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Trump DOJ Threatens Wikipedia's Nonprofit Status over Alleged 'Propaganda'

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Re: Trump DOJ Threatens Wikipedia's Nonprofit Status over Alleged 'Propaganda'

#4

Post by metalman »

There is nothing "alleged" about wikipedia's activites that have absolutely nothing to do with publishing an open source online encyclopedia, and have gone from an "inclusivity" statement into spending money on "programs" in an entirely discretionary manner that has absolutly no possible conection or meaning to an ALL inclusive publishing endevour. knowledge IS power but picking WHO gets to be empowered, and heard is called censorship and discrimination, no matter how disadvantaged and under represented those chosen are. publishing is one thing, how people are empowered by that information is another. wiki crossed the line,failed to pick a lane, and will very likely end up causing more suffering, than if they had left the pie, alone and just done there stated job, very, very, well

Re: Trump DOJ Threatens Wikipedia's Nonprofit Status over Alleged 'Propaganda'

#5

Post by smittywerben »

smittywerben wrote: post #3

I've been critical of Wikipedia for years. Can't they come up with a more coherent argument like it put paid encyclopedias out of business so the donations it gets for running ads should be taxed like a business.

Someone made Adblock rules for Wikipedia ads that I use with Ublock Origin who refuses donations. https://gist.github.com/jnss95/0fb8872fa7ce73d7795916c84eb30...

Previous discussion calling Wikipedia wasteful was not well received but I'm inclined to agree. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34106982

Can the administration be more direct about it? Like Wikipedia shouldn't be able to threaten to obstruct to take back the data then place a banner ad covering 90% of the screen that I receive 0% of just to access my own thankless contributions I'd rather just pay than be subjected to domestic ads but maybe it's leaking overseas that would be scary.

Re: Trump DOJ Threatens Wikipedia's Nonprofit Status over Alleged 'Propaganda'

#6

Post by treetalker »

metalman wrote: post #4

There is nothing "alleged" about wikipedia's activites that have absolutely nothing to do with publishing an open source online encyclopedia, and have gone from an "inclusivity" statement into spending money on "programs" in an entirely discretionary manner that has absolutly no possible conection or meaning to an ALL inclusive publishing endevour. knowledge IS power but picking WHO gets to be empowered, and heard is…

I'm intrigued by your comment and others because, if true, they would shift my fundamental understanding of Wikipedia and its use. Would you mind offering some concrete examples of what you've described?

Re: Trump DOJ Threatens Wikipedia's Nonprofit Status over Alleged 'Propaganda'

#7

Post by viraptor »

smittywerben wrote: post #3

I've been critical of Wikipedia for years. Can't they come up with a more coherent argument like it put paid encyclopedias out of business so the donations it gets for running ads should be taxed like a business.

Being competitive is not illegal and non-profits are not forbidden from creating better products. I don't understand what about that argument would be coherent.

Re: Trump DOJ Threatens Wikipedia's Nonprofit Status over Alleged 'Propaganda'

#8

Post by viraptor »

metalman wrote: post #4

There is nothing "alleged" about wikipedia's activites that have absolutely nothing to do with publishing an open source online encyclopedia, and have gone from an "inclusivity" statement into spending money on "programs" in an entirely discretionary manner that has absolutly no possible conection or meaning to an ALL inclusive publishing endevour. knowledge IS power but picking WHO gets to be empowered, and heard is…

Every single time something is published, you're picking some side. Your comment about picking sides is picking sides. You don't get to be ALL inclusive when you're publishing an encyclopaedia - even names of pages will be picking sides.

Re: Trump DOJ Threatens Wikipedia's Nonprofit Status over Alleged 'Propaganda'

#9

Post by jakeydus »

smittywerben wrote: post #3

I've been critical of Wikipedia for years. Can't they come up with a more coherent argument like it put paid encyclopedias out of business so the donations it gets for running ads should be taxed like a business.

Your problem is with nonprofits generally, not Wikipedia specifically. Nonprofit status in the United States has nothing to do with competitiveness and everything to do with an organization’s purpose and operations.
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