See also this issue's In the media

Larry Sanger, known to many as the co-founder of Wikipedia, was banned by the Wikipedia community following a lengthy discussion on June 22. He had been accused of canvassing the 90,000 followers via X (formerly Twitter) to support a proposed Wikiproject known as Wikiproject Intellectual Diversity (WPID).

Sanger had a long history of confrontation with Wikipedia. Over the last two years he has been campaigning against Wikipedia's purported lack of a neutrality policy and against the Reliable sources noticeboard page that sometimes deprecates sources as being generally unreliable. His campaign took place on Fox News and other right-wing news sources, some of them deprecated.

Sanger was banned as the result of an WP:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents complaint, which was closed on 22 June. The closer offered this rationale:

There is clear consensus for a community ban of User:Larry Sanger. There is general agreement among participants that he has engaged in off-wiki canvassing and is not here to constructively build the encyclopedia. There is also a significant concern shared by many editors that his actions constitute calls for outing.

The only alternate sanctions that gathered significant support were a topic ban or partial block generally intended at forcing him to engage constructively with articles or avoid project space discussions. These alternate sanctions did not reach consensus.

— ScottishFinnishRadish, WP:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents, Special:Diff/1360671935

The ban – itself not without contention over procedure, but reinstated by a second administrator after a 10 hour interval to allow the discussion clock to run out – follows years of Sanger's on-and-off involvement in the community, from the beginning of Wikipedia. – S – B

Wikimania 2026 will be held in Paris from 21–25 July under the banner of Liberté, Équité, Fiabilité (Liberty, Equity, Reliability). In-person tickets have been sold out – with a very long waiting list – but everybody can register online for free virtual attendance at the registration site until 24 hours before the event. Videos will be streamed live on YouTube and Eventyay, with the latter offering a monitored chat for remote participation.

Some notable differences from previous Wikimanias include a serious emphasis on security and a fairly academic tone to the program. In-person attenders had to first request an invitation and then wait for up to two weeks to hear whether they passed a security check. The actual name and location of the venue has not been disclosed online except that it is in Northeast Paris near the number 7 metro line.

The program can be found here. Presenters are listed together on one page, but without the title of their presentations. You'll recognize several names from earlier Wikimanias or from reading Wikipedia, Diff, or The Signpost. Other presenters appear to have predominantly academic, tech, or perhaps government backgrounds. – S, H

• Arbitration enforcement rules simplified: The procedures around Contentious topics were simplified by three motions:
  • The former "awareness" framework was simplified to the following rule: an administrator should warn an editor whose behavior is not egregiously disruptive if the administrator believes the editor does not understand what editing in a contentious topic means. Otherwise, the administrator should issue an appropriate restriction.
  • A complicated process called "renewal", which was literally never used, was repealed
  • Finally, admins are instructed that If an editor does not improve their behavior after a warning, administrators should normally impose editor restrictions rather than give additional warnings.

• New administrators: The Signpost welcomes the English Wikipedia's newest administrators, Chipmunkdavis and TechnoSquirrel69, selected in "old fashioned" requests for adminship with over 200 supporters and no opposition. The RfAs both concluded on 30 June. There are currently two ongoing requests for adminship, scheduled to close on 20 July 2026.
• Articles for Improvement: This week's Article for Improvement is Chess, followed by Chicago Bulls (beginning 13 July). Please be bold in helping to improve these articles!
• Next 25 kickoff: The meeting summary notes from the initial meeting of the Next 25 group held on 7 July, attended by some 50 Wikimedians, have been posted.
• Wikimedia Café: This month's edition of the Café is to be held July 26 with two time slots for global convenience (time slot 1, time slot 2 – both one day later than usual to deconflict from Wikimania). The topic will be Wikimedia governance, not limited to the Movement Charter. Check the signup page for details.
• NPOV: A proposed baseline NPOV standard has a planned discussion period on Meta-Wiki through 15 July.
• Commons AI policy: An RfC concerning policy update for AI content is open on Commons.
• New edition of free MediaWiki book: User:Yaron Koren has announced a new revision of his book Working with MediaWiki (ISBN 978-1540761149, also freely accessible online). Updates include a new chapter titled "AI and the future of wikis".
• Proposed changes to the recognition and funding of Wikimedia affiliate organizations: The Wikimedia Foundation has published a proposal

  that would update movement affiliate recognition and establish new, connected criteria for eligibility to receive Community Fund grants. The proposal also clarifies expectations for different types of affiliates [such as Wikimedia chapters and user groups], [and] formalizes the role of hubs within the model [...].

  The Foundation is soliciting community feedback on the proposal until August 7, before submitting it to the Board of Trustees.