I've been searching ebay and craigslist to no luck but I every so often read the village pump and this was posted several days back:


There you go.

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=...only_1.5K_edits

A username is getting sold.

It's a sanctionable violation of the Wikipedia maxim, "Don't Be Silly."

Honestly, People, the general principle in play here has nothing specifically to do with Wikipedia. It is nothing but the Rule of PRATS (People Remain Always The Same).

The Corollary is this:

Any abuse that can occur <dramatic pause> will occur.

The Wikipedia-specious part is this — that Wikipediots are devoutly entrenched in a belief system that denies the obvious potential for abuse and consequently has them refusing to do all of the more obvious things to obviate it.

You may well ask what hidden agenda — aside from the Espoused True Believership — there may be in adamantly persisting in such a course.

But that is an exhortation of another colour.

Jonny

Yes. Before the George W. Bush presidency, nobody thought the government could hijack aircraft with remote control units and fly them into the world trade center. Sure it was the plot to the pilot episode of a TV show that was a spin-off from the X-Files that aired six months prior to 9/11, but nobody really thought it would happen in real life.


I've considered making and selling wikipedia admin accounts myself, but it would take a lot of work. For instance, DerHexer spent 8 hours a day for six months I believe on vandal-fighting and that's even a good kind of scenario where his background on the German wikipedia made his election easy. To sell an account you did that for, consider dividing a yearly sallary you want by two. Want $50,000K a year, the account must sell for $25,000. But most people don't want to pay over $1000 for an admin account.

I wonder how much a low-profile admin account is worth.

The analogy to MMORPGs is superfluous, I see.

What? People will even pay that much??? How much would people pay for an admin account?

I suppose it would depend on the purchaser. If a business was paying for an admin account, intending for someone in their marketing or pr department to use it to keep their Wikipedia coverage positive, an admin account might fetch some actual money. But I can't think who else would pay that much for an admin account.

I could easily pool together a consortium willing to pay about $300 or $400. The problem, of course, would be how to guarantee a safe transfer of the account and the money. It's like one of the hostage for ransom trades at Checkpoint Charlie in the movies.

Seriously? Would multiple admin accounts be worth $600 or $800, or would the combo be worth more, or would "the consortium" expect some kind of discount?

Two to tag team must be much better than one.

Person brings suit-case to i-cafe. Other person logs onto account and then gives them the password in exchange for money.



But online it's probably however people sell virtual goods and I don't know how they do it.