After years of criticism and complaints about the direction of the site, Larry Sanger, one of Wikipedia’s cofounders, has been banned from editing articles. Sanger was indefinitely blocked from editing privileges on Wikipedia after volunteer editors accused him of violating the site’s rules by trying to get his online followers to influence an internal discussion on the platform. A Wikipedia page showing Sanger’s contributions says he is currently blocked, with the expiration set to indefinite. That page links to a discussion over whether Sanger committed what is known as off-wiki canvassing, which broadly refers to trying to bring people from outside Wikipedia into an internal discussion to influence its outcome. The page includes a note posted on Monday stating that there was a clear consensus to block Sanger. “There is general agreement among participants that he has engaged in off-wiki canvassing and is not here to constructively build the encyclopedia,” the note says. “There is also a significant concern shared by many editors that his actions constitute calls for outing.”
The discussion focused on Sanger’s efforts to get his WikiProject on intellectual diversity officially recognized. WikiProjects are groups of volunteer editors who work together around specific topics or issues on Wikipedia. Sanger’s proposed group purportedly aimed to bring more viewpoints to the encyclopedia, particularly perspectives he argues have been pushed out by what he sees as Wikipedia’s left-leaning bias.
