read on 3.9.18, and is licensed under Creative Commons CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported (short version). In the Wikipedia a list of authors is available on this page. Text adaptations and changes are possible and in part became necessary because the presentation in Wikipedia did not serve information but the distribution of certain opinions and/or the content was incomplete, tendentious or distorted.
Susan Marie Gerbic (born August 8, 1962) and Mark Edward proposed "Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia" (GSoW) as a Skepticamp presentation, choosing that title to describe skeptical activism that is "more underground, more grass-root, more mole-like".[1] The idea for organized effort came from Tim Farley after Gerbic's attempts to use typical WikiProjects and found them dormant and not user-friendly for new editors. She then started communicating and training others on Facebook and by email.[2]
Her efforts to influence Wikipedia grew after presentations at SkeptiCalcon and a Sunday paper presentation at The Amaz!ng Meeting[1] and she created a blog on the subject. She stated that the formal beginning of GSoW is May 2010.[3] Gerbic is often asked about her Wikipedia contributions and edits: "I discovered that there are people in our community that have been looking for a way to become more involved but need more structure, support, and training."[3] When people ask how they can help the skeptical movement, Gerbic is quick to suggest that they, too, learn to edit Wikipedia: "We rewrite Wikipedia, and proof the pages, we remove citations that are not noteworthy, we add citations, we do just about everything in Wikipedia to improve content."[4]
Website
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 AV media, TAM 9 Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpUd9uwVjqA ; accessdate August 29, 2015; https://web.archive.org/web/20160309052222/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpUd9uwVjqA ; Archivedate March 9, 2016
- ↑ http://www.prismpodcast.com/the-prism-podcast-episode-11 ; Episode 11; Luchtefeld, Jason, Ritchey, Grant: The Prism Podcast; The Prism, December 15, 2013 ; https://web.archive.org/web/20150903024652/http://www.prismpodcast.com/the-prism-podcast-episode-11 ; Archivedate: September 3, 2015; Accessdate August 29, 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Gerbic, Susan: Wikapediatrician Susan Gerbic discusses her Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia project; http://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/wikapediatrician_susan_gerbic_discusses_her_guerrilla_skepticism_on_wikiped ; Skeptical Inquirer by Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, March 8, 2015; https://web.archive.org/web/20150830023844/http://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/wikapediatrician_susan_gerbic_discusses_her_guerrilla_skepticism_on_wikiped ; Archivedate August 30, 2015 Accessdate January 13, 2015
- ↑ AV media: Guttormson, Joel: Meet the Amazing TAMers: Susan Gerbic; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdV2WD2P3dE ; Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science; November 5, 2013; Access date: August 29, 2015; Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20160307082521/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdV2WD2P3dE ; Archive date: March 7, 2016
