Aspiring contributors gathered at Columbia College Chicago to learn how to write and edit articles on Wikipedia. The event was organized by Art+Feminism, a campaign to improve the site’s representation of women and nonbinary individuals.Danielle Scruggs for The New York Times
In Wikipedia’s 18 years of existence, it has become a fixture in our lives: It ascends to the top of Google’s search results and provides answers to the questions we ask Alexa and Siri.
For Wikipedia’s editing community, the website is even more. It is a kind of social network where users debate the minutiae of history and modern life, climb the editorial hierarchy and even meet friends and romantic partners.
It is also a place where editors can experience relentless harassment. In 2016, Pax Ahimsa Gethen, a trans male Wikipedian, was persistently hit with personal attacks over several months. Mx. Gethen, 49, who uses the pronouns “they” and “them,” said the anonymous harasser posted that they were “insufferable” and “unloved,” that they belonged in an internment camp and that they should kill themself.
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