Jimbo rubs it in San Jose's face Options

[thekohser]

Nobody wants to live in San José, not as an inherent thing.

-- Jimmy Wales (link)

I believe there are a few Wikipedians and WMF'ers who live in San Jose. How do they feel about Jimmy jetting off to London, kissing London's ass, then insulting the 10th-largest city in the United States?

[carbuncle]

To be fair to Jimbo, which doesn't seem to be popular, I think there is a different sense of meaning when that quote is looked at in context.

[Herschelkrustofsky]

It appears that he meant it in a very similar way. The living part, that is.

[thekohser]

To be fair to Jimbo, which doesn't seem to be popular, I think there is a different sense of meaning when that quote is looked at in context.

Even in context, the Wired article notes, "Wales is currently in the process of relocating to the UK and is keen to get involved in the UK tech start-up scene." So, why does he need to bash Silicon Valley's livability in order to compliment London's cultural diversity? This is just like how he bashed St. Petersburg, Florida, when he and Sue shuttled the Foundation off to San Francisco -- to be closer to the Silicon Valley, which he now apparently calls an "echo chamber"!

Maybe I'm the only one seeing a pattern here.

[Peter Damian]

Nobody wants to live in San José, not as an inherent thing.

-- Jimmy Wales (link)

I believe there are a few Wikipedians and WMF'ers who live in San Jose. How do they feel about Jimmy jetting off to London, kissing London's ass, then insulting the 10th-largest city in the United States?

We Londoners do not like people kissing our bottoms. How Wikipedian.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wiki-analoral.png NSFW

This post has been edited by Peter Damian:

[melloden]

I don't think it really matters where you start a tech company, but rather what your idea is.

[EricBarbour]

It's easy to see why Wales wants to move to the UK:

1) Wikipedia was invented and founded by Americans. And yet, as time wears on, it become more and more European. The database bias points toward en-wiki editing by UK and Irish residents as being a major, almost dominant, force. It is my opinion that Wikipedia's obsession with Association football (soccer) and cricket is an important side-effect. Geography, railroads, military history, all point towards heavy involvement by UK editors.

As Kelly Martin and Carbuncle have pointed out, the Wikimedia Foundation is becoming increasingly anti-American in makeup. Every election for the board of directors requires candidates that speak more than one language, plus a lot of argument about Wikipedia's "American bias" (rarely spoken out loud but heavily implied). Remember, most of Wikimedia's cash donors are still Americans. This, despite the increasingly-obvious fact that most of the Wikipedias for various lesser languages are moribund or almost so. The only WP whose participation isn't trailing off is Japanese, and that might easily be a minor statistical fluke.

2) "We Londoners do not like people kissing our bottoms." Mister Wales most certainly does, however. Given that many of his favorite "Cabalniks" are in the UK, it's no wonder that he's willing to go there. Evidently his ass wasn't being kissed hard enough in San Francisco.

Ever noticed what a bunch of smug, self-obsessed twats most Web 2.0 entrepreneurs are? And the Bay Area is their Valhalla. It makes me think that Wales has been to a few cocktail parties thrown by VCs, wherein he was laughed at or snubbed by completely arrogant trolls like Jason Calacanis and Michael Arrington. In short, the "Web Celeb 25", which shows Wales as #12.

[Vigilant]

It's easy to see why Wales wants to move to the UK:

1) Wikipedia was invented and founded by Americans. And yet, as time wears on, it become more and more European. The database bias points toward en-wiki editing by UK and Irish residents as being a major, almost dominant, force. It is my opinion that Wikipedia's obsession with Association football (soccer) and cricket is an important side-effect. Geography, railroads, military history, all point towards heavy involvement by UK editors.

As Kelly Martin and Carbuncle have pointed out, the Wikimedia Foundation is becoming increasingly anti-American in makeup. Every election for the board of directors requires candidates that speak more than one language, plus a lot of argument about Wikipedia's "American bias" (rarely spoken out loud but heavily implied). Remember, most of Wikimedia's cash donors are still Americans. This, despite the increasingly-obvious fact that most of the Wikipedias for various lesser languages are moribund or almost so. The only WP whose participation isn't trailing off is Japanese, and that might easily be a minor statistical fluke.

2) "We Londoners do not like people kissing our bottoms." Mister Wales most certainly does, however. Given that many of his favorite "Cabalniks" are in the UK, it's no wonder that he's willing to go there. Evidently his ass wasn't being kissed hard enough in San Francisco.

Ever noticed what a bunch of smug, self-obsessed twats most Web 2.0 entrepreneurs are? And the Bay Area is their Valhalla. It makes me think that Wales has been to a few cocktail parties thrown by VCs, wherein he was laughed at or snubbed by completely arrogant trolls like Jason Calacanis and Michael Arrington. In short, the "Web Celeb 25", which shows Wales as #12.

I'd bet it's something a bit simpler.

Jimmy has spoken to some of these VCs and word has gotten around that he's none too bright and not really in charge anyway.

Why waste time on someone without decision making power?
Especially if he's also terribly full of himself and boring at parties...

[Alison]

Nobody wants to live in San José, not as an inherent thing.

-- Jimmy Wales (link)

I believe there are a few Wikipedians and WMF'ers who live in San Jose. How do they feel about Jimmy jetting off to London, kissing London's ass, then insulting the 10th-largest city in the United States?

Hey - I live there!! (IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/hrmph.gif)

[thekohser]

Hey - I live there!! (IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/hrmph.gif)

I've notified your mayor, your city council, the chamber of commerce, and the state university in your city. It's up to you and them to run with the anti-Wales meme now.

[Somey]

Silicon Valley (aka Santa Clara County, CA) used to be known as "The Valley of the Heart's Delight." There was a lynching that took place there, back during the Depression (the first one, not the one we might be in now, depending on who your statistician is). There's a (bad) movie about the lynching using that as the title... I guess they stopped calling it that in the 1960's, but there are still some people calling it "The Valley of the Heart's Delight" even today, though I suspect they're mostly elderly types who are members of local historical societies and what-not.

Anyway... I would be shocked to learn that Jimbo knows any programming languages, or has ever come up with a genuinely sellable product idea completely on his own, or that he could even be described as a "technologist" by a real venture capitalist. Obviously, all that could be said of most people, but ultimately I'd have to agree with Mr. Vigilant - and if anything, what he said probably doesn't go far enough.

I suspect he's underestimating the gullibility of the London-based VC community, but it looks like he has the right girlfriend now for getting invited to all the right parties. Maybe ability and talent isn't really what it takes to succeed there, if you have the right connections.

[thekohser]

...I would be shocked to learn that Jimbo knows any programming languages...

...it looks like he has the right girlfriend now for getting invited to all the right parties...

I think he does actually dabble in programming -- he said he's learning Flash with his daughter Kira, when they're not doing Club Penguin. Also, here is Jimmy scanning some QR code.

As for that new girlfriend in the UK -- she's not just any old girlfriend, is she? She's the #2 baby momma! Which, by the way, I've never seen any Wikipediot dare ask Jimbo whether it was a boy or a girl. Isn't that a common question you ask of your friend who's recently had a baby?

[Zoloft]

...I would be shocked to learn that Jimbo knows any programming languages...

...it looks like he has the right girlfriend now for getting invited to all the right parties...

I think he does actually dabble in programming -- he said he's learning Flash with his daughter Kira, when they're not doing Club Penguin. Also, here is Jimmy scanning some QR code.

As for that new girlfriend in the UK -- she's not just any old girlfriend, is she? She's the #2 baby momma! Which, by the way, I've never seen any Wikipediot dare ask Jimbo whether it was a boy or a girl. Isn't that a common question you ask of your friend who's recently had a baby?

Apparently even the notoriously nosy Brit press doesn't ask that question.

[mbz1]

...I would be shocked to learn that Jimbo knows any programming languages...

...it looks like he has the right girlfriend now for getting invited to all the right parties...

I think he does actually dabble in programming -- he said he's learning Flash with his daughter Kira, when they're not doing Club Penguin. Also, here is Jimmy scanning some QR code.

As for that new girlfriend in the UK -- she's not just any old girlfriend, is she? She's the #2 baby momma! Which, by the way, I've never seen any Wikipediot dare ask Jimbo whether it was a boy or a girl. Isn't that a common question you ask of your friend who's recently had a baby?

Even one of the latest articles does not specify the gender of the baby

Wales has a new baby with his British fiancée, Kate Garvey, Tony Blair's former diary secretary who is now a director at Freud Communications, and is settling here. The pair met in Davos, at the World Economic Forum, after they were both made "Young Global Leaders", a title that he admits, with an un-American lack of self-promotion, is "ridiculous and pompous".

Originally from Huntsville, Alabama, Wales now plans to make the UK his main home. He says he is worn out after spending the past few days frantically house hunting in central London. Every fortnight he flies to Florida to see his daughter from his second marriage and he is constantly dashing between countries to work on expanding the website. "I'm trying to cut down on my travels," he says, guiltily.

But I am more interested in another quote from the same article, in particular this one:

Next month, it will start another campaign, with a target of £18m. Some of this will be spent on attracting a new type of contributor by making the site easier to edit for the less computer-literate.

I am not sure it is worth spending donated money to make wikipedia more friendly "for the less computer-literate" users. I mean in our time, if a person is so less "computer-literate" that he has difficulties in editing wikipedia the way it is now, would this person be any good asset for the web site anyway?

This post has been edited by mbz1:

[SB_Johnny]

I am not sure it is worth spending donated money to make wikipedia more friendly "for the less computer-literate" users. I mean in our time, if a person is so less "computer-literate" that he has difficulties in editing wikipedia the way it is now, would this person be any good asset for the web site anyway?

A few years back there were some efforts to recruit retirees to write on Wikibooks as a way to pass on skills, but I don't think it ever got much attention.

The software is kind of crappy, but that's not nearly as much of a problem as the culture.

[Zoloft]

Nobody wants to live in San José, not as an inherent thing.
-- Jimmy Wales (link)

I believe there are a few Wikipedians and WMF'ers who live in San Jose. How do they feel about Jimmy jetting off to London, kissing London's ass, then insulting the 10th-largest city in the United States?

Hey - I live there!! (IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/hrmph.gif)

San José is a lovely place, and is plenty diverse if you do enough wandering around, and if you actually listen to other people.

Jimbo could have praised London as a place to connect with the world without dissing another city.

[thekohser]

Even one of the latest articles does not specify the gender of the baby

Yes, as Zoloft pointed out about 2 hours before you did!

[Michaeldsuarez]

Next month, it will start another campaign, with a target of £18m. Some of this will be spent on attracting a new type of contributor by making the site easier to edit for the less computer-literate.

I am not sure it is worth spending donated money to make wikipedia more friendly "for the less computer-literate" users. I mean in our time, if a person is so less "computer-literate" that he has difficulties in editing wikipedia the way it is now, would this person be any good asset for the web site anyway?

They're probably referring to the WYSIWYG editor that they have planned.

http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showt...967#entry285967

As I've said, a WYSIWYG editor will dumb down the Wikipedia community, since a WYSIWYG editor doesn't require any skills or knowledge to operate. Wikipedia is going to transform from a guild of (poorly-)skilled craftsmen to a factory of unskilled workers.

[Kelly Martin]

Jimmy has spoken to some of these VCs and word has gotten around that he's none too bright and not really in charge anyway.

Why waste time on someone without decision making power?
Especially if he's also terribly full of himself and boring at parties...

Exactly. And he is terribly full of himself and otherwise completely boring at parties, since he only talks to people if they're in a position to do something for him, and only to try to get them to do that something. So you'd better either be rich, or hot, or else he'll ignore you like yesterday's mackerel.

[Alison]

And he is terribly full of himself and otherwise completely boring at parties, since he only talks to people if they're in a position to do something for him, and only to try to get them to do that something. So you'd better either be rich, or hot, or else he'll ignore you like yesterday's mackerel.

I had the pleasure of meeting him in person at the old WMF offices some years back, and he completely ignored me tho' I was being introduced by Cary and Kat. Clearly I'm neither rich nor hot (IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/tongue.gif) (IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/biggrin.gif)