THE REUTERS GRAPHIC How Hong Kongs Keyboard Warriors Have Besieged

Simon Scarr and Manas Sharma

Nov 28 (Reuters) Beyond Hong Kong's tear gas-sprayed streets and crumbling universities, another battle has been raging about the city's image on the internet's encyclopedia of the crowd, Wikipedia.

As protests against the government have increased, articles on topics ranging from Hong Kong's leadership to its police force have been rewritten for months on this website. Millions of users use the site every day to verify facts and decode difficult issues.

(Click https://tmsnrt.rs/37IPxAZ to see an interactive graphic on the Hong Kong Wiki wars.)

A Reuters analysis found a seven-fold surge in edits of the Hong Kong Police Force page in the 10 months leading up to October, compared with one year ago. Similar spikes were observed in the articles on the protests and Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam.

Changes swapped facts for insults or inserted chunks of material that threw off the balance of the articles.

40 percent of edits were made from computers in Hong Kong, where it was possible to identify the location of the editor. Internet users can conceal their location by using the virtual private network (VPN).

The editing volume per day increased during violent clashes on the territory's streets. Wiki administrators were forced to restrict editing access to certain pages this is a practice typical of controversial issues.

Users who aren't registered or have very new accounts can't modify those articles directly. Instead, they need to request editing.

"There has been an increase in all types of disruptive editing, including edit wars and vandalism, as well as extreme language from both the major viewpoints," said MarkH21, a volunteer editor who has 13 years of experience.

MarkH21 said that "the level of disruptive editing against government, especially from sources in Hong Kong is significantly higher." The user did not respond when asked to reveal their identity other than their username.

Wikipedia articles will improve with more edits These edits can be tracked publically to increase transparency, said Samantha Lien, a spokesperson for the Wikimedia Foundation (a non-profit organization that manages Wikipedia).

Lien replied to a request for a response via email.

Edit WARS

However there are many who aren't convinced.

As Wikipedia was founded in 2001, has grown in popularity and credibility, it has grown into an important, but controversial document of the past.

"In many languages Wikipedia is the main or sometimes the only general knowledge repository online," stated Taha Yasseri (a senior research fellow at Oxford University's Internet Institute), who has conducted research on Wikipedia. SURE

"Articles that are subject to edit wars can be a frequent source of informing readers of falsehoods," he said, explaining that a person reading the article might not be aware that an edit war was taking place. "At any point the information contained in an article will only reflect a portion of the truth."

In the month of August, the police page grew by a third the length sections were added to criticize their responses to protesters. Another wave of changes was triggered by the Oct. 1 police shooting of a protester.

The police Wiki page shows that the force's motto was changed to "We serve with love and respect" and then "We serve with terror and violence" but then it quickly returned to the original motto.

Lam's page was similarly subject to a flurry of editing, including changes dubbing her "Super Lady," and then "Super Puppet" after she had slammed the July attack on China's representative office.

Since June more than 5,000 protesters were arrested by police. They have repeatedly claimed that they was restrained from being attacked with flaming or petrol bombs Arrows.

Neither the force nor Lam's office responded to Reuters' questions about their Wikipedia articles. Wikipedia's volunteer editors are expecting more busy months.

MarkH21 stated that people will naturally advocate for things they believe in.

"Thankfully the editing community has many protections against it... Wikipedia's self-policing mechanism is built on consensus.