Layoffs in Wikimedia’s six-person Community Tech team sparked backlash from hundreds of Wikipedia editors who are now discussing strike action.

The growing revolt was sparked by the Wikimedia Foundation's (WMF) decision to disband its Community Tech team. This includes the roles of five engineers and one manager, WMF said on May 20th. The non-profit hosts Wikipedia and a few other Wikimedia projects, such as Wikimedia Commons and Wiktionary.

The Community Tech group was responsible for developing and maintaining the moderation tools, bug fixes, and workflow improvements requested by editors.

The foundation told the Register that the decision followed months of internal reviews that started last year. As a result, it concluded that it’s not optimal to rely on a single team for editor requests.

"We learned from these assessments that it is rarely possible to fulfill community wishes through a single team due to the vast breadth of the software we support and the number of channels through which we receive wishes," a spokesperson for the foundation told the publication.

These requests will now be handled by the wider Product and Technology department.

The laid-off staffers will remain employed while being considered for other roles, according to the foundation. If no suitable roles are assigned to them, they will receive severance packages and will leave next month.

The announcement sparks backlash

The community reacted negatively to the news. Longtime contributors demanded the team be reinstated, criticised changes to the Community Wishlist process, and questioned the foundation's motives, according to The Verge.

Specifically, some editors accused the WMF of becoming increasingly disconnected from its volunteer community. They stressed that the foundation reported nearly $300 million in assets in its latest annual report, yet it’s dismantling a team specifically created to support editors.

Some of the affected team members were also part of unionization efforts, with critics suggesting that WMF is specifically targeting employees involved in the union drive.

The foundation told the Register: "The decision to disband the Community Tech team is not in any way connected to discussions about unionizing, nor have we terminated any staff for their participation in those discussions."

However, official statements did little to convince editors.

“If it’s not about the money, it’s not about the union, why aren’t you backtracking like hell right now?” Hannah Clover, an editor and former Wikimedian of the Year, told The Verge. “Even Jimmy is trying to pass this off as somehow listening to the community, and that’s infuriating.”

More than 800 editors have now signed a petition launched by volunteer editor Tamzin Hadasa Kelly, which says editors are willing to engage in collective action. They are responsible for writing tens of thousands of articles and making nearly 10 million edits.

Since most of the moderation on Wikipedia is handled by volunteers, an editorial strike could lead to an abrupt spike in routine vandalism, spam, and other content issues.

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