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The mission of the Guerrilla Skepticism editing team is to improve science and skeptical content on Wikipedia in all languages possible.
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We do this by writing or improving skepticism and science-related articles, as well as the biographical articles of notable people involved in science and skepticism.
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We add valid material and citations, and remove unsourced claims from paranormal and pseudo-scientific related articles. Why? Because evidence is cool.
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WHO ARE THE GSoW
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- They are people just like you. Most are busy people raising families, teaching classes, working full-time, caring for their parents. We are professionals, PhD’s, students, government employees, librarians, retired, military, scientists, police and more.
We have no tests to pass. Just show a willingness to join us. All training happens on Google documents, Facebook and Wikipedia, so obviously you need to have access to the Internet.
Okay...now I am trained. How much time is required?
AGAIN, how long is a piece of string?
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That is up to you. I don't know why you would go to all the trouble to finish training and not get to work. Our goal is to change/improve/write all pages concerning scientific skepticism, science and the paranormal in all languages possible, keep vandalism off pages, and help train and motivate other GSoW. Also, we reach out and help normal Wikipedia editors when needed and more. There is more work to be done than ever. It's like learning a new language, then never using it. Why bother? You put in as much time as you can, anything you do to help is great. Some people spend hours a week, maybe 20-30 on GSoW. Some people come in and proofread a page every couple weeks. Others spend most of their time on the Cabal answering questions and just being friendly and help motivate. Some patrol Wikipedia for vandalism. I have some editors that put in 15-minutes a day during their lunch hour making some small edit. Some GSoW are able to put in a lot of time for a few months a year, then they disappear for months, then they come back. It just depends on you.
What page/topics can I work on?
THAT is up to you.
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We want you to enjoy your time with GSoW, so we want you to work on pages you enjoy.
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Rarely do we assign anything after training. Once you are trained, then it is up to you.
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The group has from time to time focused on a specific topic and spend about 6-months just focusing on it. We did all things associated with Cosmos. Another time we did all things vaccine, and the latest was skeptic books. It's fun to join in, but you don't have to.
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About half of the editors work on more than one page at a time.
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A lot of the time you will finish up a page and the work you did on it will lead you to work on another.
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We find that our editors fall in love with the page they are working on, they really find they enjoy what they are learning.
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We have all kinds of editor styles. One person really likes working on pages concerning Australia (because they live there). Another does mainly astronomy pages. One likes to find out what speakers will be at a conference she is attending and work on all the speakers pages. Another person likes to pick pages that she knows nothing about. Another person likes cryptozoology, another medical woo. Another person discovered that ghost belief is a thing so does all things ghostly. All needs work.
How about languages other than English?
YEP, that is very important also.
All of them. Every language!
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Training is mostly done in English, but we try to focus you on pages that will be relevant to your language. If you write in Spanish, then maybe the chupacabra would be a great page for you. Or maybe a scientist from Mexico?
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There is no end of work that needs to be done in all languages.
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Once you are finished training, then you have a lot more choices than an English only editor. You can translate from your language into English OR translate from English into your language.
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Or you can write or rewrite a page in English or your language.
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Maybe you just want to work on finding more people to train in that other language?
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We have been translating the beginning lessons into Czech, Spanish, French, Portuguese and German. People will still need some English skills as most conversations in the Cabal are in English.
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We want to welcome people to GSoW who may not have the best English and we will try to communicate with such things as Google translate.
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No one in GSoW will ever belittle anyone's lack of English skills. We are a friendly group.
Do I need to be a good speller or great at grammar?
NOPE, that is why we have a team. Everything is usually looked over by someone else before it is live. No one will tease or embarrass you. You will probably discover over time that your spelling and grammar will improve. Many of our team are not native English speakers, so they struggle at times. No one cares.
I’m not an expert on anything, and do not have a degree, is that a problem?
NOPE, In fact a lot of the time you will be working on pages you know nothing about. We aren’t working on pages about a complicated math formula, we are writing about the mathematician who discovered the formula. We really encourage the non-experts eyes on an article we are writing, the editor is “too-close” and can’t see the problems. We are writing Wikipedia pages for the average reader (High-School level) so if it is written confusing to you, then it probably is confusing to others. We need fresh eyes to read the work, just to make sure it makes sense to a non-expert.
​I’m an experienced Wikipedia editor, can I join GSoW and skip the training?
NOPE, we have found that experienced editors have a very different experience with a team like ours. With very few exceptions we have found that they do not fit in well. We are not “just” editors, we have a different mind-set and focus than a normal editor. We are much more social, use Facebook to discuss, train and motivate. We follow all the rules of Wikipedia, and love normal Wikipedia editors, but we approach things as a team. If you would still like to join us, please do so, but you will not be skipping lessons, and you will still have to proceed through training like someone who has never edited before.
​Why don’t you like normal Wikipedia editors?
AH, this is not true at all. We love them. I have often said that without them Wikipedia would turn into Conservapedia in months. GSoW must interact with regular editors frequently and we do our best to maintain a professional relationship with other editors. We often contribute on WikiProject Skepticism (and others) and enjoy and learn from experienced, non-GSoW editors all the time. The goal of GSoW is to find, train and motivate NEW people. We don’t want to turn current editors into GSoW.
I want to write a Wikipedia page for my friend. Can I do that?
THAT'S nice. Is your friend notable enough to have a Wikipedia page? That is something you learn starting in GSoW training and later as you become a more experienced editor. Notability is a very big deal. We can’t publish something that will just get deleted, too much work goes into it. Your friend might very well be notable. We need to have a long conversation about that first. It is possible to work on your friend’s page, but you must announce your conflict of interest (COI) in public on that talk page. Also, we are going to be strict about watching for any flattery or “peacock words”. If it gets past the GSoW team, then it should be okay for the rest of Wikipedia. But we need to see.
I have a friend that wants to do GSoW training, but he/she does not speak English well
We have been translating the beginning lessons into Czech, Spanish, French, Portuguese and German. Your friend will still need some English skills as training and most conversations in the cabal happen in English. We want to welcome your friend to GSoW and we will try our best and use a lot of Google translating, if necessary. If they are willing to be patient with us, then we will be patient with them. No one in GSoW will ever belittle your friend’s lack of English skills. Of course they are welcome. We are a friendly group.
Can I make money being GSoW
Nope sorry. We can’t take payment of any kind.
I donate to Wikipedia; do you get any of that money?
Nope! We are all just volunteers in a sea of volunteer editors. Please continue to donate to Wikipedia. Of course, you can also donate to us. But we would rather you become GSoW.
What do you do with the money we donate to GSoW?
The money goes to About Time, our main organization, where money goes to many projects we run. Regarding GSoW, donations go to helping pay expenses for our editors to go to conferences and to pay expenses related to speaking to smaller skeptic groups. We find that when our editors attend skeptic conferences, they come back with more motivation and a long list of things to do. It is a big treat for them, and a win for the work we do. When I (or possibly others) get a chance, I travel to smaller conferences or SkeptiCamps in places that see few out-of-towners. People who live farther away from the big conferences make great GSoW editors. Money really helps us get to these locations. See the touring page here on this website to book a talk. Usually I write a Skeptical Inquirer article about the visit and have a video of the lecture. These articles, photos and video promote the local group. Everyone wins!
