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Wikipedia Explodes In China

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the people-like-to-post dept.

eldavojohn writes "The Chinese have recently been allowed to enjoy the Chinese version of Wikipedia now that the ban has been lifted. And the result is an explosion in use after being banned for a year. From the article, 'Activity on nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation's Chinese Wikipedia site has skyrocketed since its release, which Internet users in China first started reporting on Nov. 10. Since then, the number of new users registering to contribute to the site has exceeded 1,200 a day, up from an average of 300 to 400 prior to the unblocking. The number of new articles posted daily has increased 75% from the week before, with the total now surpassing 100,000, according to the foundation.' No one's sure how long this will be available to the People's Republic of China but hopefully the government will recognize that at least a significant part of the populace enjoys a Wikipedia community."

6 of 151 comments (clear)

  1. But.... by varmittang · · Score: 3, Insightful

    How many of those people signing up are government agents there to just delete and change everything to what the government wants.

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    1. Re:But.... by ajs · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Well, they probably do, but the main benefit, I'm sure, is being able to track who contributes what. Don't just censor history, censor the historians... it's an old trick, but a damn effective one. :-/

    2. Re:But.... by owlnation · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That's a very good question. I suspect many contributors and editors will be Government agents.

      There lies the true danger and the power of wikipedia, and the reason why no-one must ever take wikipedia seriously. I think this can't be stressed enough - never ever trust wikipedia, nothing on wikipedia is necessarily true. That should be recited like a mantra. Wikipedia is fine as long as everyone always remembers that and doesn't try to elevate it to anything even approaching truth.

      I must say though that I think the last thing the Chinese need is yet another dubious source of information. They need objective reality not wikiality.

      I, for one, don't personally see this as progress towards human rights and democracy. I think there's a very real danger this will be exploited and cause more problems than it will solve. Honestly, the Chinese (and all and every other Government for that matter) would be foolish not to exploit the apparent truthiness of wikiality.

      Would you trust a MySpace fact? Why do you trust a wikipedia one? There's little difference other than perception. They may be written by the same person.

  2. Is it about people enjoying it? by aicrules · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Other than a loose metaphor between the intellectual socialism of wikipedia and the communistic regime that is China, the government will only keep it available for as long as it takes for "unseemly" articles about government tyranny to make there way on to the site. Make no mistake, China's government is allowing this solely for its own benefit. Who knows what that benefit is, but when the potential costs begin to outweigh those benefits, suddenly participation will be down to zero.

  3. Uh huh... by djupedal · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "No one's sure how long this will be available to the People's Republic of China"

    Just as long as it takes to build a representative statistical sample pool of the individuals doing all the recent updates...once that's ready - OH! ...and the guys are done clubbing dogs. THEN we're gonna see some real head-banging :)

  4. Re:Population Bomb by estarriol · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I see no evidence to suggest that the people of China will be unable to donate to Wikipedia for any reason. What makes you think that they won't? The concept of charitable donation was not created by, nor is owned by, Capitalism.