Richard Knipel

Richard Knipel
Knipel at Wikipedia Day NYC 2024

Richard Knipel (also known as Pharos) is a Wikipedian best known for his involvement in Wikimedia New York City. Knipel has been Wikimedian-in-resident at New York's Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim, the Metropolitan Museum of Art,[1] and the City University of New York.[2][3]

He is best known for his actions in 2025, when him and Wikipedian Andrew Lih "averted tragedy"[4][5] by restraining a gunman during WikiConference North America.[6]

Biography

Circa 2015, Knipel was a chapter representative of Wikimedia New York City when he was recruited to assist with the Art+Feminism Wikipedia edit-a-thon.[7]

In 2022, Knipel created the article Artwork title, whose first revision was a draft generated by ChatGPT which Knipel later edited to conform to Wikipedia standards. Knipel stated on a talk page that he believed this was the first time anyone had used ChatGPT to compose a Wikipedia article. The posting of this article was criticized and shamed[8] by other editors and sparked controversy within the Wikipedia community, leading to an extensive debate about whether large language models should be used in writing content for Wikipedia.[9] When interviewed the following year by Slate, Knipel stated that he believed LLMs were a "literary tool" against writer's block, and that the LLM tended to both generalize and exhibit too much confidence, needing to be extensively edited to tone it down to neutrality.[8]

In August 2025, the City University of New York announced that Richard Knipel would be their first Wikimedian-In-Residence, funded by Craig Newmark Philanthropies. Knipel was tasked with publicizing research papers, archived materials, and studies from CUNY, as well as showing students and professors how to upload their research to Wikipedia so their research becomes widely available.[2][10][11]

In 2025, Knipel and Andrew Lih restrained a shooter that stormed the stage of New York's WikiConference North America, who intended to commit suicide publicly. The New York Times and other news outlets reported positively on Knipel and Lih's quick response, and the articles mention that other Wikipedians had awarded him barnstars to commend his courageous action.[4][5][6]

As of June 2026, he was a member of the Wiki Education Foundation.[12]

  • Knipel giving a talk during Wikimania in Nairobi, 2025.
    Knipel giving a talk during Wikimania in Nairobi, 2025.
  • Knipel speaking at UN Edit-a-thon, 2026
    Knipel speaking at UN Edit-a-thon, 2026
  • Ryan McGrady, Jim Henderson and Richard Knipel at the Depths of Wikipedia live event with Annie Rauwerda at the Caveat in New York City, 2022
    Ryan McGrady, Jim Henderson and Richard Knipel at the Depths of Wikipedia live event with Annie Rauwerda at the Caveat in New York City, 2022
  • CUNY Newmark Wikimedian-in-Residence Richard Knipel (right) joined Drs. Krystyna Michael (left) & Jojo Karlin (center) at the CUNY Graduate Center, October 2025
    CUNY Newmark Wikimedian-in-Residence Richard Knipel (right) joined Drs. Krystyna Michael (left) & Jojo Karlin (center) at the CUNY Graduate Center, October 2025
  • Knipel at the 2025 Wikimedia NYC and Women Do News edit-a-thon
    Knipel at the 2025 Wikimedia NYC and Women Do News edit-a-thon

See also

References

  1. ^ Palmer, Kathryn. "'Nonsense Detectives' Give Academic Resources New Life Online". Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved 2026-08-16.
  2. ^ a b Sha-Alam, Tanjila Prijana (2025-04-21). "CUNY Introduces its First Wikimedian in Residence – The Knight News". Retrieved 2026-08-16.
  3. ^ "Richard Knipel (User:Pharos) WikidataCon 2021". pretalx.com. Retrieved 2026-08-16.
  4. ^ a b Newman, Andy (2025-10-17). "Wikipedia Volunteers Avert Tragedy by Taking Down Gunman at Conference". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-08-16.
  5. ^ a b dept, BeauHD from the tragedy-averted (2025-10-17). "Wikipedia Volunteers Avert Tragedy by Taking Down Gunman at Conference - Slashdot". news.slashdot.org. Retrieved 2026-08-16.
  6. ^ a b "Gunman Arrested After Storming Stage At NYC Wikipedia Conference And Threatening Suicide". Yahoo News. 2025-10-18. Retrieved 2026-08-16.
  7. ^ Feinstein, Laura (2 March 2015). "Mass Wikipedia Edit To Make The Internet Less Sexist". magazine.good.is. Good Worldwide. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  8. ^ a b Harrison, Stephen (2023-01-12). "Should ChatGPT Be Used to Write Wikipedia Articles?". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved 2026-08-16.
  9. ^ Harrison, Stephen (12 January 2023). "Should ChatGPT Be Used to Write Wikipedia Articles?". Slate. Archived from the original on 28 January 2023. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  10. ^ Release, Press (2025-03-05). "✰PREMIUMCUNY introduces its first Wikimedian-in-Residence". Brooklyn Eagle. Retrieved 2026-08-16.
  11. ^ "About – CUNY Newmark Wikimedian-in-Residence". Retrieved 2026-08-16.
  12. ^ "Our Board". Wiki Education. 2015-08-24. Archived from the original on 1 June 2026. Retrieved 2026-06-28.
  • Wikimedia Commons logo Media related to Richard Knipel at Wikimedia Commons

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