World news from The Times and the Sunday Times – Times Online — Here it comes! Once Wikipedia becomes a target for this sort of thing the “wiki” is dead. Well, at least on the grande scale. And, yes, I did predict this turn of fortune in a column. And I like the Wikipedia a lot!
Wikipedia was yesterday described as being as reliable as the Encyclopaedia Britannica despite a sustained attack from vandals intent on further wrecking its reputation for accuracy.
In an online article published by the respected scientific journal Nature , articles in Wikipedia – the web-based encyclopaedia created by volunteers – compared favourably to those in the foremost repository of knowledge in the English language.
This is despite a surge in the number of spoof articles and vandal attacks which have followed the furore over a biographical Wikipedia article linking John Seigenthaler, a respected retired journalist, with the assassinations of both John F and Robert Kennedy.
In one such fake article, it was suggested today that Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia’s creator, was shot dead at his home by Siegenthaler’s wife.
This was bound to happen. As much as I like Wikipedia as a source of information, it was inevitable that it would become a target for this sort of prank.
I agree, the future for the Wiki is grim if this sort of thing becomes commonplace.
Competition is healthy. Google Base is kind of like wiki. If Google created Google Wiki, it would create competition and another outlet for Google ads. Googlepedia may be a good gimmick or the next big thing. Findability seems to sell. I found UFO photos with Google Base. This is not a gag, I think.
Wikipedia was developed by creatures from the planet Wiki, which is classified and was found by NASA in 1972. Disclaimer: I just made that up.
http://base.google.com/base/items?oid=3200075155664421489
The truth is out there. Good luck.
Thanks,
Dvorak reader and UFO searcher
They did a test recently where wikipedia was pretty much comparable to Encyclopedia brittanica. Plus its something like the 12th most popular site in the world.
Mark my words if they go after Wikipedia too hot and heavy they can expect anything they have web related to be shut down by disgrunted internet users.
Leave Wikipedia alone man. It has a disclaimer.
It’s as reliable as the Encyclopedia Britannica, provided you were using the Encyclopedia Britannica as a door stop. As far as using it as anything else well…………………………….When was the last time you looked something up in the encyclopedia and found the entry “Jimmy’s a faggot” or “Tina+Jack4evr.” It’s impromptu comtent could range from the annoying to the downright offensive.
Does this make up for all the BS Siegenthaler has feed us over the years?
Or does he get a pass………Again
Just checked Wiki, and I didn’t know John C is a spy for Castro and will move all US tech business to Cuba and assume the title of Grand Marshall of Technology within 2 years. Viva la Revolucion! 😉
We should acknowledge that the Siegenthaler article was an outlier because it wasn’t linked to from any other article, a violation of Wikipedia guidelines. If it had been linked from another Wiki article, it is likely that the related Wiki community would have encountered the article and flagged, changed, and/or deleted it.
So Sieg will now be remembered not for his long service in journalism or in government, but for raising a stink, making Wikipedia change its New Article policy, and getting a guy fired. Great job, you Old Fool.
As a wiki fan, I find this disappointing but not surprising.
Couldn’t wiki add some sort of voting system to rate contributors the way sellers and buyers are rated on eBay?
That way, the comments by highly rated contributors would be more weighted and “sticky” compared to vandals.
I searched wiki at Google Base and came up with a book about wiki at Amazon for $64.95. This is sort of funny because Amazon is now getting into search with a DIY search engine. Google Base seems to be useful and Amazon items are popping up on Google Base. Using Google Base to sell books about wiki seems smart. Amazon is offering web services which are turning search inside out. At least that’s what I read. You would think that wikipedia would be selling books to support wikipedia authors. They could have a wikipedia book store and maybe sell a ton of books along with Amazon. Maybe Amazon will start a wiki site or something and call it Amazon Base. You never know.
You rather he’d be remembered as a possible JFK assassin? Wiki is doomed, it has failure as a built-in mechanism. And I seriously call into question the accuracy level on many historical items, plus it’s horribly written. A string of facts, that becomes less than the sum of the whole, with editorial interferences that just don’t bear out. And you have experts punned away for the tireless never-ending script kiddie editor battles. It’s track record in my area of expertise, fails miserably.
And Brenda, I would mark this down as part of his long service in journalism. If you want to ignore history and only focus on the present nose-level view be my guest. You forget how so narrow and limited the audience is that follows the day-to-day geek dramas.
Greg, This might be useful
http://www.google.com/tools/firefox/webcomments/
“Blogger Web Comments for Firefox is an extension that makes it easy to see what bloggers are saying about a page you’re viewing in Firefox and even make your own blog post about it, all without leaving the page you’re on.”
Seems like a good idea. I’m not sure if you can choose what bloggers comments you see. I just found it.
What I never understood about the Siegenthaler situation was, why didn’t he just spend 5 minutes and fix it himself. He actually had that power the whole time, but instead decided to whine. It really makes him look bad.
I think each Wikipedia article should have an indicator showing how many contributers it has had, or some simplified why to indicate authority. I think some simple brainstorming could come up with something.
That’s ridiculous. Why don’t we sue America for dictating what should and shouldn’t be told in history school books.
Just stupid stuff.