Wiki-Man. Show me a geek with a camera and I’ll show you a youtube page with over 100 inane comments.
Dammit Wikipedia, Stop Being Little Bitches
A little over a year ago they were bitching that someone edited the page that described them on the encyclopedia that is famous for letting anyone edit any page and now the whiners that run Wikipedia are now using the “nofollow” attribute on any and all outgoing links to rob any contributing sites of getting any Google-Love from being linked to on the world’s largest encyclopedia. As Jason Kottke puts it:
Links are currency on the web and Wikipedia just stopped paying it forward, so to speak.
Is it possible to be so idealistic and have such an inflated level of self-appreciation that one can regress into a state mild retardation? Apparently. If you disagree, how can an online encyclopedia that was formed with just great ideals get to the point where it gets angry when someone uses their site as it was created and edits their own page (even though they were guilty of “the infraction” themselves) and no more than a year later uses their now great internet mass to block the flow information to the very sites where their information mass was culled from to begin with? Yes, of course the links are still there, and they are technically still sourcing the pages as they should, but thats the “old media” way of sourcing information. The fact is no one looks at footnotes anymore. If they are looking at an article on Wikipedia about jackalopes and they want to know more about jackalopes they type jackalopes into Google and find more that way. But now that Wikipedia has decided to treat source links to clearly reputable websites as mere spam, those sites will lose Page Rank and their articles, the ones with the original information, have a lesser chance of showing up.
If the guys that run Wikipedia are so in love with their site, maybe they should take the time to really read this one of their pages closer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption
Follow Up: Adamn Curry AND Jimmy Wales Like Themselves, What a Shocker
This is a follow up on a piece a wrote on December 1st, 2005 entitled “Adam Curry Likes Himself, What a Shocker”
I told you. I thought it was no secret that most people like themselves, but when I told that shocking truth on this very site not long ago, people responded with “I see your point” and nothing further. People were amazed and shocked that Adam Curry would have the gall to go and edit his own entry in Wikipedia. Here’s what I said before:
So you make a encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Very hippie, very peace and love, very cool…and also very dumb if you can honestly tell me that you never thought this would happen. Of course this is going to happen! This isn’t the first time, this won’t be the last time, and in fact, its probably happening right now. People are going to want to get themselves in the world-renowned Wikipedia, what a shocker, and if they are already in it, people will want to get a bigger piece of the pie. I thought this was known, I thought this was assumed, but for some reason, someone busted Curry editing the Podcast article a few times and now people are whining and making lame titled blog posts about it.
That part about how “it happens all the time” and “its probably happening right now”? It turns our that was more right that I, and my detractors, thought. It just so happened that the next person with their “caught” editing a editable encyclopedia was the founder himself Jimmy Wales. This according to Wired News:
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.
Hmm. Interesting. To this I once again say: Who cares? Its an editable dictionary people! If it can be edited, it will be edited…and if there is an entry about you, you are probably going to want to go in and tweak it to your liking. No big surprise, no big deal. I don’t want to write my last article over again, but really. Why is everyone getting all pissed off about nothing? Anyone can edit it the thing…if its not what the community believes to be true, its changed back or to something else. Rinse. Repeat.
I’ll leave you with one last quote from the Wired Article:
While he said that Wikipedia generally frowns on people editing entries about themselves, there is no hard and fast rule against it.
Links:
Wired | Wikipedia Founder Edits Own Bio
Hell Yeah Bitch! | Adam Curry Likes Himself, What a Shocker
Adam Curry Likes Himself, What a Shocker
No way! You mean to tell me that Adam Curry, former MTV VJ and one of the pioneers of Podcasting, was busting editing the Wikipedia entry on Podcasting to make himself look more important?! I know, I can’t believe it either! I think the real question here is: Why does anyone give a crap?! In fact, if there is a “side” to choose, I’m with Curry. Let me explain.
So you make a encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Very hippie, very peace and love, very cool…and also very dumb if you can honestly tell me that you never thought this would happen. Of course this is going to happen! This isn’t the first time, this won’t be the last time, and in fact, its probably happening right now. People are going to want to get themselves in the world-renowned Wikipedia, what a shocker, and if they are already in it, people will want to get a bigger piece of the pie. I thought this was known, I thought this was assumed, but for some reason, someone busted Curry editing the Podcast article a few times and now people are whining and making lame titled blog posts about it.
Isn’t the great Wikipedia able to handle this? What do you do if someone changes the Chicago Cubs page to read nothing but: “The Cubs suck!” (Well thats a bad example, being thats actually true and all.) ? You catch it and change it. That system goes on all the time everyday, and no one hears about it. This is no different. If the system is as great as everyone keeps telling everyone else, this should be a non-issue, a mere blip, nothing. Fix it, add Curry’s name to the list of millions of people that like themselves and go have a Coke.
So the guy tried to change a post. So what? I say good for Adam! He rolled the dice a few times and edited an article that pertained to him. If he did it and most people agreed with the changes, then they stay and until someone deletes that post and replaces with a picture of a girl with her top off get seems bigger and everything is fine. If no one likes his edits, then the big Wikipedia gods change it back and everyone goes on with our lives. Thats the way Wikipedia works: People change things, everyone discusses, actions are taken or not. You can almost here the Lion King soundtrack start to amp up…”Its the circle of life!!!” Curry rolled the dice and this time it came up craps. Oh well. Who cares. Let move on and let the Wikipedia guys worry about the kid in Tulsa that keeps editing things so that he co-stars in all of Hillary Duff’s movies.