Unveiling a Notorious Self - Promotion Scheme on Wikipedia
Introduction
Consider this query: What are the top entries in the category "Wikipedia articles written in the greatest number of languages"? The answer, typically, is countries. Turkey leads the list with Wikipedia entries in 332 different languages, followed by the US with 327 and Japan with 324. As one peruses the list, other common terms surface. "Dog" (275 languages) outnumbers "cat" (273), Jesus (274) surpasses "Adolf Hitler" (242), and all of these outrank "sex" (122), which is also exceeded by "fever," "Chiang Kai - Shek," and the number "13."
However, a couple of months ago, the scenario was different. While Turkey, the US, and Japan maintained their relative positions near the top, the number one spot was occupied by an unexpected entity: David Woodard, who had Wikipedia entries in 335 different languages.
The Enigmatic David Woodard
His Infamous Composition
David Woodard is a composer known for an infamous act. In 2001, he wrote a "prequiem" - a "pre requiem" - for Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber who killed 168 people with a truck bomb. The piece was intended to be performed at a church near McVeigh's execution site in Terre Haute, Indiana, recorded, and broadcast on the radio so that McVeigh could hear it. As per the LA Times, which interviewed the composer, Woodard hoped that performing this 12 - minute piece would "cause the soul of Timothy McVeigh to go to heaven." BBC coverage at the time reported that Woodard said McVeigh was "33 and nearly universally despised at the time of his execution" - drawing a parallel with Jesus Christ.
His Controversial Ideological Ties
Woodard also had a plan related to Nueva Germania, a 1880s colony in Paraguay established to foster German culture away from the influence of European Jews. Friedrich Nietzsche's sister, Elisabeth, was one of the founding colonists. When the colony collapsed, Elisabeth's husband committed suicide, and she returned to Europe. (It's important to note that Nietzsche detested his brother - in - law's racism and cut ties with his sister when she left Europe. Unfortunately, due to his later mental illness, he was under her care for several years, and she edited his works post - death in a way that made him seem more like a proto - Nazi.) Some descendants of the colonists still reside in Nueva Germania, but the colony is now impoverished and dilapidated, with Elisabeth's house almost in ruins. Woodard told SF Gate that "as an artist who is fed up with much of the pretentious nonsense that has come to define Western culture," he was "drawn to the idea of an Aryan vacuum in the middle of the jungle."
The Investigation
The Initial Probe
A Wikipedia editor named "Grnrchst" recently decided to delve into the matter. This involved a meticulous examination of articles about Woodard and any edits that inserted his name into other articles. The findings of this extensive and laborious investigation were published in the August 9 edition of the Signpost, a volunteer - run online newspaper dedicated to Wikipedia.
The Scope of the Self - Promotion
Grnrchst's conclusion was stark: "I discovered what I think might have been the single largest self - promotion operation in Wikipedia’s history, spanning over a decade and covering as many as 200 accounts and even more proxy IP addresses." A network of accounts with an abnormal interest in Woodard was identified, and their activities over the past decade were mapped.
Starting in 2015, these accounts inserted Woodard's name "into no fewer than 93 articles (including 'Pliers,' 'Brown pelican,' and 'Bundesautobahn'), often citing self - published sources by Woodard himself." This was just in the English version of Wikipedia.
From 2017 to 2019, the accounts "created articles about David Woodard in at least 92 different languages, creating a new article every six days on average." They began with Latin - script European languages but quickly expanded to other language families and scripts from around the world, even writing articles in constructed languages. The nature of the articles also changed, from full - length translations to low - effort stub articles, which constituted the vast majority (easily 90 percent or more) of all translations. Translated languages included Nahuatl, Extremaduran, and Kirundi.
Grnrchst surmised that "this amount of translations across so many different languages would either imply this person is one of the most advanced polyglots in human history, or they were spamming machine translations; the latter is more likely."
Resurgence and Sophistication
After a lull in activity, things picked up again in 2021. IP addresses from various parts of the world, such as Canada, Germany, Indonesia, and the UK, started creating Woodard references and articles once more. For example, they added some trivia about Woodard to all 15 Wikipedia articles about the calea ternifolia.
Then, the activity became "more sophisticated." From December 2021 through June 2025, 183 articles were created about Woodard, each in a different language's Wikipedia and each by a unique account. These accounts followed a distinct pattern: they were "created, often with a fairly generic name, and made a user page with a single image on it. They then made dozens of minor edits to unrelated articles, before creating an article about David Woodard, then making a dozen or so more minor edits before disappearing off the platform."
Grnrchst believes that the overall objective was "to create as many articles about Woodard as possible, and to spread photos of and information on Woodard to as many articles as possible, while hiding that activity as much as possible." The editor came to the conclusion that David Woodard himself, or someone close to him, had been operating this network of accounts and IP addresses for cynical self - promotion.
The Aftermath
Wikipedia's Response
Following the Grnrchst report, Wikipedia's global stewards removed 235 articles on Woodard from Wikipedia instances with few users or administrators. Larger Wikipedias made their own community - based decisions, removing another 80 articles and banning numerous accounts. As Grnrchst noted, "A full decade of dedicated self - promotion by an individual network has been undone in only a few weeks by our community."
In the end, only 20 articles about Woodard remain, such as the English - language one that does not mention the controversy.
Unanswered Questions
Efforts to contact Woodard were unsuccessful, as his personal website is password - protected and accessible "by invitation" only. Whether the entire episode was some kind of "art project" aimed at gaining exposure remains speculative. However, this incident serves as a stark reminder of the lengths some individuals will go to corrupt open or public - facing projects for their own ends.
This story was originally published on Ars Technica.
