Link: How an editor uncovered the "largest self-promotion operation in Wikipedia's history" that promoted obscure composer David Woodard with entries in 335 languages (Nate Anderson/Ars Technica)

David Woodard, once dominating Wikipedia in 335 languages, has been the subject of one of the largest self-promotion schemes on the platform. His sudden prominence was questioned by many, leading to an investigation into the unusual editing activity.

Investigations by a Wikipedia editor named Grnrchst revealed that numerous accounts and IP addresses were involved in promoting Woodard across Wikipedia by creating and editing articles about him.

The promotional efforts included Woodard's name being inserted into seemingly unrelated Wikipedia articles and creating new profiles in an array of languages, from widespread to obscure.

Most of these articles were low-effort stubs, indicating the use of machine translations rather than genuine multilingual contributions. This spam-like behavior significantly inflated Woodard's presence on Wikipedia.

Following Grnrchst's report, a significant cleanup effort on Wikipedia led to the deletion of many of these articles. Only 20 articles on Woodard remain, portraying a more accurate scope of his notability.

The case underscores the extent to which individuals might manipulate open-source projects like Wikipedia for personal gain, prompting communities to remain vigilant and enforce strict editorial standards. #

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Yoooo, this is a quick note on a link that made me go, WTF? Find all past links here.