Dedicated volunteer exposes “single largest self-promotion operation in Wikipedia’s history”

Dedicated volunteer exposes “single largest self-promotion operation in Wikipedia’s history”

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Woodworking Plans Banner

After a decrease in activity, things increase once again in 2021, as IP addresses from around the globe began producing Woodard recommendations and short articles again. “addresses from Canada, Germany, Indonesia, the UK and other places added some trivia about Woodard to all 15 Wikipedia articles about the calea ternifolia.”

Things got “more sophisticated.” From December 2021 through June 2025, 183 short articles were produced about Woodard, each in a various language’s Wikipedia and each by a special account. These accounts followed a pattern of habits: They were “created, often with a fairly generic name, and made a user page with a single image on it. They then made dozens of minor edits to unrelated articles, before creating an article about David Woodard, then making a dozen or so more minor edits before disappearing off the platform.”

Grnrchst thinks that all the activity was suggested to “create as many articles about Woodard as possible, and to spread photos of and information on Woodard to as many articles as possible, while hiding that activity as much as possible… I came to believe that David Woodard himself, or someone close to him, had been operating this network of accounts and IP addresses for the purposes of cynical self-promotion.”

After the Grnrchst report, Wikipedia’s international stewards got rid of 235 short articles on Woodard from Wikipedia circumstances with couple of users or administrators. Larger Wikipedias were complimentary to make their own neighborhood choices, and they eliminated another 80 posts and prohibited various accounts.

“A full decade of dedicated self-promotion by an individual network has been undone in only a few weeks by our community,” Grnrchst kept in mind.

In the end, simply 20 posts about Woodard stay, such as this one in English, which does not discuss the debate.

We were not able to connect with Woodard, whose individual site is password-protected and just readily available “by invitation.”

Might the entire thing be some type of “art project,” with the genuine reward being direct exposure and being blogged about? Possibly. Whatever the intention behind the decade-long effort to increase Woodard on Wikipedia, the event advises us simply how much effort some individuals are prepared to put into contaminating open or public-facing jobs for their own ends.

Learn more

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

You May Also Like

About the Author: tech