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Fark Creator Slams 'the Wisdom of Crowds'

Posted by timothy on from the respond-below-with-wit-and-vigor dept.

GovTechGuy writes with some harsh words from Fark.com founder Drew Curtis, speaking at a conference Tuesday in Washington, DC: "'The "wisdom of the crowds" is the most ridiculous statement I've heard in my life. Crowds are dumb,' Curtis said. 'It takes people to move crowds in the right direction, crowds by themselves just stand around and mutter.' Curtis pointed to his own experience moderating comments on Fark, which allows users to give their often humorous take on the news of the day. He said only one percent of Web comments have any value and called the rest 'garbage.' Another example Curtis pointed to is the America Speaking Out website recently launched by House Republicans to allow the public to weigh in on the issues and vote for policy positions they support. Curtis called the site an 'absolute train wreck.' 'It's an absolute disaster. It's impossible to tell who was kidding and who wasn't,' Curtis said."

6 of 507 comments (clear)

  1. Charles Mackay by rlp · · Score: 5, Informative

    Read "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds" by Charles Mackay (first published in 1841). His book discusses Tulip-mania in the Netherlands and witch persecutions (and many more incidents) to illustrate the distinct LACK of wisdom of crowds.

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    [Insert pithy quote here]
    1. Re:Charles Mackay by john83 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Interestingly, there are four copies on Google books, and every one of them has pages omitted as they're from recent editions. What the hell, Google? Thankfully, Project Gutenberg has a few versions, e.g. this one.

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      Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
  2. Re:Wisdom of the crowd. by dgatwood · · Score: 5, Informative

    What do you mean new?

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    Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

  3. This got an "Obvious" tag on Fark, of course. by Shandalar · · Score: 3, Informative

    http://www.fark.com/cgi/comments.pl?IDLink=5457221&cpp=1

  4. Re:It cuts both ways by derGoldstein · · Score: 3, Informative

    Specifically, Sturgeon's Law.

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    Entomologically speaking, the spider is not a bug, it's a feature.
  5. Re:Wisdom of the crowd. by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 4, Informative

    Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat

    Argh! No, they didn't.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Earth_myth