On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:40:53 +1000, Steve Bennett wrote:
- Wales' role in the genesis of Wikipedia is much more significant
than Sanger's. "Co-founder" is giving too much credit. The guy that has the idea, the inspiration and the drive to make it happen deserves more credit than the guy who implements it. "Employee" is probably giving too little.
It was my understanding that Ben Kovitz first expressed the idea of starting a wiki-based encyclopedia, in a conversation with Sanger at a Mexican restaurant right after the Purist Turn of the Millennium. Sanger then took the idea and ran with it, announcing first a "Nupedia wiki" and then Wikipedia on mailing lists. Wales' role was as Sanger's employer who paid for the whole thing, but the ideas seemed to come from elsewhere.