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…