Wikipedia Founder Edits Own Bio
Carnildo writes "Wired News reports that Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has edited his own entry in the online encyclopedia at least 18 times, in violation of Wikipedia's policy on autobiography. Edits included removing phrases describing Larry Sanger as a co-founder of Wikipedia, and changing phrasing describing Bomis.com, another of Wales' sites, as a pornography site."
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PS - This is what part of the alphabet would look like if Q and R were eliminated.
Generated by SlashdotRndSig via GreaseMonkey
Why is it that when you believe something it's an opinion, but when I believe something it's a manifesto?
I thought it was extremely silly that this showed up on Wired. Now it's doubly silly that it's shown up on Slashdot.
I mean, seriously, the last time there was a controversy over someone's Wikipedia bio, the suggestion was that he should've fixed the errors himself, right?
As for violating policy -- that "policy" itself says "This page is considered a guideline on Wikipedia. It illustrates standards of conduct, which many editors agree with in principle. However, it is not policy." In RFC terms, that's a SHOULD NOT, rather than a MUST NOT. (And that's not a new, self-justifying edit, either.) Yeah, it's a little tacky, but as long as he's making corrections and not inserting falsehoods, it's a matter for a gossip column, not tech news.
A point of order from the slashdot "article"... from the article:
But, the actual link includes in the very first paragraph:
While there may be a patina of suspicion for self-edited bio's, it doesn't sound like Wales committed any overt actions warranting this scrutiny. (for example, I've just visited bomis.com, and had it not been referred to in this article as potentially a porn or soft-porn site, I never would have guessed by scanning the home page -- his "correction" is probably warranted.) I guess it's a price to pay for the internet fame.
If it's to remove bullshit and/or to straighten the record???
Stuff that matters. Finally!
I mean, come on. If you want to throw dirt at Wikipedia, can't you come up with something better than this? Not news, people. Not news at all.
The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
Well, as long as we're posting shit I'd like to add that I used the bathroom twice today, had a good lunch and installed a new monitor. /.ers done today?
I'm also considering making a dupe of this post later in the conversation.
What have other
If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
Critical question: Who cares? Why is this important?
--Pat
First, it's a guideline, not a policy.
Also, the first revision of the Autobiography page states:
This is a proposed new guideline. Don't take it seriously yet!!
If you, or something you are responsible for, is worthy of inclusion in Wikipedia, somebody else will do it soon enough. Let them do it.
Note that this guideline is not intended to discourage people who have articles about themselves or their works from contributing to those articles in the interests of accuracy and fairness.
JW didn't edit the page until over a year after it was created, so not really against the guideline, either.
Registering accounts later than some other chrisb since 1997
Recently Adam Curry was caught changing the Wikipedia article about 'podcasting'. (You know, the amazing technology which allows you to download audio from the internet and then listen to it!!!!)
Former MTV veejay and podcasting entrepreneur Adam Curry appears to have been caught anonymously editing the podcasting entry on Wikipedia to remove credit from other people and inflate his role in its creation.
http://www.cadenhead.org/workbench/news/2818
"Jimmy Whales also has a 12-inch... um, ruler?"
Not that I have an opinion either way ('cause I don't), but it seems to me that he did not write about himself, but rather edited content about his entry. I don't see why editing your bio, espcially to correct errors, would be such a terrible crime worthy of news.
-Valiss
WAIT! didn't that dude who was involved in the murder of Kennedy change his own Biography? He's the one that started all this shit
Actually, he didn't create the article, but has just edited it for factual information. This is perfectly kosher, even if it is a faux paus socially. Other notable WP contributors have edited pages about themselves, providing factual information only.
Furthermore, it's his website, he can do whatever the hell he wants with it.
Haec merda tauri est. Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.
You telling me you've never changed the rules? you've never cheated, never abused the grey line? Integrety is in the eye of the beholder my freind. Morality has no effect on the internet, if it did, half of e-commerce wouldn't function. In the long run, what does it really matter what he writes about himself, or what he changes about himself? The fact that he changed information may be contrary to their "Guidelines", but really how bonding are guidelines? Acording to Cpt. Balbosa guidelines don't really mean anything, and he's right. What this all boils down to: If you think Wikipedia is enugh of a source for reliable information to be worried about integrity, you have issues.
He whom you called four-eyes yesterday, you call Sir tomorrow.
considering Mr. Wales was shot dead last week. Apparently he's editing his own entry from the grave. (Sweet Lord, do those clowns at the Register need to get laid.)
Fuck Slashdot
The only person who I can honestly say shows any integrity on the matter is Jimmy Wales, as he's not sinking to the pathetic level of his critics.
Way to go, Lord Dweomer, for getting sucked in and making an ass of yourself, spreading misinformation. You even got modded up for it. People have no fucking shame.
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
I think Wikipedia is flawed. It is based on NPOV but there is no such thing. This is discussed in depth by post modernistis (who I don't agree with on everything, but they have valid points).
The problem is, that any point of view is in some way a personal point of view, there are always nuances, deletions and viewpoints that stress one thing over another. It is simply not possible to write about something in a neutral way. Even netural is a point of view.
However, I don't think this has ever been a problem untill it became a sort of myth that there is actually something caled a neutral point of view. This, I think the whole idea is quite recent and arrived with modern newspapers.
It still isn't a problem -I say, let all viewpoints be recorded, atleast all well written and well sourced viewpoints. I think it is fairer to the reader if a point of view is out in the open rather than hidden behind claimed netrality.
In the end, it is much better to have several points of view than one point of view that claims to be netural.
A mountain may appear a different shape when viewed from various angles. That doesn't mean that the mountain has no shape at all.
We are much better served by varying viewpoints.
Some say he is made with ascii, others that he is eyeballed daily by millions. All we know is, he is known as the Sig
On the one hand, Wales' case shows why it might be a good policy to advise against people editing their own biographies. He insists that the other man was not a "co-founder" of Wikipedia. Wales is in a position to know this, and it seems to me to be a bad idea to bar knowledgeable people from editing articles. Clearly Wales is knowledgeable about his own life.
On the other hand, it looks like Wales was trying to rewrite history. It appears likely that his Bomis Babes was at least so-called "adult entertainment," the modern euphamism for porn. He often removed these references to porn entirely. This seems to be injecting falsehood and bias into Wikipedia.
A lot of the Slashdot reaction has been "why does this matter" but it really does invoke some interesting questions if you stop for a minute to think about it.
Penny - plain text accounting
He should have edited the entry anonymously from a public library. No one cares if Wikipedia has random anonymous edits.
Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
I think you mean Elizabeth Swann:
IMDB page for Pirates of the Caribbean
Do as the Priest says, not what he does..
Sounds eerily familiar?...
Karma: Bad (but who really cares anyway?)
Ermm, you're forgetting that he is one of the masses too. No one is particularly anonymous. Nor is he special enough that his entries wouldn't be changed if others thought they were wrong. So, he's just another peer, contributing to a great site. Nothing new there for Wikipedia :)
Anyway, a common response wikipedians made to his complaints was that he should edit his own article if he felt it was factually inaccurate. If Jimbo Wales is in the wrong for editing his article, then I suppose all the wikipedians who suggested John Seigenthaler edit his own article are in the wrong, too?
This is just the latest FUD piece from a webzine attacking wikipedia. Many in the internet media have been attacking Wikipedia because it threatens the viability of their businesses. Despite millions of denizens' acceptence and support of wikipedia, legacy webzines continue to try and paint wikipedia as this evil rogue web venture hell bent on distorting truth. This is the sixth salvo from Wired this month alone ( http://search.wired.com/wnews/default.asp?query=wi kipedia ).
And not much analysis of facts on the ground.
Let's Begin:
Claim 1 from Wired:
Public edit logs reveal that Wales has changed his own Wikipedia bio 18 times, deleting phrases describing former Wikipedia employee Larry Sanger as a co-founder of the site.
If Larry Sanger was a co-founder, (I don't know and don't have time to check) deleting that fact is at the very least petty and vindictive. It does not really matter if it is or is not against some "code" or "guideline". Giving credit where credit is due is the right thing to do. Deleting credit over and over again... well, you will each come to your own conclusion.
Claim 2 from Wired:
Cadenhead said other Wikipedia editors described Bomis Babes as "soft-core pornography," but Wales changed it to "adult content section" on Sept. 4, and later twice removed references to pornography, instead describing it as "Bomis Babes blog based on Slashcode."
Going to Bomis Babes here: http://www.bomis.com/tree/babe gives me two sponsored links at the top of the page, cut and pasted one of them below:
Searching for Porn?
Sponsored Link
Find the Best Subscription Sites Search XXX Videos, Pics & More
FantasyFinder.com/CreditCardRequire
So at the very least the site has no problem with advertising for porn. Trying to find some pics, I find links to ring sites, cut and pasted below:
Hot Asian Sucking Whores
Sponsored Link
Cute Japanese School Girls Sex $14.95/Mo
Huge. No Limits. Ad Free!
www.guba.net
Still no pics. Maybe the site is just a search engine for porn, with no pics? Beats me, and with the lack of immediate pics I don't care, but "porn related" seems a fair claim.
what kind of workd do we live in where we can't trust the accuracy or integrity of wikipedia?
You know, the key feature of an autobiography is for one to write about one's self.
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
Just edit it when he's dead, than he can't change it !
"The test of the morality of a society is what it does for it's children." -Dietrich Bonhoeffer
I don't know that Bomis can be called porn-related any more than the Internet can be called porn-related. Further, Bomis is no more a search engine for porn than ODP is a search engine for porn.
http://www.bomis.com/about/bomis_faq.html
What is Bomis.Com?
Bomis.Com is an Internet ring index and portal site. We index web pages into Bomis Rings. We also offer features such as free email, weather, news, and email discussion lists.
Read Heinlein's 1953 Revolt in 2100, now more than ever.
If not I don't really see the issue. Not editing your own bio isn't some sort of absolute commandment or moral principle, it's just a guideline to prevent fights and unpleasent disputes. Often people are inclined to remove true statements or overestimate their own importance in their bios and it is alot easier to tell them they shouldn't be editing their own bio than have to argue with them and tell them they aren't as cool as they think they are.
If Wales was adding paragraphs praising himself, or if it is true that this other guy is a co-founder (rather than employee) then there is a problem. Otherwise what is the issue? So long as his edits ultimately further the accuracy of the encyclopedia that's great. The entire point of wikipedia is that you don't validate the editor but their edits.
There are always different rules that apply to the site manager/owner than the rest of the users. These are sometimes because the owner needs more freedom/control than the other users or in cases like this because you have to trust the owner no matter what. If Wales wants to skew wikipedia he has *way* more power to do this than any other user so you need to trust him anyway. The question is whether he is abusing that power and so far this doesn't seem to show that he is.
If you liked this thought maybe you would find my blog nice too:
Do you realise you inspired this?
They also got the "the cock" error with'em...
Victims of 9/11: <3000. Traffic in the US: >30,000/y
If you try to add to the article any discussion that Bomis may be pornography, you find yourself banned, and the article is reverted immediately. My comments in the discussion section were also removed a number of times - so you aren't even allowed to argue in favour of a differing point of view.
I tried to add that some people believed that Bomis is in fact not "glamour photography" but "pornography", and found myself accused of vandalism and given the boot.
The sheer doublethink in the article is absurd.
Si tacuisses philosophus mansisses. If you had kept quiet, you would have remained a philosopher.
He's lying to us! There ain't no such thing as a free lunch!
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
According to Carnildo, who submitted the post:
"My original submission described it as 'against Wikipedia's guideline' -- Zonk must have decided that 'in violation of Wikipedia's policy' sounded better."
Is it normal for Slashdot's editors to change submitters' comments into falsehoods? Now, if only Slashdot had an "edit" button....
This is something which I have been tracking for quite some time. Most of the edits Jimbo makes to his own biography are not for the purpose of removing personal attacks, such as "I love the cock", but rather to promote his involvement in the creation of Wikipedia or downplay the fact that Bomis Babes was a softcore pornography website.
a les&diff=27799694&oldid=27799660 a les&diff=27799453&oldid=27756307 a les&diff=26756907&oldid=26709690
a les&diff=26702273&oldid=26658959
a les&diff=25994722&oldid=25960410
a les&diff=22555355&oldid=22551871
Wales has gone so far as to have incriminating information about him and Bomis removed from the database entirely by Wikimedia developers; meaning it will not appear in either the edit history or the deleted items history.
Here are some examples which have not (yet) been deleted from the history outright:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jimmy_W
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jimmy_W
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jimmy_W
Above, Wales discredits Larry Sanger as co-founder as Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jimmy_W
Discredits Sanger, strikes pornography reference.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jimmy_W
Eliminates reference to Bomis Babes erotica section.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jimmy_W
Eliminates reference to Bomis Babes softcore porn.
Mind you, if anyone else on Wikipedia violated this policy, or "guideline", they would be nailed to the cross, as has been done in the past.
I edited my own Wikipedia entry because it wasn't written from a neutral point of view. I see nothing wrong with doing that.
Don't piss off The Angry Economist