2008/5/15 Mark Nilrad marknilrad@yahoo.com:
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)
etc.
Actually I run a small rss news aggregator that focuses on news about Wikipedia. In my experience our press is overwhelmingly positive. Even the gossipier stuff seems to make a much bigger splash within the community and on its peripheries than it does outside--exactly the reverse of my expectations.
Most of the debate outside Wikipedia circles, in the mainstream press, focuses on the reliability of Wikipedia and its appropriateness for various uses. Those are very appropriate topics for debate and we should take it as a huge compliment that a project built completely by untrained volunteers is regarded as comparable in any way to the works of highly educated specialists. We shouldn't lose sight of that utterly remarkable and unexpected achievement.
The fact that we're criticised (and often rightly so) isn't surprising. The fact that we receive so little criticism and have had so few problems, given the open parameters and huge scope of the project, is one of the most amazing facts of Wikipedia's existence. Wikipedia doesn't have any significant PR problems at present.