On 8/2/06, Steve Bennett stevagewp@gmail.com wrote:
On 8/2/06, Anthony wikilegal@inbox.org wrote:
Anyway, I'm kind of surprised he didn't mention something to Wikimedia warning it before broadcasting that segment.
Don't forget the prevailing attitude is "Wikimedia is a website where random people write random things" - there is no understanding of a Wikipedia community, much less a Wikimedia that oversees things.
Actually I'd say that is more the reality, and the common misunderstanding is that all of Wikipedia is a work of a small organized group (like say a traditional newspaper). Thus you get headlines that Wikipedia is confused about Ken Lay's death, as though the differing accounts are being written by the same person.
It would be like expecting someone to warn a noticeboard before telling your friends to stick notices all over it.
No, I think this is a little different. In journalism there is a well recognized principle that when you write a story about someone you should contact them to hear their viewpoint. This is why you often see a line in stories about "[whoever] could not be reached for comment". Now Colbert isn't a journalist, certainly not a traditional one as his show is basically a farce, but I would hope he knows who Jimmy Wales is and would be intelligent enough to contact him or someone else at Wikimedia before doing a segment on it.
Anthony