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_ News Worth Discussing _ Interview: Wikipedia's founder on Wikia Green - SmartPlanet.com
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SmartPlanet.com, UK -2 minutes ago
Wikipedia's founder has launched a community for all things green. Like Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales' new Wikia Green can be edited by anyone, but it's built to ...[/size][/font]
http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=T&ct=us/0-0&fd=R&url=http://www.smartplanet.com/news/tech/10001651/interview-wikipedia-s-founder-on-wikia-green.htm&cid=0&ei=UEfGSMXnHILM8ATZnIDcDA&usg=AFQjCNHwcMrfYFt3t-88tMkvCjvUh01KiA
Posted by: thekohser
There's some classic stuff from Jimbo in this one, folks.
Wales: One of the funny things about Wikipedia is I have no idea what the traffic is. We don't even track those kinds of numbers... This was sparked initially by a conversation with Al Gore last year just before he won the Nobel Prize. He said there should be a green wiki...We discussed it some and I decided hey, this is a good idea.
In one response Jimbo sounds ignorant (of traffic stats of the website on which he serves as a Board member), insulting of the volunteers ("we don't even track those kinds of numbers" sure might piss off a few workers who took the time to track it http://toolserver.org/~leon/stats/trafstats/trafficstats-hourly.png), and all-too-glad to name drop (Al Gore, Jimbo? Are you really playing the Al Gore card?)
Wales: Yes, I'm doing some things like that...At Wikia we're going through a process of trying to be certified as a green company...I come to this as an outsider. I'm part of that broad general public saying there's something really important and I want to learn more. It's time to wake up and do something. I'm finding it hard to get educated because the information is so disparate. I saw a need where people could come together and really clarifying and documenting all this kind of information.
Well, if Wikia can do anything, we know it's clarify information.
Wales: No, we're looking into those kinds of things.
+++ *** +++ ***
Something I found interesting about the new Green Wikia is that (for example) this page about http://green.wikia.com/wiki/How_to_reduce_your_carbon_footprint takes content ("a significant benefit for those who aren't in shape") verbatim from the site WikiHow. Now, WikiHow releases their content under a Creative Commons license that says "http://www.wikihow.com/wikiHow:Creative-Commons."
Do you think that Wikia will say that they goofed in stealing the content, or will they say that they intend for Green Wikia to be a not-for-profit arm of Wikia, Inc., or will they say that this is just "typeset recycling" (a new form of conservation)?
I'll try to http://green.wikia.com/wiki/Talk:How_to_reduce_your_carbon_footprint.
Greg
Posted by: thekohser
Hmm... Maybe nevermind. It might just be a part of Green Wikia's mission:
Posted by: thekohser
Yeah, it's rife with one http://green.wikia.com/index.php?title=Sustainable&diff=6362&oldid=5511 after http://green.wikia.com/index.php?title=Volatile_Organic_Compounds_(VOC)&diff=6363&oldid=5513 after http://green.wikia.com/wiki/Grid.
Whoops, I couldn't actually link to my edit on that last one (copyright, The Skyscraper Museum and curator Carol Willis), because before I could click "Save", I was struck with this:
Your user name or IP address has been blocked.
The block was made by JSharp. The reason given is Vandalism.
* Start of block: 02:37, 10 September 2008
* Expiry of block: 02:37, 10 March 2009
* Intended blockee: Thekohser
You can contact JSharp or another administrator to discuss the block. You cannot use the 'email this user' feature unless a valid email address is specified in your account preferences and you have not been blocked from using it.
Looks like Wikia is EXACTLY like Wikipedia. Point out too many problems with the misappropriation of other people's copyrighted labor, and that will earn you a block-a-roo.
Greg
Posted by: The Wales Hunter
As someone who disagrees with the majority of the green agenda (as do the majority of the UK population, if the comments I've heard while canvassing for elections are widespread), I'm tempted to join to ensure it remains NPOV!
Posted by: thekohser
As someone who disagrees with the majority of the green agenda (as do the majority of the UK population, if the comments I've heard while canvassing for elections are widespread), I'm tempted to join to ensure it remains NPOV!
Just make sure you swipe a lot of copyrighted material, verbatim, without attribution. That appears to be the way one "fits in" over there.
MollyH seems to be oblivious to the problem. She looks http://green.wikia.com/wiki/Image:Molly2.jpg. I wonder if Jimbo's taken a liking to her, and that's the real reason he's promoting this particular Wikia sub-site so heavily?
Greg
Posted by: The Wales Hunter
I'm amazed this hasn't happened before, given the political slant of Wikipedia (namely the slant that doesn't like the thought of individuals making money).
I'd suggest the liberal-leanings and green desires go hand-in-hand with abolishing copyright altogether, so the amount of infringement that seems to be going on at Green is no real surprise.
Might be worth taking a look around the rest of the Wikia Empire - I'd bet the sites nowhere near Wikipedia on the Google rankings don't bother with something as capitalistic as copyright at all!
Posted by: thekohser
I'm amazed this hasn't happened before, given the political slant of Wikipedia (namely the slant that doesn't like the thought of individuals making money).
I'd suggest the liberal-leanings and green desires go hand-in-hand with abolishing copyright altogether, so the amount of infringement that seems to be going on at Green is no real surprise.
Might be worth taking a look around the rest of the Wikia Empire - I'd bet the sites nowhere near Wikipedia on the Google rankings don't bother with something as capitalistic as copyright at all!
You'll see plenty of it, and also just some sloppy stuff.
For example, on the Finance Wikia (you'd think a bastion of conservative, copyright-loving old schoolers), you find http://finance.wikia.com/wiki/18_Million_and_Counting that is an exact copy of something published http://www.interinvest.com/english/views/essays/2008/18-million-and-counting.html, authored by Dr. Hans Black & Malcolm Thomas. The Wikia user who uploaded it (without attribution to Interinvest or Black or Thomas) goes by the name of "Interinvest". So, that could be some naive employee from Interinvest who doesn't respect their own copyright or attribution concerns, or it's just some joker who figured he'd name his account after the one site he was going to plagiarize. Seems to be http://finance.wikia.com/wiki/User:Interinvest. Seriously, why would you post an essay to Wikia without so much as one link or reference to your "home" source page? Stupid. I guess stupid people contribute to Wikia.
Finance Wikia is http://finance.wikia.com/index.php?title=Special:RecentChanges&days=90&hideminor=0, though.
A more popular and active sub-site would be something like Cyber Nations, which I would venture a guess is 99% comprised of unique and original content. But http://cybernations.wikia.com/wiki/Spork_Cult, I don't think I would ever want to meet in person the loonies who are vomiting up this kind of information.
So, in sum after my assessments over the months of Wikia, you have three types of wikias:
1. Popular, fancruft sites that are huge, edited often, and 99% original content.
2. Much less popular, serious topic sites that are about 40%-80% culled from Wikipedia, with the remainder split between original content and copyright violations from proprietary sources.
3. Micro-small sites that never garnered more than a handful of editors and maybe 3 dozen articles.
Wikia is such an utter mess, if you actually take the 20 minutes or so to explore its far reaches.
Posted by: thekohser
Something hilarious just popped into my e-mail inbox:
There has been an edit to a page you are watching on Green Wiki.
See http://green.wikia.com/wiki/User_talk:Thekohser for the current
version.
This is a new page.
The summary of the edit is: "Banned User"
Please visit and edit often...
Green Wiki
Ooh, and the gal who banned me is Angie Shelton, http://green.wikia.com/wiki/Image:Shelton_headshot.jpg.
These ladies must know I'm so hot and magnetic, they have to ban me from Green Wikia, just to keep global warming at bay!
Posted by: Milton Roe
MollyH seems to be oblivious to the problem. She looks http://green.wikia.com/wiki/Image:Molly2.jpg. I wonder if Jimbo's taken a liking to her, and that's the real reason he's promoting this particular Wikia sub-site so heavily?
Greg
Could be she's working directly under him.
Posted by: Jon Awbrey
Yeah right, next thing you know they'll be trying to tell us Sarah Palin in an enviral-mentalist.
You are getting sleepy … very very sleepy …
Jon 
Posted by: the fieryangel
Yeah right, next thing you know they'll be trying to tell us Sarah Palin in an enviral-mentalist.
You are getting sleepy … very very sleepy …
Jon
Smile, folks! http://valleywag.com/5047719/jimmy-waless-green-site-littered-with-lies
<Hi Owen!>
Posted by: thekohser
Oh, goodness gracious. I've started another thread that's going to get Wikipedia Review more visitors. Poetlister and Guy and Yehudi are going to be so disappointed with my hucksterism.
Posted by: the fieryangel
Oh, goodness gracious. I've started another thread that's going to get Wikipedia Review more visitors. Poetlister and Guy and Yehudi are going to be so disappointed with my hucksterism.
No wonder Jimbo banned you on his "GreenWiki"...You are longer invited to the "Emerald City", Greg.
I guess that you're just not a friend of Dorothy's, Greg...
Posted by: Jon Awbrey
Oh, goodness gracious. I've started another thread that's going to get Wikipedia Review more visitors. Poetlister and Guy and Yehudi are going to be so disappointed with my hucksterism.
No wonder Jimbo banned you on his "GreenWiki" … You are longer invited to the "Emerald City", Greg.
I guess that you're just not a friend of Dorothy's, Greg …
Hey, knock it off, some of my best friends are Munchkins:
-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Boq - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Edvard_Munchkin
Jon
Posted by: thekohser
It looks like the rats are http://green.wikia.com/index.php?title=Agenda_21&diff=6650&oldid=5493, now that the copyright-holding cats have been notified.
The Skyscraper Museum didn't sound pleased that significant parts of their http://www.skyscraper.org/EXHIBITIONS/GREEN_TOWERS/GTGlossary_A.htm have been lifted into Wikia without any attribution whatsoever.
So far, though, no apology to me, and no warning to those Users who were responsible for the illicit appropriation.
Greg
Posted by: the fieryangel
It looks like the rats are http://green.wikia.com/index.php?title=Agenda_21&diff=6650&oldid=5493, now that the copyright-holding cats have been notified.
The Skyscraper Museum didn't sound pleased that significant parts of their http://www.skyscraper.org/EXHIBITIONS/GREEN_TOWERS/GTGlossary_A.htm have been lifted into Wikia without any attribution whatsoever.
So far, though, no apology to me, and no warning to those Users who were responsible for the illicit appropriation.
Greg
I liked the bit about wondering if pond scum was green too on Valley Wag....
Posted by: thekohser
Looks like User:Multimoog was probably on the receiving end of a "personal note" from Jimbo or maybe Angela, asking if he might "please help clean up" some of the copyrighted content on Green Wikia.
He's gotten through his A-B-C's, and even the D-E-F's, http://green.wikia.com/index.php?title=Special:Contributions&offset=20081001000000&limit=500&showall=0&contribs=user&target=Multimoog&year=2008&month=9 at this time.
It's odd. I guess if an outsider calls attention to copyright problems, that's a threat to the cult. But if an insider quietly shuffles along and sweeps away content, that's tolerable. Notice how nobody's halting him -- I mean, I thought page blankings in the Wiki(a)World are considered acts of vandalism?! I know I would have been banned if I tried to do that!
They're pitiful.
Looks like they have another, Wikipedia Review-like problem, too -- http://green.wikia.com/index.php?title=Talk:Green_jobs&oldid=6784.
Posted by: thekohser
Clearly, Jimbo's press tour for Green Wikia is bringing a http://green.wikia.com/wiki/Image:MookaBoutiquePortrait.jpg of attention back to his site.
Free enterprise, at its best!