90% of the content should be history. We're only making about 1 year of history every year. If wikipedia covers history even poorly, it should remain the vast majority of content. So like 99% of it's content should remain stable year to year. Obviously, they haven't tapped out potential topics, but they can't add this many articles every year - it's like Moore's law, at some point your growth slows because you've catalogued most useful things, and/or your audience/contributors plateau with population growth after sufficient penetration.
Which is the long winded way to say, controversy should die down as number of articles increase, or wikipedia isn't feasible long-term. Edits should DECREASE as a percentage of activity in the future, because static content dominates new content. You can always add another entry reviewing some niche activity, like the latest Anime cartoon, but a general article on Abraham Lincoln shouldn't change much in the next 5 years - or it isn't general enough.
I like how people compare wikipedia to other media, as if they're the same. It really is just a big bathroom wall, and everyone is issued markers on the way in. Don't like something, just write over it! Why can't newspapers just say, don't like something, print your own article. That's their defense of libel? Wikipedia's founders are the ones who should be responsible for libel, since they're hosting it, and they created the system in the first place - and are well aware of it's shortcomings by now.
OR need to protect their main page. The only difference between protecting the main page and Mr. S's is that wikipedia's reputation (and hence income) depends on the main page, and they don't give a damn about Mr. S's reputation and income unless the law forces them to care.
Which is why the libel law exists in the first place.
You have a strange notion of 'Most of the world'. Catholic South America and Islamic countries are more conservative than we are with flesh, and just as liberal with violence (if only we'd read the ratings label on Iraq!). Since Islam is growing faster than the world population, and most parents restrict what their children watch worldwide, there's a good reason to doubt that 'most of the world doesn't think seeing naked people scars the young mind'. In the last few years, we've had Bush's 'surprise' re-election, Al-Qaeda, gay marriage and the French riots. So I ask when will old white people in Europe, Australia and Canada realize they are actually in a global minority representing secular values?
Based on birthrates, the only people having children worldwide are religous conservatives, so it's doubly ironic you chose those words to make fun of us.
"Blogs have been more successful as a news source " How are you measuring success? Man, there are like 3 people outside of California who even know what a blog is - and I'm one of them. Ever heard of New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, Fox News, BBC? That's success. Would I even know a blogger ruined Dan Rather's story if I hadn't read it on nytimes.com? I like blogs, and I still think they are amateur, circular, and gimmicky. Kind of like USA Today.
This analysis isn't that deep, not even much of a projection. I think that Nintendo may have found the key to competing with less money: innovation. The DS and now the Revolution prove that. Unfortunately, it will be relatively easy for MS/Sony to match the revolution's features by releasing a motion-sensitive controller, and Sony has already offered something amazingly forward thinking with the Eyetoy.
But the PSP and Sony's resources are clearly the problems. Japan's gaming market is cooling off. Square Enix is in a slump. The biggest advancement in this gen of consoles, online games, are better served by the 360. Imagine this: Sony's Everquest works better on Microsoft's "Other Console", the PC, than it does on the PS2. Amazing.
But the most important bit is the PSP. A new hardware launch always kills profit for a while. If Sony doesn't get over the hump and start taking market share from Nintendo in handhelds, the loss in profits and projected revenues will hurt a lot.
Here's what was lacking in the article: the PSP's actual problems. 1. It doesn't come close to competing with the Ipod, which Sony seemed to believe it would. 2. One analog 'stick' in an age of FPS on consoles? This thing can't compete in the U.S. 3. No Square RPGs? No turn-based strategy games? No pet simulator? This thing can't compete in Japan. 4. Portable systems are still children's toys in the U.S. It's too expensive to be a toy, and lacks children's games. 5. With the 360 and PS3 guaranteed to drive spending in home theater setups, this thing has bad timing. 6. Customers can't see it. Everywhere I shop, there is no PSP display. It's hard to be impressed by the screen and games if you can't sample them in person. $250 is too much to spend on faith (for some of us).
Here's what works with the PSP: 1. The movies are actually selling. UMD is the most successfuly media format in terms of speed of adoption: a good sign for the Blu-ray discs Sony wants to push with the PS3. 2. Big Screen. 3. EA's support. 4. Memory prices will continue to fall over time, so eventually this WILL work as a downloadable music player. 5. The "children's toy" label has a chance to change if Sony sticks with this thing long enough. 6. Built-in wifi support means that the zillions of us who have broadband and wireless routers could eventually use this for surfing the web or watching TV/Streaming music, if Sony gets the application right.
Right now, the PSP is 90% potential, 10% reality, 0$ profit. Not the best distraction during a major console upgrade cycle.
I'm selling a Genuine Unofficial Free-Standing All-Space-Age Temperature-controlled Star Trek DVD Display Case that is cleverly disguised as a fridge. Now you can enjoy a ridiculously immature niche obsession without scaring off desirable potential mates.
A couple notes: 1. It includes a automatic light that turns on when you open the door, neatly illuminating the collected genius of Gene Roddenberry. 2. It can keep the DVDs at a cool 40f, the optimum temp for beloved DVDs and meatloaf. 3. Your official date-night story will be that the second fridge is for meat from hunting. I suggest packages of ground meat on the first shelves and condiments in the door on date-nights. To complete the ruse, you may want to buy a gun - but don't refer to it as a 'Phase Pistol,' 'Phaser Rifle' or "'Lil Wheaton". 4. Feel free to keep Voyager in our super-cold 'torture chamber' conveniently located at the top. Now you can really mean it when you say, "Braga, revenge is a dish best served cold." 5. Pull all Star Trek refrigerator magnets and fan art off and store in box prior to dates. This applies to your current fridge, as well.
They're already running a lot of servers, so I'm sure they view this as an extension, the way that google looks at hosting videos and 2gigs of email for everybody. Once you start managing data centers that extensively, these "little" experiments are a lot less risky.
But, there's a big difference here. Microsoft sells development and server software and Google and Yahoo don't. If Microsoft competes with every customer they have, soon they won't have any.
I know I wouldn't partner with M$. Everyone is at risk. They own game companies and make hardware. They develop MSN messenger and Cluster servers. Do you understand how insane it was to take on Sony? They're like a rabid dog. No one is safe and this proves it.
The key thing is, will it be compatible all the way back to PS1 or just PS2? I can live with just ps2. In fact, I still have my PS1, and they're only $20 used. And what about the hard drive? You're telling me decent emulator software can't run off of a hd on the PS3 hardware? I think there are guys on this site who could do better, so Sony better have this fixed prior to release.
Even years later in college, that game was awesome. Madden was just getting good, of course, but (Super?) Tecmo Bowl was all about Cunningham, Bo and Riggins. Loved that game.
That's a good point, if Itunes worked with consoles, it helps M$, since Apple doesn't make a console, they're not a competitor, and once you're used to using your X360 that way, they can convert you to M$. This is why opening systems up are a good idea. Mind you, both Sony and Apple have closed music systems, and M$ could probably buy Apple out any time they want to. It's not exactly an 'Open' move in the Slashdot sense. Fact is, they can exert a lot more control over who gets access to Xbox users than PC users, so M$ should open X360 up, since Itunes is already on the PC and is basically an advertisement for Apple computers.
I'm a history guy, and I just love the original game, but Civ III IS too slow, Civ II is too uneven, and Civ I is just ancient now.
For me, Alpha was the best. Everybody who tried it loved it. It was fast enough for my non-strategy friends and deep enough for me. And I think the well-defined factions were terrific, like a starcraft/civ mashup. I had great fun with the expansion set (which makes more sense than these 'multiplayer' civ games). It's takes the gold medal.
I hope they update AC for Windows Vista or do a sequel. I'm dyin' here.
See, at night the 10,000 monkeys type on 10,000 keyboards, and just based on odds, they will eventually create GoogleOS, killing M$ once and for all and establishing a new, more enlightened electronic overlord for us all to loathe.
I think we should stop and reflect how much more money Microsoft has than IBM and they've done far too little with it. They have a similar monopoly compared to Bell and IBM and yet research hasn't benefited nearly as much.
Is a modern role. The checks and balances system was never intended to work in quite the way that it has with the Supreme Court. In key situations, mostly this century, it's worked out well. But we could just as easily have 9 justices protecting the status quo (see: separate but equal). It's remarkable now that the news orgs are retelling the history of the SC, that so many SC judges were so political. And if Bush had any cojones, he'd fill the bench with true Conservatives, which is mostly why he was elected.
Anyway, that's why we should remember how important the filibuster is in the Senate. That's the true protection of the minority, where even Rhode Island can veto California.
Don't get me wrong, you're nervous (probably) about single Conservative states extorting the Senate for favors, and I'm concerned about 5 justices reading abortion rights into a ~200 yr. old document. We should both be concerned, and that's why the only real power is in voting.
is that Switzerland is small and homogenous, and that's why pure democracy works. It's worked in New England, too. But the founders just thought that it wasn't the best way.
Describing the voters as stupid is taking it too far. Voters are smarts, mobs are dumb and we all know it. Even pure democracy doesn't allow lynchings, no matter how popular.
Your praises are all from technical sources. That is why you guys "just don't get it."
I won't use Wiki not because there isn't enough static info - there isn't - but because reasonable edits, fixes and corrections are edited out by unreasonable people, who form the majority and you're directly responsible for that. You can fix this by raising your standards, but you won't.
Here's why your standards are low: because you're quoting hits as an example of your power and success. Raising your standards would remove the 'fun' part of editing Conservatives out and reduce vandalism. Everyone who writes on your site has an agenda, otherwise they wouldn't bother. You're a tech-happy liberal crowd more interested in page hits and technical accolades and liberal/libertarian propaganda than basic, useful information.
What's wrong with these? Old allegations against W persist and as many negatives are brought up as possible throughout the article. Allegations and convictions against Slick Willie are buried and barely mentioned - compare that to W's decades-old drinking exploits. Clinton's religion does not appear. Clinton's ridiculously fratboy staff doesn't get a mention - or was there another staff that defaced White House equipment on their way out? Where are Clinton's pardons from his last day in office? Who even cares about all this Bush stuff? Detailed arguments with his father? Really? Is this National Enquirer?
And the 'Neutrality is questioned' sign is a joke, it's on Left-wing politics but not on George W. Bush? Really?
It's simple, really. My impression of Clinton is your impression of Bush and you shouldn't try to change that: it's not in your mission statement. You can't handle current politics, and your website should stop trying, but I know you're willing to lose an audience that just doesn't agree with your staff. If you can't find a way to build editorial policy in - like no editorial commentary on politicians or 'controversies' - then I've got no use for you. At least do with Bush and Christianity what you do for Islam - split out criticism. Anything less is inherently biased.
You need to freeze certain pages for their controversy, not just when content shouldn't change.
Fascist is the most overused insult this decade. Let me know how that works when you read Lincoln's and FDR's biography. Or are your heroes DeGaulle and Clinton?
The games industry lost a lot of money from used PC games being sold, when they were simply copied and kept and shared among friends. But that's why consoles are popular, and that's why copy protection exists.
But the idea that software makers exert any kind of control over used marketplaces is ridiculous. Best Buy doesn't sell used appliances because they actually age. But my Warcraft disc will pretty much be the same 5 years from now. Same with the DVDs and CDs. Publishers have to understand that this is the nature of their business. If you make computer games you are exposed in ways that console games aren't. You basically need new versions of Windows to be incompatible with your old games, or people won't buy new copies. Or you stick with consoles. But there is a thriving used marketplace for a reason. Videogames have huge margins for profits - they are good investments for a reason.
The simple solution is to mark new games down to $20 - undercutting used games (or at least the large profit from used games) and live with reduced profits. Ha. I can't wait to see that.
Slashdot Mirror
Um...Google?
90% of the content should be history. We're only making about 1 year of history every year. If wikipedia covers history even poorly, it should remain the vast majority of content. So like 99% of it's content should remain stable year to year. Obviously, they haven't tapped out potential topics, but they can't add this many articles every year - it's like Moore's law, at some point your growth slows because you've catalogued most useful things, and/or your audience/contributors plateau with population growth after sufficient penetration.
Which is the long winded way to say, controversy should die down as number of articles increase, or wikipedia isn't feasible long-term. Edits should DECREASE as a percentage of activity in the future, because static content dominates new content. You can always add another entry reviewing some niche activity, like the latest Anime cartoon, but a general article on Abraham Lincoln shouldn't change much in the next 5 years - or it isn't general enough.
How are all these topics not 'OFF-TOPIC'? Just because they're slashdot liberals?
I like how people compare wikipedia to other media, as if they're the same. It really is just a big bathroom wall, and everyone is issued markers on the way in. Don't like something, just write over it! Why can't newspapers just say, don't like something, print your own article. That's their defense of libel? Wikipedia's founders are the ones who should be responsible for libel, since they're hosting it, and they created the system in the first place - and are well aware of it's shortcomings by now.
i s_protected
Or they wouldn't need this policy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:This_page_
OR need to protect their main page. The only difference between protecting the main page and Mr. S's is that wikipedia's reputation (and hence income) depends on the main page, and they don't give a damn about Mr. S's reputation and income unless the law forces them to care.
Which is why the libel law exists in the first place.
You have a strange notion of 'Most of the world'. Catholic South America and Islamic countries are more conservative than we are with flesh, and just as liberal with violence (if only we'd read the ratings label on Iraq!). Since Islam is growing faster than the world population, and most parents restrict what their children watch worldwide, there's a good reason to doubt that 'most of the world doesn't think seeing naked people scars the young mind'. In the last few years, we've had Bush's 'surprise' re-election, Al-Qaeda, gay marriage and the French riots. So I ask when will old white people in Europe, Australia and Canada realize they are actually in a global minority representing secular values?
Based on birthrates, the only people having children worldwide are religous conservatives, so it's doubly ironic you chose those words to make fun of us.
"Blogs have been more successful as a news source " How are you measuring success? Man, there are like 3 people outside of California who even know what a blog is - and I'm one of them. Ever heard of New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, Fox News, BBC? That's success. Would I even know a blogger ruined Dan Rather's story if I hadn't read it on nytimes.com? I like blogs, and I still think they are amateur, circular, and gimmicky. Kind of like USA Today.
"As a bonus, gamers who play that long will end up with impressive looking forearms!"
And tennis elbow!
This analysis isn't that deep, not even much of a projection. I think that Nintendo may have found the key to competing with less money: innovation. The DS and now the Revolution prove that. Unfortunately, it will be relatively easy for MS/Sony to match the revolution's features by releasing a motion-sensitive controller, and Sony has already offered something amazingly forward thinking with the Eyetoy.
But the PSP and Sony's resources are clearly the problems. Japan's gaming market is cooling off. Square Enix is in a slump. The biggest advancement in this gen of consoles, online games, are better served by the 360. Imagine this: Sony's Everquest works better on Microsoft's "Other Console", the PC, than it does on the PS2. Amazing.
But the most important bit is the PSP. A new hardware launch always kills profit for a while. If Sony doesn't get over the hump and start taking market share from Nintendo in handhelds, the loss in profits and projected revenues will hurt a lot.
Here's what was lacking in the article: the PSP's actual problems.
1. It doesn't come close to competing with the Ipod, which Sony seemed to believe it would.
2. One analog 'stick' in an age of FPS on consoles? This thing can't compete in the U.S.
3. No Square RPGs? No turn-based strategy games? No pet simulator? This thing can't compete in Japan.
4. Portable systems are still children's toys in the U.S. It's too expensive to be a toy, and lacks children's games.
5. With the 360 and PS3 guaranteed to drive spending in home theater setups, this thing has bad timing.
6. Customers can't see it. Everywhere I shop, there is no PSP display. It's hard to be impressed by the screen and games if you can't sample them in person. $250 is too much to spend on faith (for some of us).
Here's what works with the PSP:
1. The movies are actually selling. UMD is the most successfuly media format in terms of speed of adoption: a good sign for the Blu-ray discs Sony wants to push with the PS3.
2. Big Screen.
3. EA's support.
4. Memory prices will continue to fall over time, so eventually this WILL work as a downloadable music player.
5. The "children's toy" label has a chance to change if Sony sticks with this thing long enough.
6. Built-in wifi support means that the zillions of us who have broadband and wireless routers could eventually use this for surfing the web or watching TV/Streaming music, if Sony gets the application right.
Right now, the PSP is 90% potential, 10% reality, 0$ profit. Not the best distraction during a major console upgrade cycle.
I'm selling a Genuine Unofficial Free-Standing All-Space-Age Temperature-controlled Star Trek DVD Display Case that is cleverly disguised as a fridge. Now you can enjoy a ridiculously immature niche obsession without scaring off desirable potential mates.
A couple notes:
1. It includes a automatic light that turns on when you open the door, neatly illuminating the collected genius of Gene Roddenberry.
2. It can keep the DVDs at a cool 40f, the optimum temp for beloved DVDs and meatloaf.
3. Your official date-night story will be that the second fridge is for meat from hunting. I suggest packages of ground meat on the first shelves and condiments in the door on date-nights. To complete the ruse, you may want to buy a gun - but don't refer to it as a 'Phase Pistol,' 'Phaser Rifle' or "'Lil Wheaton".
4. Feel free to keep Voyager in our super-cold 'torture chamber' conveniently located at the top. Now you can really mean it when you say, "Braga, revenge is a dish best served cold."
5. Pull all Star Trek refrigerator magnets and fan art off and store in box prior to dates. This applies to your current fridge, as well.
I found his love for his rubik's cube a little disturbing, but at least that explains the name of the Gamecube...
Now Wikipedia can set 3rd world education back, too.
They're already running a lot of servers, so I'm sure they view this as an extension, the way that google looks at hosting videos and 2gigs of email for everybody. Once you start managing data centers that extensively, these "little" experiments are a lot less risky.
But, there's a big difference here. Microsoft sells development and server software and Google and Yahoo don't. If Microsoft competes with every customer they have, soon they won't have any.
I know I wouldn't partner with M$. Everyone is at risk. They own game companies and make hardware. They develop MSN messenger and Cluster servers. Do you understand how insane it was to take on Sony? They're like a rabid dog. No one is safe and this proves it.
The key thing is, will it be compatible all the way back to PS1 or just PS2? I can live with just ps2. In fact, I still have my PS1, and they're only $20 used. And what about the hard drive? You're telling me decent emulator software can't run off of a hd on the PS3 hardware? I think there are guys on this site who could do better, so Sony better have this fixed prior to release.
Even years later in college, that game was awesome. Madden was just getting good, of course, but (Super?) Tecmo Bowl was all about Cunningham, Bo and Riggins. Loved that game.
That's a good point, if Itunes worked with consoles, it helps M$, since Apple doesn't make a console, they're not a competitor, and once you're used to using your X360 that way, they can convert you to M$. This is why opening systems up are a good idea. Mind you, both Sony and Apple have closed music systems, and M$ could probably buy Apple out any time they want to. It's not exactly an 'Open' move in the Slashdot sense. Fact is, they can exert a lot more control over who gets access to Xbox users than PC users, so M$ should open X360 up, since Itunes is already on the PC and is basically an advertisement for Apple computers.
I'm a history guy, and I just love the original game, but Civ III IS too slow, Civ II is too uneven, and Civ I is just ancient now.
For me, Alpha was the best. Everybody who tried it loved it. It was fast enough for my non-strategy friends and deep enough for me. And I think the well-defined factions were terrific, like a starcraft/civ mashup. I had great fun with the expansion set (which makes more sense than these 'multiplayer' civ games). It's takes the gold medal.
I hope they update AC for Windows Vista or do a sequel. I'm dyin' here.
Read the article, he's not going to the U.S., guys. He's going to California.
See, at night the 10,000 monkeys type on 10,000 keyboards, and just based on odds, they will eventually create GoogleOS, killing M$ once and for all and establishing a new, more enlightened electronic overlord for us all to loathe.
I think we should stop and reflect how much more money Microsoft has than IBM and they've done far too little with it. They have a similar monopoly compared to Bell and IBM and yet research hasn't benefited nearly as much.
Is a modern role. The checks and balances system was never intended to work in quite the way that it has with the Supreme Court. In key situations, mostly this century, it's worked out well. But we could just as easily have 9 justices protecting the status quo (see: separate but equal). It's remarkable now that the news orgs are retelling the history of the SC, that so many SC judges were so political. And if Bush had any cojones, he'd fill the bench with true Conservatives, which is mostly why he was elected.
Anyway, that's why we should remember how important the filibuster is in the Senate. That's the true protection of the minority, where even Rhode Island can veto California.
Don't get me wrong, you're nervous (probably) about single Conservative states extorting the Senate for favors, and I'm concerned about 5 justices reading abortion rights into a ~200 yr. old document. We should both be concerned, and that's why the only real power is in voting.
is that Switzerland is small and homogenous, and that's why pure democracy works. It's worked in New England, too. But the founders just thought that it wasn't the best way.
Describing the voters as stupid is taking it too far. Voters are smarts, mobs are dumb and we all know it. Even pure democracy doesn't allow lynchings, no matter how popular.
How is this news? Say, compared to Businessweek's expose of the Blu-Ray format?
Your praises are all from technical sources. That is why you guys "just don't get it."
i nton
I won't use Wiki not because there isn't enough static info - there isn't - but because reasonable edits, fixes and corrections are edited out by unreasonable people, who form the majority and you're directly responsible for that. You can fix this by raising your standards, but you won't.
Here's why your standards are low: because you're quoting hits as an example of your power and success. Raising your standards would remove the 'fun' part of editing Conservatives out and reduce vandalism. Everyone who writes on your site has an agenda, otherwise they wouldn't bother. You're a tech-happy liberal crowd more interested in page hits and technical accolades and liberal/libertarian propaganda than basic, useful information.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Bush
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Jefferson_Cl
What's wrong with these? Old allegations against W persist and as many negatives are brought up as possible throughout the article. Allegations and convictions against Slick Willie are buried and barely mentioned - compare that to W's decades-old drinking exploits. Clinton's religion does not appear. Clinton's ridiculously fratboy staff doesn't get a mention - or was there another staff that defaced White House equipment on their way out? Where are Clinton's pardons from his last day in office? Who even cares about all this Bush stuff? Detailed arguments with his father? Really? Is this National Enquirer?
And the 'Neutrality is questioned' sign is a joke, it's on Left-wing politics but not on George W. Bush? Really?
It's simple, really. My impression of Clinton is your impression of Bush and you shouldn't try to change that: it's not in your mission statement. You can't handle current politics, and your website should stop trying, but I know you're willing to lose an audience that just doesn't agree with your staff. If you can't find a way to build editorial policy in - like no editorial commentary on politicians or 'controversies' - then I've got no use for you. At least do with Bush and Christianity what you do for Islam - split out criticism. Anything less is inherently biased.
You need to freeze certain pages for their controversy, not just when content shouldn't change.
Fascist is the most overused insult this decade. Let me know how that works when you read Lincoln's and FDR's biography. Or are your heroes DeGaulle and Clinton?
The games industry lost a lot of money from used PC games being sold, when they were simply copied and kept and shared among friends. But that's why consoles are popular, and that's why copy protection exists.
But the idea that software makers exert any kind of control over used marketplaces is ridiculous. Best Buy doesn't sell used appliances because they actually age. But my Warcraft disc will pretty much be the same 5 years from now. Same with the DVDs and CDs. Publishers have to understand that this is the nature of their business. If you make computer games you are exposed in ways that console games aren't. You basically need new versions of Windows to be incompatible with your old games, or people won't buy new copies. Or you stick with consoles. But there is a thriving used marketplace for a reason. Videogames have huge margins for profits - they are good investments for a reason.
The simple solution is to mark new games down to $20 - undercutting used games (or at least the large profit from used games) and live with reduced profits. Ha. I can't wait to see that.