On 3/11/07, Bartning@aol.com Bartning@aol.com wrote:
There's been a lot of talk about paid editors, but what about conflicts of interest with Wikipedia when it accepts donations from corporations?
There are no conflicts--none.
It would be a HUGE leap for someone to think that a donation to a non-profit from a corporation would give them the ability to trump a encyclopedia edited by *consensus* by *volunteers* -- most of whom are anonymous.
Would an unpaid editor on the Wikipedia think "gosh, I should lie on Google's wikipedia page because they are one of dozens (hundreds? thousands?) of companies that have donated to the foundation."
Furthermore, for this theory to work it would require that the thousands of other editors think EXACTLY the same way and would not revert the biased revisions.
You're always going to have a contingent of conspiracy theorists out there who think Wikipedia (or any other organization with any level of success) is in on the take. It's the reward you get for being successful at what you do. :-)
I don't think we can't base our fund raising behavior on the conspiracy theories of a the few (and in some cases insane).
best regards,
Jason --------------------- Jason McCabe Calacanis Entrepreneur in Action, Sequoia Capital Mobile: 310-456-4900 My blog: http://www.calacanis.com AOL IM/Skype: jasoncalacanis
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