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Wikipedia says traffic is falling due to AI search summaries and social video

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Re: Wikipedia says traffic is falling due to AI search summaries and social video

#161

Post by vovavili »

redwall_hp wrote: post #66
al_borland wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.” I recently visited Scotland and on a visit to a distillery they mentioned they bought land in the US to grow trees that will make their barrels one day. The trees take over 100 years to grow (if I remember correctly). How is it we can invest ~200 years into a glass of scotch, yet we aren’t willing to take the same care and…

Craftsmen care about what they make, pursuing excellence even if it may take generations. Businessmen care about robbing you now in the most efficient way.

That's a bold and daring thing to say on a startup accelerator and venture capital forum, must I say.

Re: Wikipedia says traffic is falling due to AI search summaries and social video

#162

Post by TylerE »

FranzFerdiNaN wrote: post #73
aeternum wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think we need Wikipedia competitors. Wikipedia is a victim of it's own success, it was excellent at avoiding bias for quite awhile and the vast majority of articles are extremely well written. However it's massive popularity and dominance have also led to, well this guy put it best: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dalberg-Acton,_1st_Baron_...

Wikipedia is fine. Bias cant be avoided, only made explicit, and the fact that you think it can means you should probably move to Conservapedia or whatever slop Musk will release.

> Conservapedia

If you want a site that tells you that Jews launched a genocide of Nazis.

Conservapedia is intellectual cancer.

Re: Wikipedia says traffic is falling due to AI search summaries and social video

#164

Post by arbol »

crazygringo wrote: post #78
AstroBen wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their traffic is potential donations Something tells me a person is way less likely to donate if they're consuming the content through an LLM middleman

I don't know -- as I said in another comment, my Wikipedia usage has gone down 90% thanks to LLMs. But that means I'm still using it. Especially for more reference stuff like lists of episodes, filmographies, etc. As well as equations, math techniques, etc. If you're the kind of person who donates to Wikipedia, you're probably still using it some even if less, and continue to recognize its importance. Possibly even m…

But were you originally convinced to donate by one of those giant Jimmy Wales banners that come up once a year? People won't see them anymore if they're using AI summaries.

Re: Wikipedia says traffic is falling due to AI search summaries and social video

#165

Post by consumer451 »

at-fates-hands wrote: post #124
consumer451 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The inevitable AI investment bubble popping is going to be a big deal, but I believe that the larger bubble of political lies popping is much more interesting to think about. What is that going to look like? How does one hedge against that eventuality?

>> I believe that the larger bubble of political lies popping is much more interesting to think about. Does this mean that politics will finally get out of everything and give me back my sports that will be free of the constant political pandering?

When functional, politics should be boring af, and happen in the background, so yes.

Re: Wikipedia says traffic is falling due to AI search summaries and social video

#166

Post by Terr_ »

al_borland wrote: post #48
irjustin wrote: post #3

I'll go out on a limb and say we _need_ Wikipedia and it's okay that traffic falls. Physical print encyclopedias got replaced by Wikipedia, but AI isn't a replacement (can't ever see how either). While AI is a method of easier access for the end user, the purpose of Wikipedia stands on its own. I've always scoffed at the Wikimedia Foundation's warchest and continuously increasing annual spending. I say now is the tim…

> Become self sustaining through investments so it can live for 1000 years. I always wondered why more companies or organizations didn’t do this. Pile up money during the good years to allow themselves to not need continued outside income to keep going, so they can do what is right instead of compromising their vision for the sake of hitting quarterly earnings. That isn’t to say they can’t keep making money, but do i…

> Pile up money during the good years to allow themselves to not need continued outside income to keep going, so they can do what is right instead of compromising their vision for the sake of hitting quarterly earnings.

Typically, individuals want to pile up money so that they don't need outside income to keep going, and the shareholders of a "quarterly earnings" company will squeeze the entity to get it for themselves in the form of dividends or higher share-price.

Re: Wikipedia says traffic is falling due to AI search summaries and social video

#167

Post by fruitworks »

pastage wrote: post #116
Okx wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately, Wikipedia doesn't seem interested in this. Their revenue is more than enough be able to invest and sustain the site forever, but they just increase expenses on non-core outgoings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:CANCER

You pay for Wikipedia because you want it to prosper. The political part of Wikipedia is vital to make it succeed. Even though everyone uses Wikipedia not everyone knows why it succeeded and why it is important. The fluff is important to have a engaged super users. It is also important to get acceptance in certain circles.

what circles? I would like to have greater transparency into what this cabal of superusers doing, how are they recieving the cash flows, etc.

It just seems like every wiki results in defensive mod cabals

Re: Wikipedia says traffic is falling due to AI search summaries and social video

#168

Post by codethief »

So far the story with Wikipedia has always been that the number of contributors is declining, and I believe this will only get worse when fewer people read it (directly from the source). As much as I hate the idea, are people (in particular, Wikimedia) experimenting yet with using LLMs to contribute to/improve/check Wikipedia? Will page discussions and edit wars in the future get replaced with an arena of partially collaborating, partially competing LLM agents?

Re: Wikipedia says traffic is falling due to AI search summaries and social video

#170

Post by epx »

supportengineer wrote: post #140
epolanski wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wikipedia is the best thing ever. Anyone in the world can write anything they want about any subject, so you know you are getting the best possible information.

Well, any writes are reverted within seconds by the gatekeepers, but sure, ok.

I have donated to them in the last two decades, and stopped because of this. Won't feed those beasts
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