Notes

THE REUTERS GRAPHIC-How Hong Kong's Keyboard Warriors Have Besieged

Simon Scarr and Manas Sharma



Nov 28 (Reuters) Beyond Hong Kong's tear gas-sprayed streets and crumbling universities, another fight has been raging about the city's representation on the internet's crowdsourced encyclopedia, Wikipedia.



As protests against the government have increased, articles on topics ranging from Hong Kong's leaders and its police force have been continuously updated for months on this site. Millions of people visit the site daily to verify facts and decode complicated issues.



(Click https://tmsnrt.rs/37IPxAZ to see an interactive graphic on the Hong Kong Wiki wars.)



A Reuters analysis found a seven-fold increase in the number of edits on the Hong Kong Police Force page in the 10 months leading up to October, as compared to a year earlier. Similar spikes were seen in articles about the protests and Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam.



These changes changed facts to insults, or added material that could upset the balance.



If it was possible to identify the location of the editor, 40% of edits were found to have been made from computers located in Hong Kong. Internet users can conceal their location by using a virtual private network (VPN).



The daily edits increased during violent clashes on the streets of the territory. Runescape servers Wiki administrators were forced to limit editing access to a few pages this is a practice typical of controversial issues.



Users who aren't registered or have very new accounts aren't able to modify these articles directly. Instead, they have to request edits.



"There has been a great rise in all forms of disruptive editing, including edit wars, vandalism, and extreme language from both major perspectives," said a volunteer editor with the username MarkH21 with 13 years of experience.



"The degree of disruptive editing directed at the government, particularly from sources in Hong Kong, is significantly more severe," MarkH21 said. The user did not respond to requests to be identified in any other way than their username.



More edits will eventually improve Wikipedia articles and changes can be made public to improve transparency, according to Samantha Lien, a spokeswoman for Wikimedia Foundation, a not-for-profit entity that operates Wikipedia.



"Articles about contentious topics particularly, since they are viewed so frequently by editors, tend to be more professional and neutral," Lien wrote in an emailed response to a request to comment.



EDIT WARS



However there are those who aren't convinced.



As Wikipedia was established in 2001, has gained popularity and credibility, it has evolved into a valuable but contested record of the past.



"In many languages Wikipedia is the primary or sometimes the only general knowledge repository online," stated Taha Yasseri (a senior research fellow at Oxford University's Internet Institute), who has conducted research on Wikipedia.



"Articles that are subject to edit wars may be a common place for informing readers of falsehoods," he said, explaining that the reader might not be aware that an edit war was taking place. "At any moment, the information that is reflected in the article may only show some part of the truth."



The police section grew by a quarter of one million pages in August as new sections were added to criticize their response to protesters. Another wave of changes was triggered by the Oct. 1 police shooting of a protester.



The police Wiki page reveals that the motto of the police force was changed to "We serve with pride and care" and then "We serve with violence and terror" but then it quickly returned to the original motto.



Lam's page was subjected to similar editing. Her first name was "Super Lady" and then "Super Puppet" after she complained about the July attack on China's representative offices.



Since June more than 5,000 protesters have been detained by police. They have repeatedly claimed that their behavior was not a threat to be smashed by flaming petrol bombs or petrol bows.



Neither the force nor Lam's office have responded to Reuters questions regarding their Wikipedia articles. Wikipedia's editors, who are volunteers, are bracing for more busy months.



"People naturally will support any cause they believe in," MarkH21 said.



"Thankfully, editors have many protections against it... Wikipedia's self-policing mechanism is that it is built on consensus.


Read More: https://apisanet.com/