Wikipedia // Current

Teabaggers Vandalize Rep. Cao's Wikipedia page

Those crazy teabaggers!

asherp
added this
15 days ago
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16 comments

Wikipedia: it's free for a reason

Must be the director's cut.

JeremyGoode
added this
1 month ago
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0 comments

Jimmy Wales Quietly Edits Wikipedia's New Edit Policy

Wales says that reports of Wikipedia's clampdown to prevent errors have themselves... more

knews121
added this
1 month ago
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0 comments

Facebook: Good-bye Socialist USA

i loled

Darevalo
added this
1 month ago
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17 comments

The Bender podcast - Sambo, Sterling, Star Wars, and The Stones

What an episode of The Bender for you this week. Intern Perry makes his return, Mike... more

PacoDG
added this
2 months ago
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0 comments

Wikipedia article about python programming language.

Article about popular programming language in russian.

PatriciaValentin
added this
3 months ago
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0 comments

Wikipedia gets new rules

On the English version it's arriving the "controlled revision": information will be... more

bibabiba
added this
3 months ago
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13 comments

Wikipedia, arrivano nuove regole

Nella versione in lingua inglese è al vaglio la "revisione controllata": le... more

bibabiba
added this
3 months ago
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0 comments

Wikipedia grows up, changes editorial policy | The News is NowPublic.com

It was time.

smkovalinsky
added this
3 months ago
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0 comments

Is Wikipedia Taking A Downturn?

"Wikipedia has rapidly become one of the most used reference sources in the world, but... more

St_Alia_10191
added this
4 months ago
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14 comments

Wikipedia Isn't Working

Wikipedia, the free internet encyclopedia, appeared to be suffering malfunctions on... more

ebindelglass
added this
4 months ago
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1 comment

WTF is up with Wikipedia's current article of the day? (NSFW)

Whoever selects Wikipedia's featured articles of the day clearly got bored of... more

richjm
added this
5 months ago
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2 comments

Keeping News of Kidnapping Off Wikipedia

For seven months, The New York Times managed to keep out of the news the fact that one... more

Found_Avenue
added this
5 months ago
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1 comment

Wikipedia and New York Times Suppress Facts to Save Kidnapped Journalist

Last week, journalist David Rohde escaped after a seven-month kidnap by the Taliban. It's fabulous news, and it's been partly attributed to the fact that The New York Times suppressed it in the first place. But today we learn that Wikipedia did so too.

That raises a couple of very interesting questions. The New York Times worked very hard to keep facts about Rohde's kidnapping out of the media, with the intention of denying the Taliban the media coverage it desired and thus helping Rohde's chances of release or escape. The technique obviously paid off in this case, and it's certainly been done before.

But in a Times piece yesterday, the paper also made it clear that it had the help of Wikipedia staffers who suppressed the news popping up there too. Since Wikipedia is crowd-sourced and openly editable, the news did manage to arrive on the online encyclopedia several times, whereupon it was quickly erased and sometimes the offending page was frozen to prevent any further user-editing. Rohde's own Wikipedia entry was even edited by a colleague immediately after his kidnap to enhance the Islam-friendliness of Rohde's previous journalistic work.

This information dance on Wikipedia all happened with the specific help of the site's founder, Jimmy Wales. But while commenting on the moral angle of the Wikipedia tampering, Wales noted: "We were really helped by the fact that it hadn’t appeared in a place we would regard as a reliable source...I would have had a really hard time with it if it had." And that's where this story gets interesting to people who believe in freedom of information: In essence The New York Times suppressed the info themselves, and by influencing other old media outlets, which then enabled the new media outlet of Wikipedia to feel okay about continuing the propagandizing.

It's a journalistic moral ouroboros, for sure, and it raises a couple of questions. Did Wikipedia damage its reputation as a crowd-based and open-access information source? The answer is yes, a little (and it's not the first time Wikipedia's admins have been caught manipulating entries). Wikipedia isn't a traditional media outlet, and therefore has no hard or soft journalistic moral code to abide by, which means it can be more flexible in its actions--and the fact a life was at stake here is a mitigating fact. But Wales' excuse still sounds particularly weak. As a result, the next questions about Wikipedia are: What other news pieces is it hiding? And will users trust in the site as a news source take a hit?Last week, journalist David Rohde escaped after a seven-month kidnap by the Taliban.... more

Future_America
added this
5 months ago
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3 comments

Celtic Christianity Today Homily “Repent or the Time is Near” Part 2 by Rev. Dr. George Cairns

(Valparaiso, Indiana) - Rev. Dr. George Cairns of Chesterton, Indiana delivers a... more

Yoopernewsman
added this
5 months ago
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0 comments

Celtic Christianity Today Homily “The Cost and Joy of Discipleship” By Rev. Dr. George Cairns

(Valparaiso, Indiana) - Rev. Dr. George Cairns of Chesterton, Indiana delivers Sunday... more

Yoopernewsman
added this
5 months ago
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0 comments

Wikipedia founder censors reporter kidnapping

Man, this is an ethical minefield. Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, deliberately... more

Psythor
added this
5 months ago
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2 comments

Wired Editor Chris Anderson Admits Plagiarizing Wikipedia In New Book Free

The author of a new book about the wisdom of free products on the Web has acknowledged... more

jessilee23
added this
5 months ago
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2 comments

Wikipedia getting video! Oh boy.

I'm interested to see what video "editing" capability is built-in... sounds kinda messy for most.

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Wikipedia, the free web-based encyclopedia used worldwide, will be adding video to their online repository in a matter of months. When the new system launches, you'll find a new button labeled "Add Media" on Wikipedia articles. Upon clicking this, you'll be prompted to search through three online repositories for relevant videos which can be added to the article. You can even select particular portions of the video instead of embedding the entire clip.

According to news breaking at Technology Review, this video upgrade will be made available within two to three months. At launch time, Wikipedia will provide access to the following online video repositories: the Internet Archive, which contains 200,000 videos, Wikimedia Commons, a resource maintained by the Wikimedia Foundation, creators of Wikipedia, and Metavid, a source for Congressional hearings and speeches.

One of the requirements for any video added to the site is that it be based on open-source formats. With the heavy exposure that the Wikipedia web site receives - often the number one search ranking for any subject and the seventh most popular web site in the world - the organization hopes to put pressure on other content holders to release more of their videos into the public domain.

Neither adding a video to the site nor clipping a section of video will require users to have any sort of video-editing software on their computer - all the tools will be provided online. In the future, Wikipedia plans to add more features to the system so as to allow users to edit, add to, and reorganize the clips embedded in the articles, just as users are able to edit text on the site today.

To help with the video effort, Wikipedia has partnered with Kaltura, an open source video solution provider, who is helping to develop the necessary tools for importing the video content. The partnership was originally announced back in January of 2008.I'm interested to see what video "editing" capability is built-in... sounds kinda... more

sarahlane
added this
5 months ago
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0 comments

Wikipedia admin caught being paid to edit

A longtime Wikipedia admin has been caught editing the online encyclopedia in exchange for cash. But the Wikicult can't decide if that's a problem.

Earlier this week, someone noticed a post to an online job marketplace where an entrenched Wikifiddler was advertising his Wikiservices. "Besides technical writing, I also am an accomplished senior Wikipedia administrator with several featured articles to my name," read the post, which has since been changed. "If you need a good profile on Wikipedia, I can help you out there too through my rich experience."

The job site actually shows two cases where the admin was hired to edit Wikipedia - here and here. And as a result, it would appear that article edits were at least begun, including those here and here.

Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy "Jimbo" Wales was promptly notified with a public Wikipost, and an army of Wikifiddlers proceeded to search their Wikisouls, asking whether the so-called "Cash for Spam" offer undermined their efforts to maintain an encyclopedia with a "neutral point of view."

For many, the answer is "no." You see, as it seeks to build a "neutral" encyclopedia, the Wikicult is also intent on creating some sort of Web 2.0 utopia where you assume that every anonymous fiddler will gladly police themselves.

"If a paid editor is going to be editing, they should be following the PRSA code of ethics," writes someone calling themselves Hipocrite, "specifically the parts about avoiding deceptive practices and revealing the sponsors for causes and interests represented."

Jimbo disagrees with this Wikilogic, arguing that paid edits would certainly undermine the site's credibility. Back in 2006, Wales famously shot down a fledgling paid-edit outfit known as MyWikiBiz, which was forced to reinvent itself outside of Wikiland.

"It is not ok with me that anyone ever set up a service selling their services as a Wikipedia editor, administrator, bureaucrat, etc.," he writes. "I will personally block any cases that I am shown. There are of course some possibly interesting alternatives, not particularly relevant here, but the idea that we should ever accept paid advocates directly editing Wikipedia is not ever going to be ok. Consider this to be policy as of right now."

But some cult members have complained that in voicing his disagreement, Jimbo has undermined the site's commitment to Wikidemocracy. You see, in Wikiland, no one person is allowed to set Wikipolicy. And that includes the cult's self-proclaimed Spiritual Leader.

Some have also pointed out that whereas Jimbo frowns on individual editors making cash from the free encyclopedia, he has no problem doing so himself. Wales makes upwards of $75,000 for each of his Wikipedia-centric speaking engagements. And it's no secret he has dreams of turning the Wikimedia Foundation into a for-profit operation.

Then there's that time he had Wikipedia edited in exchange for sex.

But this is Wikiland - where such self-contradiction isn't a contradiction. Wales has vowed to block anyone who edits Wikipedia for money. But someone was just been caught doing so. And the vow is still just a vow. Presumably, the site's credibility just took a hit.A longtime Wikipedia admin has been caught editing the online encyclopedia in exchange... more

haterstotheleft
added this
5 months ago
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11 comments

tagged w/ Wikipedia

Teabaggers Vandalize Rep. Cao's Wikipedia page

Wikipedia: it's free for a reason

Jimmy Wales Quietly Edits Wikipedia's New Edit Policy

Facebook: Good-bye Socialist USA

The Bender podcast - Sambo, Sterling, Star Wars, and The Stones

Wikipedia article about python programming language.

Wikipedia gets new rules

Wikipedia, arrivano nuove regole

Wikipedia grows up, changes editorial policy | The News is NowPublic.com

Is Wikipedia Taking A Downturn?

Wikipedia Isn't Working

WTF is up with Wikipedia's current article of the day? (NSFW)

Keeping News of Kidnapping Off Wikipedia

Wikipedia and New York Times Suppress Facts to Save Kidnapped Journalist

Celtic Christianity Today Homily “Repent or the Time is Near” Part 2 by Rev. Dr. George Cairns

Celtic Christianity Today Homily “The Cost and Joy of Discipleship” By Rev. Dr. George Cairns

Wikipedia founder censors reporter kidnapping

Wired Editor Chris Anderson Admits Plagiarizing Wikipedia In New Book Free

Wikipedia getting video! Oh boy.

Wikipedia admin caught being paid to edit

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