[WikiEN-l] wikitruth.info (Slashdot story)

[Jimmy Wales]

Ben Yates wrote:
> Sure, but none of their criticisms are about the developers; they're
> all about the editors and admins.  Don't get me wrong -- I've read
> through the site, and sometimes they seem like assholes -- but I think
> that the question deserves serious thought: are attack sites like this
> just a product of the huge wikipedia userbase, or are wikipedia's
> problems severe enough that WikiTruth is an understandable response? 

I think we should approach all criticisms with an active mind and judge
the criticism on its own merits.  What I have managed to see of
WikiTruth (it seems to be down a lot) suggests strongly to me that it is
a joke or prank by some banned wikipedia users rather than a serious
attempt at criticism.

Was me stepping into the Brian Peppers thing and saying that, yes, we
will follow deletion policy and not have out-of-policy multiple votes
wrong?  Opinions may differ and we can and should and *have* had long
discussions about it.  Was it wrong for Sam Korn to act boldly to remove
the Lolicon image?  Opinions again may differ and we can and should and
*have* had long discussions about it.

But it is pretty difficult to sustain the argument that our normal
process of give-and-take and editorial judgment is censorship.  Does
Wikipedia delete things?  Absolutely we do, and with good reason.

Notice that WikiTruth is reprinting an attack article written about my
little girl, and then ask yourself if this is good faith criticism or
trollng.

--Jimbo