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Wikipedia co-founder slams the ‘appalling’ internet

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

#151

Post by iamsb »

gerikson wrote: post #19
tenpies wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 recom…

> It is incredibly ironic to me that anyone in a leadership role at Wikipedia would criticize Zuckerberg or Dorsey. According to (ironically) Wikipedia[1], Sanger left the project in 2006^W the early 2000s: > Frustrated by sustained content battles and feeling he had a lack of support from Wales, Sanger eventually left the project. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Sanger

Thanks. My bad.

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

#152

Post by jobigoud »

reallydude wrote: post #145
pixl97 wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean "Google can help you on a reality tunnel choose your own adventure"?

I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean, but I assume it has something to do with arguing about choosing the alternate source of fact on top of the discussion about criticism of wikipedia, which is used as a source of fact. This is not a winnable debate, but differing views exist. This is an incomplete list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wikipedia_controversie... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict-of-in…

But is it documented only because it is documentable? Other encyclopedias don't have an openly visible history of edits. Their bias isn't non existent it's just hidden.

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

#153

Post by scarejunba »

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.

Got to be honest with you, no one believes the India stuff because there's a long tradition of unsophisticated puffery from there. When you read the articles they all have that tone to them: like it's being written by the fan club.

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

#154

Post by petronio »

unreal37 wrote: post #41
everdrive wrote: post #12

The internet was much nicer before most people were using it. We usually focus on the technology problems here at HN: filter bubbles, skinner box addictive UIs and content feeds, algorithmic and centralized control. Has anyone simply wondered if the problem with the internet is fundamentally that everyone's on it? It used to be an escape from the problems of the real world. Now it's just a new way for the problems of…

An age old joke in IT is that the biggest problem we face is users. If there weren't any users, we wouldn't have any problems.

Good old PEBKAC

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

#155

Post by brighter2morrow »

mftrhu wrote: post #143
brighter2morrow wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rationalwiki for those for whom Wikipedia isn't leftwing enough.

Conservapedia is trying to be a Wikipedia alternative - an Internet encyclopedia , from a fundamentalist point of view. RationalWiki is not , and I'm not sure why you mentioned it. It's not a Wikipedia fork or alternative. It's not even trying to be one, it has completely different goals. The only thing they have in common is the fact that they are both wikis, but there's thousands of those around.

Rationalwiki defers to Wikipedia on some things but writes articles on topics when they think the Wikipedia article doesn't go far enough in a direction they would like. Most rationalwiki articles would be redundant if their goal wasn't to overwrite Wikipedia

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

#156

Post by openfuture »

polskibus wrote: post #73
decasteve wrote: post #50

Avoid the mainstream media, advertising-centric sites, social media, et al, and the Internet is mostly fine. Stick to the niche sites and services that have always been there and it’s a much more pleasant place.

Any particular niche sites that you have in mind and could recommend to others?

What are you interested in? Find a niche community around that.

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

#157

Post by not_a_cop75 »

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.

Just India you say? It seems Wikipedia has become an active source for partisanship everywhere. Even experts on a subject have problems submitting things unless they are already on the Wikipedia inside. That being said, I don't hate Wikipedia but every centralized system that exists is obviously rife with its abuses. You can go back 500 years and see the exact same problems with totally different centralized institutions.

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

#158

Post by aolfuelconspira »

krapp wrote: post #64
arvinsim wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, the cat is out of the bag now. So we will have to find ways to deal with it rather than ignore it.

Have you considered whining endlessly about Eternal September and the modern web on niche tech forums? That seems to be what the kids are into nowadays.

AOL fuel can't melt non-AOL beams.

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

#159

Post by nsajko »

reallydude wrote: post #145
pixl97 wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean "Google can help you on a reality tunnel choose your own adventure"?

I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean, but I assume it has something to do with arguing about choosing the alternate source of fact on top of the discussion about criticism of wikipedia, which is used as a source of fact. This is not a winnable debate, but differing views exist. This is an incomplete list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wikipedia_controversie... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict-of-in…

Regarding your parent comment, see [0].

All the criticism of Wikipedia that you raise is valid, but there are some things implied in your posts that are dubious:

* That there exists an encyclopedia better than Wikipedia (or some other Wikimedia project).

* That Wikipedia can just be ignored.

Considering the placement Wikipedias currently have, it is hard to imagine a better or more influential project being created, so we might as well try improving what already exists.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_tunnel

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

#160

Post by nsajko »

KKPMW wrote: post #132
nsajko wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but people wanting to "stay a safe distance away" is exactly what makes articles vulnerable. Wiki-style projects rely on many different interested parties contributing for accuracy and "neutral" point of view.

I would be quite a bit sceptical of "neutral point of view" emerging from two ideologies fighting against each other and the stronger one winning... To me it looks like the deeper problem is that there is little gain for a truly well-intentioned and impartial editor to keep editing articles for free, seeing that all around them neutrality is being suppressed for political party lines and ideologies. I agree with you…

But what alternative to Wikipedia do you propose?

Also see this comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20371610

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