Wikipedia co-founder slams the ‘appalling’ internet

#1

Post by L_226 » Fri, Jul 05, 2019, 1:17 PM UTC

Wikipedia co-founder slams the ‘appalling’ internet
cnbc.com

Re: Wikipedia co-founder slams the ‘appalling’ internet

#2

Post by GershwinA » Fri, Jul 05, 2019, 1:50 PM UTC

Thanks for sharing, nothing groundbreaking, but the general principle is there. Modern internet is all about freedom, and sharing, access to info and so own, Wikipedia is a great example of how progressive internet could be. Then there's Facebook that will go miles to access users data, and Trump is tweeting nonsense. I get why people are angry with the state of internet atm.

Re: Wikipedia co-founder slams the ‘appalling’ internet

#3

Post by stunt » Fri, Jul 05, 2019, 1:54 PM UTC

> “A decentralized internet, a freer internet, that’s what led to the internet being created in the place,”

What Facebook did to MySpace, may happen to Facebook soon when a good decentralized social network pops up.

Re: Wikipedia co-founder slams the ‘appalling’ internet

#4

Post by iamsb » Fri, Jul 05, 2019, 1:57 PM UTC

I agree with Larry about abuse by Facebook and Twitter.

I also strongly encourage him to look at state of wikipedia moderations. Specially in a country like India. Lot of pages related to political content is moderated by people who are deeply partisan and have no respect for facts.

Re: Wikipedia co-founder slams the ‘appalling’ internet

#5

Post by pixl97 » Fri, Jul 05, 2019, 1:59 PM UTC

GershwinA wrote: post #2

Thanks for sharing, nothing groundbreaking, but the general principle is there. Modern internet is all about freedom, and sharing, access to info and so own, Wikipedia is a great example of how progressive internet could be. Then there's Facebook that will go miles to access users data, and Trump is tweeting nonsense. I get why people are angry with the state of internet atm.

You mean the wikipedia where a few super users dominate the discussion and delete the rest?

Re: Wikipedia co-founder slams the ‘appalling’ internet

#6

Post by jessriedel » Fri, Jul 05, 2019, 2:02 PM UTC

iamsb wrote: post #4

I agree with Larry about abuse by Facebook and Twitter. I also strongly encourage him to look at state of wikipedia moderations. Specially in a country like India. Lot of pages related to political content is moderated by people who are deeply partisan and have no respect for facts.

Do you think he would disagree with you about the problems with Wikipedia moderation? It's not under his control, and it shouldn't be.

Re: Wikipedia co-founder slams the ‘appalling’ internet

#7

Post by throwaway8879 » Fri, Jul 05, 2019, 2:02 PM UTC

I'm going to take a cynical stand and claim that the internet as the greybeards envisioned decades ago is just not going to happen. Or perhaps happened for a short window in the early 2000s. I don't see how we can just turn things around.

Something new will pop up in a few years, limited within hacker circles, perhaps in a medium beyond computers/phones. It'll have all the nice qualities that we seek such as privacy, encryption, anonymity, pro-free-speech etc, except that none of those things will last for very long. It too will have it's own eternal September, followed up ad-tech/media/government screwing things up. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Any new kind of "internet" that depends on traditional infrastructure that is under the control of states/corporations will end up being exactly like the one we have now.

Re: Wikipedia co-founder slams the ‘appalling’ internet

#8

Post by DyslexicAtheist » Fri, Jul 05, 2019, 2:03 PM UTC

iamsb wrote: post #4

I agree with Larry about abuse by Facebook and Twitter. I also strongly encourage him to look at state of wikipedia moderations. Specially in a country like India. Lot of pages related to political content is moderated by people who are deeply partisan and have no respect for facts.

India seems to have a huge problem with propaganda being spread on WhatsApp such as fake videos that mobilize mobs prior election campaigns etc:

"India: Fake News and Agitprop": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0LgwL6rMPk

Re: Wikipedia co-founder slams the ‘appalling’ internet

#9

Post by tenpies » Fri, Jul 05, 2019, 2:03 PM UTC

iamsb wrote: post #4

I agree with Larry about abuse by Facebook and Twitter. I also strongly encourage him to look at state of wikipedia moderations. Specially in a country like India. Lot of pages related to political content is moderated by people who are deeply partisan and have no respect for facts.

> state of wikipedia moderations

I'm glad others are keeping an eye on this issue. It is incredibly ironic to me that anyone in a leadership role at Wikipedia would criticize Zuckerberg or Dorsey. It's not even just political content, it's getting to the point where history is being actively re-written and re-interpreted to match a radical narrative.

In some sort of temporal example of humour, I've gone back to recommending people use Britannica as a starting point and for surface level reading.

Re: Wikipedia co-founder slams the ‘appalling’ internet

#10

Post by iamsb » Fri, Jul 05, 2019, 2:08 PM UTC

jessriedel wrote: post #6

iamsb wrote: post #4

I agree with Larry about abuse by Facebook and Twitter. I also strongly encourage him to look at state of wikipedia moderations. Specially in a country like India. Lot of pages related to political content is moderated by people who are deeply partisan and have no respect for facts.

Do you think he would disagree with you about the problems with Wikipedia moderation? It's not under his control, and it shouldn't be.

yes but he can create better systems where moderation is not controlled by groups of higher privilege. Essentially, from my limited understanding, it is not possible to take away moderation privileges from individuals. Please feel free to correct me on this.