Talk:Wikipedia

Article Checklist for "Wikipedia"

Workgroup category or categories	Computers Workgroup [Editors asked to check categories]
Article status	Developing article: beyond a stub, but incomplete
Underlinked article?	Yes
Basic cleanup done?	No
Checklist last edited by	John Stephenson 21:31, 16 May 2007 (CDT)

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How to handle our point of view?

Hope you don't mind my starting a talk page here. Thought it would be better to comment than directly edit. Given the institutional setting, it seems to me that we should bend over backwards to be/sound balanced and neutral. That said, I would point out that many sentences are structured like: "It seems good but...." Left-handed compliments etc. For example, quoting from the current draft:

• Wikipedia allows anyone to edit, unless...
• While contributors are encouraged to create accounts at Wikipedia, [BUT] people may edit anonymously.
• ... history for every Wikipedia page is available, [BUT] exceeding
• Wikipedia grew exponentially in its first 4 to 5 years, thougharticle growth slowed...
• While the English Wikipedia boasts well over one million articles, [BUT] many articles are on relatively trivial ...

I recommend giving them a nice, clean description up front, composed of unqualified (true) statements. Then a separate section with criticisms. Make the criticisms crisp, not nitpicky, and cite credible outside (non-CZ) critics, and that's not hard to find! (I've got some links if you need them...) Overall, the upfront description should be longer and more thorough, the criticisms would be the most significant but not overwhelm the look of the entire article. You may not like Wikipedia, but it's one of the most successful computer ventures of the decade. David Hoffman 18:50, 11 May 2007 (CDT)

I agree completely--although I'm not sure about the heading; is it really "our point of view" that we care about, or the neutral truth?

Anyway, there's room for negative information that's not weasel-worded, and for positive information that's not immediately negated by back-handed quasi-contradiction. For example, it's worth mentioning that MediaWiki is used by a variety of other projects, and it's worth talking about the Brittanica-vs.-Wikipedia study; it's also worth mentioning some of the controversies (as well as the criticisms of Wikipedia that are listed on Wikipedia itself).

Also, it's not true that "... the editing history for every Wikipedia page is available." (Doesn't Larry Sanders' blog talk about this?) --Andy Barnert 02:56, 17 May 2007 (CDT)

Part of the weasel-word problem is that those statements are generally true of Wikipedia, and are related to principles by which Wikipedia runs itself, but there are exceptions. Anyone may edit, unless they've so abused that privilege that they've been banned. WP has banned somewhere around 100 people, but anyone else can edit. Etc., etc. The problem is how to fairly indicate that certain things are mostly, but not entirely, true. Anthony Argyriou 09:32, 17 May 2007 (CDT)

You're right. The challenge is to give a neutral picture of the overall situation when our own project aims to capitalize on some of the liminal problems. Or, even if we think the problems are significant, not to allow our POV to overwhelm the article. David Hoffman 11:16, 17 May 2007 (CDT)

We could even have a section where criticisms of Wikipedia are listed, including those criticisms of Wikipedia which Larry is trying to correct in Citizendium. By reporting the criticism, it's easier to be neutral when describing the thing. Anthony Argyriou 12:20, 17 May 2007 (CDT)

Criticism section

The "criticism" section merely listed some characteristics on Wikipedia, which may be undesirable according to some but good according to others. I think the "criticism" should focus on true negative aspects of Wikipedia, such as vulnerability to vandalism, libel, and such, and maybe give some mention to the Essjay incident and the Kennedy assassin libel incident. Yi Zhe Wu 17:01, 20 May 2007 (CDT)

I don't think Seigenthaler was accused of being an assassin of anyone, but merely that he was once under suspicion of being somehow involved--and only Robert F. Kennedy. Look up the quote again, please. --Larry Sanger 14:38, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

Just changed it, thanks. Yi Zhe Wu 14:45, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

"Larry Sanger, the disputed Wikipedia co-founder": the only people that I'm aware of "disputing" that I was co-founder is Jimmy Wales, and Wikipedians that he has convinced. I don't believe anyone else disputes it, and Wales himself released three Wikipedia press releases, including two after I left, that stated that I was a founder of Wikipedia. Calling me "the disputed Wikipedia co-founder" is like saying that evolution is "a disputed theory of how species are formed." Sure, there's a dispute; but how important is it? --Larry Sanger 15:00, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

I understand you, but since you are Larry Sanger himself I'd like to wait for another author/editor to change it. And yes, evolution is not proven yet :-). Yi Zhe Wu 15:05, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

Larry, is it acceptable to say that you are a former co-founder? As a subject matter reference, what should be said to accurately describe your position? --Robert W King 15:11, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

I don't see how anyone can be a former "co-founder" of something. Someone can be a "former Yankee first basemen," sure. Or a "former owner of the Yankees." But Smith and Jones remain the "co-founders" of the Yankees, whether one of them is no longer associated with the team or not. Pedantry lives! Hayford Peirce 15:20, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

Is ostracized okay?--Robert W King 15:19, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

I wouldn't use it myself -- I think it implies that *many* people are ignoring the ostracized victim. Which in this case I don't think is true -- unless you're saying, perhaps, that the entire Wikipedian establishment, and their press agents, are ostracizing him. And it has a sense of banishment about it which I also don't think is appropriate. Hayford Peirce 15:25, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

I was never ostracized or banished. When I was still involved, I was one of the few who could do the banishing myself. --Larry Sanger 15:30, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

That's what I thought. I will remove that adjective and leave the noun unadorned. Hayford Peirce 15:33, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

How about "exiled"? :P Yi Zhe Wu 15:34, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

I exiled myself. I was laid off because Bomis's ad-based business model collapsed at the end of 2001, and they couldn't pay me. A month later, I resigned; I could have stayed on as a volunteer, but I had other things to do. Nine months later, without announcing it to anyone other than Jimmy Wales, I permanently distanced myself from the project over management differences. --Larry Sanger 15:35, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

If we *have* to have an adjective, how about "Larry Sanger, the self-exiled co-founder of etc etc."? I'll stick it in if other people think it's appropriate. Otherwise, I suggest just leaving things alone. Hayford Peirce 16:02, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

Gresham's law

I wish that someone besides me had said, notably, that "Wikipedia is proof positive of Gresham's law that the bad drives out the good." Then I could put that in this article. Hayford Peirce 15:04, 25 May 2007 (CDT)