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Editorial Wiki Debuts At LA Times
jgarzik writes "The L.A. Times newspaper has launched a new form of editorial, the wikitorial. The LA Times editorial staff introduces the new feature in this editorial, and the first wikitorial, War and Consequences , has already been posted. Is this an innovative new way to interact with readers, or will it be constantly defaced by reactionaries?"
As opposed to the actual sheets of the LA Times, which are continuously defaced by radicals.
Actually, I have an account at latimes.com, and I don't think I get any email from them at all. (I used a tracking address, so I'd know if it was from them.)
I'm sure you lose your soul if you register, just like when you get your picture taken, but at least thus far they haven't sent me any spam.
Interestingly, if you want to participate in the wiki, that's a different sign-up. But at least the regular latimes.com sign-in appears to generate no spam.
The project has already been forked, by Jimmy Wales himself, by starting a counterpoint editorial. Making room for different viewpoints may stave off edit wars. But the real issue is Terms and Conditions inherited from print.
St. Ausgustine, Curtman. Curtman, St. Augustine.
http://www.monksofadoration.org/justwar.html
Obviously, you two haven't met.
Or for that matter, I don't think you've read such passages as Luke 3:7-14 (NIV):
"John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, 'You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.'
'What should we do then?' the crowd asked.
John answered, 'The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.'
Tax collectors also came to be baptized. 'Teacher,' they asked, 'what should we do?'
'Don't collect any more than you are required to,' he told them (A concept that they have failed to maintain to this day. - Ed.). Then some soldiers asked him, 'And what should we do?'
He replied, 'Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely--be content with your pay.'"
(Note: He didn't say "Give up your professsion, war is bad.").
Or there's the fact that the very first Gentile converted to The Way was a... SOLDIER! (Acts 10)
And not only a soldier, a damn good one. Cornelius was a centurion in The Italian Regiment, an elite unit of the Roman Army.
And what did Peter tell him? "Put down your sword and study war no more."?
Nooooo. He didn't say a damn word about it. he was more concerned about bringing The Word to the Gentiles than he was with Cornelius' profession.
Looks like the LA Times decided their experiment wasn't working after a few vandals decided to deface it with porn and goatsex images.
Before that, it was a back and forth between various camps pushing their viewpoint or trying to keep a more neutral tone to the editorial.
Now what is interesting is the google cache has one version of the wiki - making it appear to be the consensus version when it is only one of many edited versions. Which means, unless you cache every edit, Google will not provide a very robust view of the dialogue inherent in a Wiki; yet people will view their cache as authoritative.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
WMD was not proven false. In fact, it would be very difficult to prove false, as that would require someone to figure out what the Iraqis did with their stockpiles of WMD. After ten years of dodging the question I doubt it will be discovered anytime soon.
Terrorist ties were also not proven false. In fact, as the US swept through Iraqi officials' offices they discovered more and more documentary evidence linking Iraq to terrorists.