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_ Wikipedia in Blogland _ James Altucher runs into a Jimbo Wall

Posted by: cookiehead

Altucher appears on television frequently. Usually to mention that Apple Corporation is going to $1000 a share. He has a point.

He also edits his own BLP on WP. Can you blame him. Although he's terrible at it. Even after resorting to doing so under his home IP address after getting nowhere using his real name.

But this piece of Wikifrustatration is pretty funny...

http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2012/01/8-things-i-learned-from-my-failure-to-make-an-appeal-for-wikipedia/

8 Things I Learned from My Failure to Make an Appeal for Wikipedia-- Posted by James Altucher--on January 8th, 2012



Posted by: thekohser

QUOTE
What was this civilization like at it’s peak?


QUOTE
...description of who I was - its not important to include here...


Answer: At its peak, bloggers were able to tell the difference between it's and its. After that peak, not so much.

Posted by: EricBarbour

Blech. Altucher is just another one of those massively-egotistical "digerati" types who go around
the web, looking for self-aggrandizement. Yes, he http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Jamesaltucher edit his own BLP.

Posted by: cookiehead

QUOTE(EricBarbour @ Sun 29th January 2012, 2:33am) *

Blech. Altucher is just another one of those massively-egotistical "digerati" types who go around
the web, looking for self-aggrandizement. Yes, he http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Jamesaltucher edit his own BLP.


This is also Altucher (he admitted it in edit comments):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/67.84.163.153

Very interesting confessional blogger. He's a bit more interesting than digerati as in real life he made and lost a fortune, then came back a little, as a hedge fund manager and a dot-com company player. He also gets teased about his hair on television, and doesn't quite get the concept that Wikipedians don't like it when you keep on plugging your own blog so directly in your own BLP. Perhaps he can get Gary Weiss to edit his BLP for him, although they have similar connections, they're about 180 degrees apart as human beings though.

Posted by: Abd

QUOTE(cookiehead @ Sun 29th January 2012, 11:23am) *
QUOTE(EricBarbour @ Sun 29th January 2012, 2:33am) *
Blech. Altucher is just another one of those massively-egotistical "digerati" types who go around
the web, looking for self-aggrandizement. Yes, he http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Jamesaltucher edit his own BLP.
This is also Altucher (he admitted it in edit comments):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/67.84.163.153
He got some (proper) help from Moonriddengirl. Glad to see an administrator doing that. Of course, it wouldn't look good if Altucher were blocked.

Cookiehead also suggested directly to Jamesaltucher that he make suggestions on Talk instead of directly editing the article. That doesn't always work, but whenever there is a reasonable possibility of dispute, it should be done first. And then actual editing, by a COI editor, should be done gingerly. Probably better to solicit help if suggestions are ignored. I.e., get advice. Perhaps from Moonriddengirl....

What I see here is common: a lack of follow-up. When Altucher started editing as IP, he should have been dinged. Gently, but firmly. By someone who had established helpfulness, like MRG, I'd presume.

Instead, Altucher revert-warred as the IP. Naughty, naughty. If I tried that trick on an article of interest to me, my IP would be almost certainly be promptly blocked, I'm sure, even if I weren't identified as Abd. The primary reason there wasn't more fuss about Altucher is a lack of interest in the article, not so many watching, as would be the case with articles interesting to me.

Posted by: Abd

and now I notice the latest changes to James Altucher.

QUOTE
He blogged that "The Holocaust probably did happen, but was it really that bad?"

He has said that he has really sharp teeth and uses them to open tuna cans.
These unsourced changes courtesy of Jwilson8878 (T-C-L-K-R-D) , January 23, 2012. Still standing, after almost a week, with no apparent notice. In an article that should theoretically have some editors watching.

Jwilson8878 was warned by Cluebot in September for http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James_Altucher&diff=452959472&oldid=443017248, automatically reverted. Jwilson = Bad News. I'd want to check further, but this looks like a purely disruptive account. I'd block first and ask more questions later, i.e., I'd leave talk page access open so the fellow could get a second opinion. I wouldn't do that for an account with contributions that suggest good-faith efforts to improve the project, even if clueless or contrary to guidelines. That's where multiple warnings, framed, at least initially, as offers to help, would be important.

Did Altucher say those things? I don't care. Not sourced, they don't belong in a BLP. Even sourced, they could be iffy, if notability isn't shown.

I'd fix the article, but experience demonstrated to me that no good deed goes unpunished. That's part of what I was demonstrating, in the brief period last year, when I edited IP and then with one sock, to discover and demonstrate how the system works. So someone else can fix it.

Posted by: Abd

Naturally, though I wrote I didn't care, I did try to find a quote from Altucher about sharp teeth and tuna cans. Failed. However, I ended up reading more of his stuff. I find him refreshing, his blog probably is popular, whether or not that can be reliably sourced. This interview with Yitz Grossman, http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/05/everyone-deserves-a-second-chance/ was striking.

Since I was searching for "teeth," I found a piece where he described a little incident with having three teeth pulled at once. He's a great story-teller.

(I recommend against having more than one pulled at once, except in an emergency. Just my own experience and a bit of theory about how the body handles trauma. There seems to be a threshold, I had one wisdom tooth pulled. Not a big deal, didn't need painkillers. Then I had two pulled, the dentist wanted to do it that way, and what did I know? Horrible. I think my body could process and put aside the pain from one tooth, not from two. Yeah, anecdotal, but the dentists have a conflict of interest. They make more money per hour -- a lot more -- from doing multiple extractions at once, since they typically charge per tooth. It's more convenient for them. I wonder if it's ever been studied, response to multiple extractions compared to single ones.... Often, nobody really knows about this stuff.)

Posted by: thekohser

QUOTE(Abd @ Sun 29th January 2012, 5:39pm) *

(I recommend against having more than one pulled at once, except in an emergency. Just my own experience and a bit of theory about how the body handles trauma. ...

When I was 16, I had four wisdom teeth and two bicuspids pulled, all in one fell swoop. Pretty agonizing for two days, but not too bad, after that.

Posted by: cookiehead

QUOTE(Abd @ Sun 29th January 2012, 5:12pm) *

and now I notice the latest changes to James Altucher.
QUOTE
He blogged that "The Holocaust probably did happen, but was it really that bad?"

He has said that he has really sharp teeth and uses them to open tuna cans.
These unsourced changes courtesy of Jwilson8878 (T-C-L-K-R-D) , January 23, 2012. Still standing, after almost a week, with no apparent notice. In an article that should theoretically have some editors watching.

Jwilson8878 was warned by Cluebot in September for http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James_Altucher&diff=452959472&oldid=443017248, automatically reverted. Jwilson = Bad News. I'd want to check further, but this looks like a purely disruptive account. I'd block first and ask more questions later, i.e., I'd leave talk page access open so the fellow could get a second opinion. I wouldn't do that for an account with contributions that suggest good-faith efforts to improve the project, even if clueless or contrary to guidelines.


Yeah, that guy has a grudge against Altucher. I forget exactly why but I cross-checked his interests and Altuchers' history. I might be confusing with another BLP, but I think the commonality was Poker. Both he and Altucher are butchering the article. I gave up on it as there is no point to making changes to an article only to see the same mistakes repeating back into it. I guess that's a microcosm for WP. If you are persistent, you can get your way, no matter how malicious, or bad at WP, you are.

Posted by: cookiehead

Yes, I remember now. Poker.

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chris_Ferguson&diff=prev&oldid=451783815

http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/12/lessons-i-learned-from-poker/


Apparently Poker is the new Pro Wrestling on WP.

Posted by: Abd

An IP reverted the outrageous changes to the Altucher article. Wikipedia Reivew does work for this kind of thing. Nice little demonstration of how Recent Changes Patrol is utterly inadequate.