[WikiEN-l] Google thinks Wikipedia is a news source

[Thomas Dalton]

2009/6/8 Ray Saintonge <saintonge at telus.net>:
> Thomas Dalton wrote:
>> 2009/6/8 Joe Anderson <computerjoe at gmail.com>:
>>
>>> Could someone speak to Google?
>>>
>>> Surely isn't this entering Wikinews' territory somewhat?
>>>
>> Sure it is, but that's not Google's problem, it's ours. Google will
>> link to wherever the best article on news topics are. At the moment,
>> that is very often Wikipedia, not Wikinews. I would like to encourage
>> people to go to Wikinews when they want to write about current affairs
>> and only create a Wikipedia article after the event is over, but I
>> don't think there is anything approaching a consensus for that.
>>
>>
> True enough. Wikinews is inevitably subject to Darwinistic
> considerations.  Unless it produces material that attracts readership it
> will just be ignored.

Yep, that's the same catch-22 faced by projects like Citizendium. They
have to become better than Wikipedia (in some way, not necessarily in
all ways) in order to get any readers, but they can't get the
contributors needed to beat Wikipedia without readers.