'Really frustrating': Aussie Wikipedia editors burn out
Wikipedia editors in Australia are experiencing burnout following so-called “edit wars” over contentious topics and attempts to add First Nations place names to articles, causing some to leave the vocation, according to an Australian study.
Researchers at the University of Technology Sydney and the University of Melbourne interviewed 14 Wikipedia editors and analysed more than 35,000 articles about Australian places — including more than 500,000 edits of those pages — over a period of three years.
The study, published at the end of October, found English Wikipedia had “an anthropocentric and neo-colonial image of Australia as a place”, and attempts to change that image had led to controversy and conflict becoming “a common occurrence” between editors.
“Many Wikipedia editors’ experiences of contentiousness include burning out, running out of energy, and being drained,” the report found.
