Poking Wikipedia: Begging to be Let In
Begging to be Let In
Publication date: 2021-12-15
Update: 2021-12-16. The tar pitting continues. See the last section “Molassis”.
The old gatekeepers are dead! All praise, the new gatekeepers!!
While penning an article on a civil and civic hero I wished to use the term "MICIMATT" penned by ex-CIA analyst and principled dude Ray McGovern. A quick check of "da Internet" showed that it was not referenced at Wikipedia. I knew that the old "peoples' encyclopedia" had been politically coopted. But, are they now banning the expansion of acronyms?
A little belly roar got me engaged. See, almost a decade previously I'd created a page (two actually) at Wikipedia to document a new technology, and for years I'd been using the open source technology which runs their site to document my own understandings whilst leading an IT team. Look for “yesxorno” and the dates.
When posting that key page at Wikipedia those years ago, I hit a strange block. It was the "disambiguation" problem. The desired page was "RPZ" (an IT technology to empower organizations to mitigate the abuse of the DNS system by criminal groups) but that collided with "RPZ" 'reverse pressure zone' rather than 'reverse policy zone'. So, a little annoyed, I needed to create both pages, with one to describe the IT technology and the other the disambiguation of the "pressure zone”.
Wishing merely to get this new “MICIMATT” acronym’s expansion acknowledged, and with some history of engaging Wikipedia, how hard could it be?
The New Gatekeepers
The "account creation" process is largely unchanged, but a little more involved. This time, there shall be no Tor. (Don't get me started on Tor).
Ok. I can create a replacement account to bypass the email address which I'd used before but no longer control. Identifier changes for fun and boredom. But done, ah, haa, lets edit!
Post edit of the most non-political of expansion and referencing of the MICIMATT term, I hit a snag that would become a "might take 3 months" tar pit.
So, the article was not "published" but stuck in a review process. Bad? Good? I didn't really care much in the moment. The initial response from the controlling editor "Novem" was fast. Great!
The complaint was that "Consortium News" is not a valid reference. I'd seen this before from The Grayzone complaining about the same. Hackles were growing behind my neck. I was expecting this, but its another thing when one needs to engage with it. I'd emailed Mr McGovern, the progenitor of the MICIMATT term, and I would not be dissuaded.
Okay, lets replace the excellent news piece at Consortium News with whatever version of "reliable" Wikipedia sees as adequate. How about two on-line dictionaries?
Nope.
One dictionary okay, the other not. They need even more references to the MICIMATT term among media they see as "reputable".
Well, how about 10+ references, you media/narrative controlled/controlling people? Do you not think that I can use a search engine? I mean, really? In which millennium were your policies written?
I could see the map underneath this information control space, the little Wikipedia approval/control mechanism. You have become a slow moving behemoth of institutional control, a new gatekeeper. I can engage you and waste your time on this acronym expansion issue forever draining your human “resources” and humanity of your mission and staff. :(
Hey ‘pedia, is "MICIMATT" so dangerous to you that you will waste your staff's time trying to repress it’s public acknowledgement while the world moves on?
I laugh at your executives and their policies, but not at your staff.
The Review Process
Here, an engaged and knowledgeable contributor stands at the alter of the well intentioned sub-editors to publish on Wikipedia the most trivial of things, the expansion of an acronym. What does MICIMATT mean?
The principled actions of the sub-editor are not the issue. They are the lens into the structure.
Wikipedia does not understand the stagnation, the tar pit, into which their policies have placed them. Welcome to the rest of the Internet, you gatekeepers.
Raw Material
This is the submitted text for approval at Wikipedia (to which I’ve added a few links blinded by the cut/paste operation). This awaits Wikipedia’s divine sanction.
[snip]. The page under edit is publicly viewable.
See, Molassis, below for current content links.
Context
This is not about Wikipedia. It is about all of the gatekeepers: Alphabet, Google, Amazon, Twitch, Apple and the newscasters CNN, MSNBC, ..., and the other leachers playing in the personal information trading field and narrative control matrix.
We can be aware. Some are also watching.
Being Playful
Wanna get involved? Create an account at Wikipedia and submit whatever you want as the page for "MICIMATT”. E.g
MICIMATT was first used by science fiction writer Loyola Soldeir in her 1927 novella “The Russians are Coming”.
[I was quite annoyed when I published this. The suggested action is partially in jest. Please don’t do this. I feel a degree of compassion towards the sub-editors. Novem was rapid, precise and complied with their dumb policy. I cannot criticize the individual. But, I have a bottomless pit of criticism for delegitimizing news organisations like Consortium News and The Grayzone. ]
Molassis
The draft version of the acronym expansion of MICIMATT is viewable at Wikipedia.
It has been improved, removing poor expression and a little anger, to return it closer to its initial minimal form. The reference to the Gilens and Benjamin article remains, as it is both a key underpinning of the term and article, but also the changing awareness of the structures influencing USA government power. Wikileaks’ publications of the corruption behind the USA’s DNC would also serve well to expose these power linkages, but I hold no confidence in Wikipedia being able to see, and even less approve, that connection. Thus, I refrain.
We shall see where the ‘pedia draft page goes from here.
Meanwhile, maybe I should go back to working on that article about the civil and civic leader …
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