On 15/05/2008, Mark Nilrad
<marknilrad(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
If someone uninvolved with Wikipedia was
following the news on Wikipedia,
what kind of headlines on the news articles about Wikipedia would he see?
More or less, he would see: "Jimbo Wales Financial Troubles/Philandering"
(and...sexual exploits, and some troubling issues with his ex's article),
"Village in Englad falls to Vandalism (about vandalism, which was immediately
reverted after the story came out, to a page, which is now significantly
improved, about an English village) "Parents of High Schoolers Criticize
Wikipedia" (relative to the threats posted to the HS in California's page),
"How Wikipedia Can Rip You Off" (based on a completely uninformed blog post,
but it was on the front page of Yahoo), "Pro-Israel group slanting
Wikipedia"...on and on the list goes. It's amazing how much bad news get
around about Wikipedia.
We have a lot of bad PR, certainly, but do with have PR problems?
Not if you don't have a conscience.
Despite all the scandals in the press, Wikipedia holds
a unique place
in the public psyche as *the* place to go for pretty much anything you
want to know,
Except how to treat people well.
and that shows no signs of changing.
Pity.
Everyone may hate
Wikipedia, but they still use it, and that's what matters.
Once again, the product is more important than the people.
Marc Riddell