The Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia (GSoW) project I run is often associated with writing and maintaining pages focused on paranormal, anti-vaccine, and science biographies. Although we do indeed write a lot about those topics, we also focus on pages that are just science. We are nearing our fifteenth year and have written over 2,200 articles, which have been viewed over 170 million times. That’s a lot of success, but there’s so much work yet to be done. I am asking for your help. Can you help me find more people to train?

I have combed the scientific skepticism world seeking new recruits, and more than 100 have volunteered their time to join my Secret Cabal as we work to keep nonsense out of Wikipedia. What we need now are opportunities to pitch GSoW to the broader science community.

I have reached out to museums, astronomy clubs, science podcasts, and more. I often either don’t hear back or they hand-wave me off, explaining that no one uses Wikipedia for science education. They couldn’t be more wrong! Not only are students turning to Wikipedia for information but so are journalists who in their hurry are disseminating information they take from Wikipedia (sometimes even plagiarizing it). We know they are using Wikipedia, so why don’t we insist on giving them the best information possible?

On the science pages, we are barely scratching the surface. While some contain pseudoscience, more often they are simply neglected. I don’t have enough editors who feel confident to evaluate the content on many science-related pages. During the COVID-19 lockdown, we focused on vaccines, virologists, and the people spreading related misinformation. It was an all-hands-on-deck moment, and we created 119 articles about vaccines with over eight million page views. Now we are stable in our new normal, and it’s time to grow our base of editors.

You don’t need a science degree to become a GSoW editor, but when it comes to science articles, it does take expertise to understand the difference between a Maccullochella peeli and a Maccullochella macquariensis. I don’t have nearly enough editors who feel confident writing about sharks, finches, and gravitational waves. We are often out of our depth, and other than successes from a couple of science-heavy outlets (such as Kevin Folta’s Talking Biotech Podcast and Kyle Polich’s Data Skeptic Podcast), we’ve had little response from our efforts to recruit people with expertise in science.

Adrienne Hill rewrote the Winchester Mystery House and Sarah Winchester Wikipedia pages, which together have been viewed one million times since. As described in the cover story of this issue, we even kept the page edits maintained when a representative from the Mystery House attempted to revert the article to its previous paranormal-promoting pseudohistory.

Wikipedia, when written correctly, is pure science communication. It holds a place alongside science museums, public lectures, zoos, libraries, planetariums, and other existing methods of informal science education. Those other outlets only reach the audience on hand and are limited to people with geographic and financial access. Wikipedia is immediately accessible and can reach hundreds of millions. Wikipedia resides in the pocket of anyone with a smartphone and internet connection.

Do you have access to a science audience? If so, help me pitch GSoW to them. Or maybe you can join the team yourself! Science trained or not, GSoW needs you; we can’t quit just because the task is massive. We are making progress, and it’s time to take Wikipedia to the next level. For more information, visit https://www.abouttimeproject.org/gsow.