Back in February, I got a Google Alert that somebody had made a Wikipedia page about me. I immediately texted my mom. She was confused — was it a good thing? Who makes these pages? She’d heard mixed things about Wikipedia.
While her suspicion over enthusiasm was initially disappointing, she had a point. I moved into detective mode and asked a techy friend I had recently met through a cyberpunk friend: “Did you make this?”
He did not. However, he was able to find the source that did, who appeared to be some man who wrote numerous Wikipedia pages mostly about female artists.
The bio he’d written for me was simple: “Laura June Kirsch is an American photographer known for her work documenting music, nightlife and alternative subcultures. In 2021, she published Romantic Lowlife Fantasies: Emerging Adults In The Age of Hope.”
While I was flattered that somebody made the page at all — what artist doesn’t appreciate getting recognition for their work? — I did find it curious how little information was included. Was I supposed to fill in the gaps? How does this work?
Three months later, I received an email from a stranger who runs a digital marketing company with a website that churns out what the kids would call “AI slop.” He wrote that my Wikipedia page had been taken down because it contained too little information and, with his help, the piece could be restored. I was immediately skeptical of him, and while the whole thing was beyond suspect, I was curious. I compiled a robust biography and included a laundry list of links to articles about my work.