Comments on: Why I’ve (mostly) retired from Wikipedia http://www.cydeweys.com/blog/2008/03/13/mostly-retiring-from-wikipedia/ Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:39:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: The highest-editing zombie bot on Wikipedia | Cyde Weys Musings http://www.cydeweys.com/blog/2008/03/13/mostly-retiring-from-wikipedia/comment-page-1/#comment-27781 The highest-editing zombie bot on Wikipedia | Cyde Weys Musings Mon, 26 May 2008 16:39:43 +0000 http://www.cydeweys.com/blog/2008/03/13/mostly-retiring-from-wikipedia/#comment-27781 [...] stopped actively editing Wikipedia more or less one year ago. Naturally, I haven’t stopped editing completely, as I still read [...] [...] stopped actively editing Wikipedia more or less one year ago. Naturally, I haven’t stopped editing completely, as I still read [...]

]]> By: Cyde Weys http://www.cydeweys.com/blog/2008/03/13/mostly-retiring-from-wikipedia/comment-page-1/#comment-20121 Cyde Weys Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:13:40 +0000 http://www.cydeweys.com/blog/2008/03/13/mostly-retiring-from-wikipedia/#comment-20121 Ben: Yes, the problems are solvable, and yes, the official removal of any sort of God-king would be a good start. The Foundation is becoming a more professional organization over time and the misuse of funds that used to occur have been cracked down on by the new staff. But they really need to stop lying to cover each other. Not everyone is worth defending, especially not when the truth has to be distorted to do it. Anthony: Any individual bad admin would only severely affect a maximum of a dozen articles or so. It's hard work consistently being abusive and imposing a POV. However, existential WMF problems would affect <i>every</i> article (in that, if nobody is paying for the servers, they cannot be read). And forking isn't as guaranteed as you might hope; it was only recently that a complete dump of en-wiki was published, after year(s) of the dumps failing. Who knows when the next one will come? Ben: Yes, the problems are solvable, and yes, the official removal of any sort of God-king would be a good start. The Foundation is becoming a more professional organization over time and the misuse of funds that used to occur have been cracked down on by the new staff. But they really need to stop lying to cover each other. Not everyone is worth defending, especially not when the truth has to be distorted to do it.

Anthony: Any individual bad admin would only severely affect a maximum of a dozen articles or so. It’s hard work consistently being abusive and imposing a POV. However, existential WMF problems would affect every article (in that, if nobody is paying for the servers, they cannot be read). And forking isn’t as guaranteed as you might hope; it was only recently that a complete dump of en-wiki was published, after year(s) of the dumps failing. Who knows when the next one will come?

]]> By: Anthony http://www.cydeweys.com/blog/2008/03/13/mostly-retiring-from-wikipedia/comment-page-1/#comment-20043 Anthony Thu, 20 Mar 2008 05:57:05 +0000 http://www.cydeweys.com/blog/2008/03/13/mostly-retiring-from-wikipedia/#comment-20043 How do the shenanigans on the foundation board affect what people find when they look something up in Wikipedia? I can see that if the WMF stuff is bad enough, it could present an existential threat to Wikipedia (though not necessarily to the information - hopefully someone is doing occasional database dumps), but except for the occasional sanitized biography, how are the WMF problems going to impact the casual reader of Wikipedia? How do the shenanigans on the foundation board affect what people find when they look something up in Wikipedia? I can see that if the WMF stuff is bad enough, it could present an existential threat to Wikipedia (though not necessarily to the information – hopefully someone is doing occasional database dumps), but except for the occasional sanitized biography, how are the WMF problems going to impact the casual reader of Wikipedia?

]]> By: Ben Yates http://www.cydeweys.com/blog/2008/03/13/mostly-retiring-from-wikipedia/comment-page-1/#comment-19399 Ben Yates Thu, 13 Mar 2008 18:07:41 +0000 http://www.cydeweys.com/blog/2008/03/13/mostly-retiring-from-wikipedia/#comment-19399 Are these problems solvable -- that is, are they pretty much confined to jimmy? More specifics would really help. Are these problems solvable — that is, are they pretty much confined to jimmy? More specifics would really help.

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