Larry Sanger, co-founder of Wikipedia, has come out with his heaviest criticism of the online encyclopedia yet, accompanied by a call to reform. In nine theses published to his blog and Wikipedia itself, Sanger outlines proposals for reform with essays describing and analyzing the myriad problems with the site since his departure in 2002, including the purging of conservative media through a sourcing blacklist.

On Tucker Carlson’s podcast earlier this week, Sanger outlined his nine theses and expressed other concerns about Wikipedia. During the interview, Carlson expressed surprise regarding the sourcing blacklist, which includes Breitbart News.

Having left Wikipedia after co-founding it with Jimmy Wales and drafting early policies, Sanger recently became particularly critical of its left-wing bias. He has been smeared on Wikipedia for this with editors having sought to exclude his criticism from Wikipedia, usually because blacklisted conservative media are cited. Stating he does not have much hope for internal reform at Wikipedia, Sanger characterizes his nine theses as a “Hail Mary proposal” for reform. He likened this to Martin Luther posting his 95 Theses challenging the Catholic Church, stating it was “Out of love for the truth and the desire to elucidate it.” Sanger believes change will likely require considerable external pressure.

Ending Consensus

In his first thesis, Sanger calls for ending “consensus” decision-making on Wikipedia, though offering no replacement. He states the original intention was to have multiple, competing views presented with attribution and not determine one “correct” view. Consensus was intended to reflect a neutral exploration of the debate. He states the community now effectively selects approved views as “consensus” truth, often determined by the status of advocates, making it an adversarial game. During Sanger’s interview, Carlson argued this process “allows an aggressive faction to overwhelm the skeptical faction.” One recent example of this Breitbart reported is the “Gaza genocide” article where “consensus” recently declared the allegations against Israel true.

Multiple Viewpoints

Sanger’s second thesis proposes articles from competing perspectives. While noting the “gender gap” and other “inequities” the site’s owners acknowledge, Sanger describes a broader “globalist, academic, secular, and progressive” or “GASP” bias, which he describes as the Western elitist view. On academic bias, he cites the “CHOPSY” test from a widely-cited Wikipedia essay referencing elite universities.