Wikipedia indefinitely banned co-founder Larry Sanger from editing the site. Editors determined that Sanger engaged in canvassing by inviting his followers on X to influence a community discussion related to a proposed WikiProject.

Sanger had launched WikiProject Intellectual Diversity last month to bring more intellectual diversity, specifically right-leaning perspectives, to Wikipedia. On Friday, Sanger posted on X, where he has 91,000 followers, inviting them to participate in the discussion about whether his WikiProject should become an official WikiProject. "Wikipedians are now debating whether my proposed WikiProject Intellectual Diversity should be permitted to become an official WikiProject (club/group of editors)," Sanger wrote.

An editor stated general agreement among participants that Sanger engaged in off-wiki canvassing and was not there to constructively build the encyclopedia. Another editor noted concern that Sanger's actions constituted calls for outing. Wikipedia volunteer and admin Ilyas Lebleu stated they had warned Sanger about similar behavior two months before the ban, but Sanger ignored the warnings. Lebleu also said, "Larry tried to frame the community discussion as a pseudo-legalistic process, bringing a list of 'charges' and 'counts' from 'prosecutors,' instead of an open community discussion."

Wikipedia policy requires potential ban discussions to remain open for at least 72 hours. Sanger was initially banned before this 72-hour deadline elapsed. His account was briefly reinstated after he made the ban public on X on Monday, but he was then indefinitely banned again once the 72-hour discussion period closed.

Sanger offered a different perspective on the events. "I am flabbergasted," he said. "There is no due process. Now that same mob has blocked me for trying to bring an intellectually diverse group of thinkers and editors to the site." Sanger has previously made public calls for underrepresented viewpoints, including Hindus and American conservatives, to be more involved in Wikipedia. He also identifies a group of 62 Wikipedia administrator accounts as the "Power 62," claiming that 85% of them hide behind screennames and have not revealed their true identities.