QUOTE
by Evelyn Rusli on May 16, 2010
Contrary to several reports, Wikipedia’s Founder Jimmy Wales is not relinquishing his editorial control of Wikipedia and its related projects. On Friday, Fox News reported that “a shakeup is underway at the top levels of Wikipedia…Wales is no longer able to delete files, remove administrators, assign projects or edit any content, sources say. Essentially, they say, he has gone from having free reign over the content and people involved in the websites to having the same capabilities of a low-level administrator.â€
The report was picked up by Venturebeat and CNET.
An interesting story— except it’s not true according to Jimmy Wales in an e-mail on Sunday. Wales says the Fox News reporter hasn’t even tried to contact him to discuss the alleged “shakeup.†Ouch. Contrary to Fox News’ report of “chaos†at Wikipedia (the article cites an unidentified source close to the company), Wales says everything is fine.
Well, relatively speaking, Wikipedia is still on the defense after Fox News released a report in late April, accusing the site of knowingly distributing child pornography. The article cites former co-founder Larry Sanger (left Wikipedia in 2002), who wrote a letter to the FBI “outlining his concerns and identifying two specific Wikimedia Commons categories he believes violate federal obscenity law.†Wikipedia responded with a statement, defending its editors and its commitment to actively patrol the site: “If and when we are informed by law enforcement agencies of illegal content that has not already been removed through self-policing, we will take quick action to delete it.â€
I’ll update with more information soon.
Contrary to several reports, Wikipedia’s Founder Jimmy Wales is not relinquishing his editorial control of Wikipedia and its related projects. On Friday, Fox News reported that “a shakeup is underway at the top levels of Wikipedia…Wales is no longer able to delete files, remove administrators, assign projects or edit any content, sources say. Essentially, they say, he has gone from having free reign over the content and people involved in the websites to having the same capabilities of a low-level administrator.â€
The report was picked up by Venturebeat and CNET.
An interesting story— except it’s not true according to Jimmy Wales in an e-mail on Sunday. Wales says the Fox News reporter hasn’t even tried to contact him to discuss the alleged “shakeup.†Ouch. Contrary to Fox News’ report of “chaos†at Wikipedia (the article cites an unidentified source close to the company), Wales says everything is fine.
Well, relatively speaking, Wikipedia is still on the defense after Fox News released a report in late April, accusing the site of knowingly distributing child pornography. The article cites former co-founder Larry Sanger (left Wikipedia in 2002), who wrote a letter to the FBI “outlining his concerns and identifying two specific Wikimedia Commons categories he believes violate federal obscenity law.†Wikipedia responded with a statement, defending its editors and its commitment to actively patrol the site: “If and when we are informed by law enforcement agencies of illegal content that has not already been removed through self-policing, we will take quick action to delete it.â€
I’ll update with more information soon.
The most emphatic comment I could muster was:
It is astounding to me how a #6 worldwide website (Wikipedia, et al) can be so misunderstood by reporters, bloggers, and mere readers of the site. Likewise, it is astounding to me how Tech Crunch reporters and commenters can be so easily gulled by the spin doctoring of the Wikimedia Foundation. It's as if it is impossible to understand the difference between "Founder" level system rights and "Administrator" level system rights; impossible to understand the difference between a Board "Chairman" and a phony "Chairman Emeritus" and (even more ridiculously) an "owner" of a website (David1984, please stop using the Internet); and impossible to understand the difference between YouPorn or RedTube and a 501-c-3 tax-exempt organization pushing a product into schools that contains smotherboxes, scrotum sacks bulging with saline solution, and blindfolded cum shots.
Despite Seth Finkelstein's best effort to iron this all out, I'm more convinced that the general public, the Wikimedia Foundation board and staff, and American journalism are all too stupid to understand any of this.