[WikiEN-l] Just what *is* Jimbo's role anyway? - personality cult

Seth Finkelstein sethf at sethf.com
Sun Mar 25 16:11:35 UTC 2007


> Jimmy Wales
> Oh, he is talking about how I manipulate and control people in the cult 
> through an environment of... well, it isn't intimidation and fear I 
> think we all agree... it's manipulation and control through... uh... 
> being mostly friendly and trying to see the best in everyone, ...

"It's called a confidence game. Why? Because you give me your
confidence? No. Because I give you mine." -- _House Of Cards_

[This quote is meant to illustrate manipulation via positive versus
negative emotion, not to say Wikipedia is _per se_ a confidence game.]
[This is why this discussion can be overly tedious, every major point
has to be carefully protected against tendentious reading]

Strawman #1 in this discussion, repeated several times now:

1) Assume all cults work only by hate and fear
2) Assume Wikipedia is filled only with love and happiness
[Bang! Pow! Down goes the strawman!]
3) How silly it is for anyone to speak of the good Wikipedia like the bad cults

-- 
Seth Finkelstein  Consulting Programmer  http://sethf.com/
Infothought blog - http://sethf.com/infothought/blog/
Interview: http://sethf.com/essays/major/greplaw-interview.php



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