Tag archive: Jimmy Wales

We’ve all undoubtedly suffered a bit due to the Wikipedia blackout today. The site has censored itself to give the Internet a test of what the consequences of SOPA/PIPA regulations could look like. And while it’s inarguably effective and has created something of a rally cry among devoted Web users, some take issue with the tactic—specifically, Wikipedia editors. “I think the Wikipedia blackout protest was a really bad idea,” editor Charles… Read More

Wikipedia is going black on Wednesday, January 18, to help fight the contentious Protect IP Act (PIPA), which is set to go for a vote before the Senate on January 24. The move, first reported by Neal Mann, digital news editor at Sky News, was announced by Jimmy Wales, co-founder of the far-reaching online encyclopedia, on Twitter. Wales says the blackout was a “community decision.” The blackout will only apply to English-language… Read More

The climax is building as the January 24 senate debate for SOPA nears. The reddit community earlier this week organized a protest blackout happening next Wednesday, and now more websites are jumping on the Anti-SOPA blackout bandwagon. So far, the wagon has picked up Mojang, as well as Destructoid, Anonymous the Cheezburger Network and a couple others, with Wikipedia still debating whether to join. Minecraft creator @notch confirmed in a tweet… Read More

Wikipedia, the popular online encyclopedia that seems to turn up on the first page of every Google search anyone ever does, is losing contributors. Founder Jimmy Wales told the Associated Press on Thursday that some volunteers who provide content for the site have grown tired of the laborious editing procedures. Wales, who is attending the website’s seventh annual get-together in Haifa, Israel, called the methods used to contribute and edit… Read More

While speaking at an event in Bristol, England celebrating Wikipedia's 10th anniversary, founder Jimmy Wales decided to speak out against the concept of app stores on computers and cell phones, reports Tech.Blorge. Wales claimed that stores like the iTunes App Store can become a “choke point that is very dangerous” and that the app store model may be ” a threat to a diverse and open ecosystem,” adding that “we… Read More

Who's in charge of Wikipedia these days? According to a Fox News source, “No one. It’s chaos. If their recent report is to believed, Wikimedia Foundation President and Wikipedia co-founderJimmy Wales has seen his control of the site dramatically slashed and his rights reduced to the “same capabilities of a low-level administrator. That shocking claim comes in the wake of a pornography purge that began last week on Wikipedia.… Read More

Jimmy Wales is best known for his role in founding Wikipedia—and for bringing some controversy to the foundation for personal expenses and alleged payment-for-edit actions. However, Wales has also been involved in the startup Wikia, which has been operating since 2006. The idea behind Wikia is to apply community-driven services and so-called crowdsourcing to everyday Internet tasks, following the principle that the “wisdom of… Read More

For all its faults, Wikipedia has become the online encyclopedia of choice for most people. Now its older, venerable colleague, the Encyclopedia Britannica, is borrowing one of Wikipedia’s ideas – after a fashion – by letting selected readers and experts maintain and update entries in its online version. Also, some experts will be given “rewards” and helped to promote their knowledge, the BBC reports. But… Read More

The BBC has reported that Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has been accused by Jeffrey Merkey, the former chief scientist at Novell, of agreeing to editMerkey’s Wikipedia page in exchange for a $5,000 donation to the Wikimedia Foundation. On a mailing list, Merkey published as statement he’dreleased to AP. "Wales agreed that in exchange for a substantial donation and other financial support of the Wikimedia Foundation projects,… Read More

The man who tore down the ivory towers of academia with an encyclopedia that could be edited by anyone plans to take a similar approach to searches with a new open-source search tool that he hopes will directly challenge Google. Jimmy Wales announced on Friday that his company Wikia is working on an open source search client that uses individual computers to index the Internet. The new search project is based on Grub, an existing platform… Read More