This is an overnight success story that has been several years in the making. The announcement this week of a new ad-free social network by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales immediately (that is, within a day) attracted more than 160,000 users (I am number 195,812 on the waiting list (update; I paid the $12 and joined (update: and created an Open Learning and Online Learning subwiki))). It's an outgrowth of WikiTribune (see also), a site launched in 2017, "a news wiki where volunteers write and curate articles about widely publicised news." Note, however, that Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation have stated that they "are separate and independent from WT:Social (and) have no connection to the social networking site."
WT:Social is the next-generation attempt. "We will empower you to make your own choices about what content you are served, and to directly edit misleading headlines, or flag problem posts," reads the introduction to WT:Social. "We will foster an environment where bad actors are removed because it is right, not because it suddenly affects our bottom-line." More: Forbes, Independent, betanews, Mario Peshev, ITPro, Hindustan Times, The Week, Engadget.
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