As one journalist noted at the time, Wikipedia was “nothing less than a flat-out phenomenon, with so much content online and with such an influential approach that the prefix “wiki” has taken on a life of its own” (Gushue, 2005). At the time of Wales’s visit to the Tor Project, Wikipedia was (in)famous as a rapidly growing encyclopaedia that was free in two key senses: free to read, and more radically, free to edit.
The subject of his initial email was “Hello directly from Jimbo at Wikipedia” (Wales, 2005b). Specifically, Wales started participating in the Tor-Talk mail list, used by developers to coordinate their open source project.
In September of 2005, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales paid a visit to the Tor Project. To explain this conflict, we draw on an archive of primary source emails and historical documents focusing on the early days (2001–2005) of both projects. However, both projects shared an interest in acquiring resources and respect, or legitimacy as propriety. In contrast, the Tor Project was more concerned with Weberian legitimacy, challenging states’ claims to the monopoly of violent power. We argue that Wikipedia was heavily invested in a conception of legitimacy as authenticity, focusing on who should be counted as a Wikipedian and who should be excluded. Using a threefold definition of “legitimacy,” this essay explores the Wikipedia/Tor conflict as a legitimacy conflict.
This conflict came at a time when both projects were fighting to establish, maintain, and expand their perceived legitimacy. The Tor Project protested, arguing that such a block was not only ineffective, but constituted a form of censorship. Tired of trolls and vandals, Wikipedia decided to block all Tor users from editing encyclopaedia articles. In 2005, the paths of Wikipedia and The Tor Project crossed publicly and ferociously.
0 kommentar(er)
