From Twitter to Wikipedia, We Cannot Crowdsource the Truth

Do you know who OrangeMike is? You should. He’s one of the people who decides the truth on Wikipedia.

When Elon Musk took over Twitter — excuse me, X — he infamously said he wanted the platform to “be the best source of truth, the most timely and accurate source of truth.” Everyone loudly, roundly, and correctly mocked him. You cannot crowd-source the truth.

So why do so many people rely on Wikipedia for their own version of the truth? If crowd-sourced truth is bad on Twitter, why is it acceptable on Wikipedia?

The merging of these two worlds hit a nadir when Elon, in a pathetic fit of rage, try to claim that the phrase “cis” as in cisgender was considered a slur on Twitter. Of course, it’s not a slur. But after Elon sent that tweet, one of his minions quickly changed the page of “cisgender” to make it appear to be a slur. That was edited quickly, and the pains of crowd-sourcing truth becomes quite clear.

Of course, you’re probably wondering what OrangeMike has to do with any of this. Well, I found out about OrangeMike in the oddest way — through pro wrestling.

In February, I was watching All Elite Wrestling (AEW) Dynamite and the show took place in an arena called the Nutter Center. The name sounded familiar to me as a pro wrestling fan, but I couldn’t place it. I Googled it, landed on the Wikipedia page, and realized that I had heard of the arena. In 1993, it hosted the WWF’s King of the Ring, won by my all-time favorite wrestler as a child, Bret Hart. An event notable enough to have its own Wikipedia entry.

The Wikipedia entry included a list of other pro wrestling events, so I added in facts about the arena hosting AEW for the first time in 2023.

If you visit that page today, there is no information about the Nutter Center and pro wrestling. Why? Because OrangeMike decided it wasn’t notable.

Who is OrangeMike? Why does he get to decide what’s notable? His bio includes no information about what makes his version of the truth more notable than mine, other than he is an admin and…