Slashdot Mirror
Ask Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales About Online Collaboration
Back in 2001 we did a "double" Slashdot Interview with Michael Hart of Project Gutenberg and Jimmy Wales of the then-brand-new Nupedia, which has since become the amazingly useful Wikipedia. This is a perfect time to catch up with Jimbo (as friends call him), and learn not only how he managed to make Wikipedia work and grow so well, but what we can do to help -- and what future plans he has for this outstanding Web resource. (10 of your highest-moderated questions will be sent to Jimbo by email. We'll post his answers as soon as we get them back.)
What's the current state of donations and what is the future of Wikipedia if fund raising without advertisements does not increase?
Rule #1 -- Politics always trumps technology.
Do you foresee having to add more complexity to your user system? Some kind of rating/karma system to discourage people who have a tendency to write libel?
.sig error: carrier signal lost.
how about making the ads optional, in the way that you would have to enable them?
sometimes there could be some intresting stuff from google ads on some weird pages.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Good post.
"How do they know it's accurate?" Ross asks.
I would answer Mr. Ross's question with a question: "Has the Encyclopedia Britannica ever had to correct an article?" The answer, of course, is yes. So you can't trust the EB to be entirely accurate either.
I've been contributing for a short time now, and it's clear there are a lot of eyes on the work. As time goes on, the articles become more correct. There is no way the EB can put the same number of people on any given topic. Ultimately, Wikipedia may become more accurate than the EB. It is certainly more detailed.
Oh yeah. He's watching it all right.
Proverbs 21:19