On 30/12/06, thomasasta@gmx.net thomasasta@gmx.net wrote:
Anyway, then let´s concentrate on the search-l of wikia, though I think it is wrong to have the foundation not in the boat. Then the new search engine has nothing to do with wikipedia and then the media hype is not understandable. Is Jimmy then a freerider of the wikipedia lable ?
The media hype is entirely a storm in a teacup, as I understand it.
Basically, wikia had a search project, a year or two ago. It fell into disuse, but the site hung around. Then Jimmy made some passing comment about how a wiki-based search engine would be a good thing to a journalist, who rooted around and found the old project site, put two and two together, and got seventeen. And then everyone else took their stories from him, so...
Wikia discovered that there were a plethora of news stories about it suddenly appearing, and took this opportunity to kickstart the old project. Nothing new was created; it just got a lot of interest because of the media hype.
Wikimedia/Wikipedia is not involved, and has never been involved; this is just the fault of people getting confused between Wikia and Wikimedia, and certainly isn't a deliberate attempt to get leverage off the name. Journalists tend to assume that anything Jimmy does is talking about Wikipedia, hence the linkage - if Wikia had announced this themselves, they'd have been able to make it clear from the outset that it was *them* not the Foundation doing it, but sadly the stories sort of ran ahead of them.
One day, we'll be able to get all these subtle differences explained to journalists. I hope that magic day comes soon... as it is, we have a hard enough time explaining to people that the Foundation a) does things which aren't the English Wikipedia, or b) doesn't operate every wiki on the planet.