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Wikia : Picks up where Wikipedia left off

January 7th, 2008 by The Review

Jimbo Wales, the God-King, Sole-flounder, or Spiritual leader of Wikipedia (depending on your gullibility) launched his latest scheme, Wikia Search, today.

But his renewed efforts to make big-bucks off the back of unpaid volunteers like you fell on stony ground with a cynical media. This was no doubt due to the sharp realization that his previous venture was teetering out of control at Wales’s own hands. A string of scandals have undermined what faith people had left in the “encyclopedia”, and with questions still unanswered about the relationship between the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation and the for-profit Wikia, the knives are surely out.

According to a critical Salon Magazine:

TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington called it “one of the biggest disappointments I’ve had the displeasure of reviewing.” And at Search Engine Land, Chris Sherman labels Search Wikia “essentially useless as a search engine,” and he wonders if the project can ever succeed, and, indeed, if it’s even necessary.

Our own resident polymath, Jonny Cache, was the first Reviewer to test Wales’s “revolutionary tool”*. Inevitably, Wikia exhibited the same level of competence and responsibility as its spiritual brother:

That’s right. The first entry for George W. Bush was a guide to the site “George Bush is A Crackwhore“.

Back at Wikipedia, it was business as usual. Bush was “President of the United States and a cage dancer by night”, whose “Vice President was Osama Bin Laden“. Oh and he’s “a dickhead and a crook” as well, if you didn’t know already.

(* See comment 2)

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Posted at 11:54 pm, January 7th, 2008 by The Review in Wikimedia Foundation, Wikia | 4 Comments »

Carolyn Doran : Timeline of events

December 20th, 2007 by The Review

The Review presents a timeline of events relating to Carolyn Doran, former Chief of Operations at the Wikimedia Foundation, who was found to have been a convicted felon. Below research compiled by The Review’s resident culture vulture, the fiery angel:

20 Feb 1990 ¤ The Washington Post reports on Carolyn Bothwell (Doran)’s “unlawful shooting incident” with her boyfriend, to which she pleaded guilty

A Herndon woman pleaded guilty yesterday in Fairfax Circuit Court to unlawful wounding of her boyfriend, who was shot once in the chest Aug. 25.

Carolyn Bothwell, 27, of the 1100 block of Player Way, said she entered the plea after the prosecution offered to recommend probation. She said she did not want to risk losing custody of her 3-year-old son.

Bothwell’s attorney, Gerald Bruce Lee, said in court that if the case had gone to trial, the defense had planned to … Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted at 12:07 pm, December 20th, 2007 by The Review in Wikimedia Foundation, Board of Trustees | 7 Comments »

WP:Give US Money and we’ll give you FREE Culture. Another fund-raising ploy…

December 12th, 2007 by The Review

As a new feature of Opinions and Editorials, some of the best postings to The Review forum will be showcased here. This post was submitted to The Wikipedia Review on December 12th, 2007 by our own resident culture vulture, The Fieryangel. The original post can found here.

______________________________

This is one of the things that really gets my goat. As somebody who studies music professionally, I know a lot about the creative process. While the public has this idea that composers and other creators basically live in some sort of world where there are no such things as bills to pay, food to buy, clothes to wash and other such mundane things that make up ordinary existence, these things are often important parts of why certain choices are made in a professional life and why some people either succeed or fail. “Information just wants to be free” should never be understood as “free as in beer”, since composers, writers, artists and others have to make their lives.

Happily for people living today, other creators in the past have fought to create some sort of payment for use of intellectual property to those who create. Beaumarchais was the first important figure in this process, insisting on a percentage of the book at performances of his plays. Beethoven created a new statute for composers by refusing to submit to the old system of royal patronage. Finally, in 1847, the composer Ernest Bourget sued the CafĂ©-Concert (think “cabaret”) the Ambassadeurs in Paris for payment for use of his songs and won his court case. This lead to the create of unions of composers such as the SACEM, ASCAP, PRS and others which allowed for payment for use of music. Although there are excesses, I can personally point to situations in which this money becomes the difference between living comfortably (but not lavishly) and being in a poorhouse…

Information just wants to be free, but creators need to be paid. It’s a right to be paid for your work. Why should creators be any different?

Unfortunately, Wikipedia is taking this even further in their latest fund-raising ploy : Give us money and we’ll give you “free” information.

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