What 20M Bans Reveal About the Stress on Wikipedia's Volunteers
9 hours ago
- Wikipedia's role as an information infrastructure has grown, but its volunteer base has not, with administrator numbers shrinking from 1,800 in 2011 to just over 800.
- The frequency of blocks has risen sharply, partly due to automated proxy blocking, which prevents abuse but may also deter good-faith contributors.
- Administrators are increasingly using vague block reasons like 'disruption' and issuing longer bans, prioritizing efficiency and content quality over rehabilitating new users.
- The most active 10% of administrators have historically made about 80% of blocks, though this dropped to 37% in 2024 due to changes in one prolific admin's activity.
- Wikipedia is preserving end-user experience at the cost of volunteer well-being, raising questions about the sustainability of the volunteer system.