Difference between revisions of "Jimmy Wales"
HayekLLL1973 (talk | contribs) (Objectivism is a philosophical doctrine not a theological one, this assertion is moronic. See the talk for more info. Rand was an atheist however Objectivists are not "types of atheists".) |
HayekLLL1973 (talk | contribs) (Edited to explain in what way Wales sees himself as following Hayek. Which according to the article Wales seems to follow on Hayek's work on epistomolgy and not his political ideas.) |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
[[Image:Jimmy_wales_1.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Co-Founder of Wikipedia, Jimbo Wales]] | [[Image:Jimmy_wales_1.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Co-Founder of Wikipedia, Jimbo Wales]] | ||
| − | '''Jimmy Wales''' is the co-founder of [[Wikipedia]] and self-described [[libertarian]]. Jimmy Wales claims to be an [[Objectivism|objectivist]] who follows the philosophy of [[atheist]] [[Ayn Rand]]. His favorite book is Rand's ''[[Atlas Shrugged]]''.<ref>[http://qanda.org/Transcript/?ProgramID=1042 Interview with Jimmy Wales conducted by Brian Lamb], C-SPAN Transcript, September 25, 2005.</ref> Wales told an interviewer in ''Reason'' magazine, "One can't understand my ideas about Wikipedia without understanding [[Hayek]]," <ref>[http://reason.com/news/show/119689.html Wikipedia and Beyond], | + | '''Jimmy Wales''' is the co-founder of [[Wikipedia]] and self-described [[libertarian]]. Jimmy Wales claims to be an [[Objectivism|objectivist]] who follows the philosophy of [[atheist]] [[Ayn Rand]]. His favorite book is Rand's ''[[Atlas Shrugged]]''.<ref>[http://qanda.org/Transcript/?ProgramID=1042 Interview with Jimmy Wales conducted by Brian Lamb], C-SPAN Transcript, September 25, 2005.</ref> Wales told an interviewer in ''Reason'' magazine, "One can't understand my ideas about Wikipedia without understanding [[Hayek]]...Wales is fleshing out and bringing to life Hayek's insights about the power of decentralized knowledge gathering, the surprising strength of communities bound only by reputation, and the fluidity of self-governance." <ref>[http://reason.com/news/show/119689.html Wikipedia and Beyond], |
| − | Jimmy Wales' sprawling vision, Katherine Mangu-Ward, ''Reasononline.com'', June 2007.</ref> | + | Jimmy Wales' sprawling vision, Katherine Mangu-Ward, ''Reasononline.com'', June 2007.</ref> These ideas that Wales claims to follow were put forward in Hayek's essay "The Use of Knowledge in Society". However there is thin evidence for his being a true follower of Hayek politically given the radical [[leftist]] agenda of Wales close confidants in control of Wikipedia.<ref name="Left_in_Control_of_Wikipedia">{{cite news |
|first=Jim | |first=Jim | ||
|last=Davis | |last=Davis | ||
Revision as of 07:48, May 11, 2011
Jimmy Wales is the co-founder of Wikipedia and self-described libertarian. Jimmy Wales claims to be an objectivist who follows the philosophy of atheist Ayn Rand. His favorite book is Rand's Atlas Shrugged.[1] Wales told an interviewer in Reason magazine, "One can't understand my ideas about Wikipedia without understanding Hayek...Wales is fleshing out and bringing to life Hayek's insights about the power of decentralized knowledge gathering, the surprising strength of communities bound only by reputation, and the fluidity of self-governance." [2] These ideas that Wales claims to follow were put forward in Hayek's essay "The Use of Knowledge in Society". However there is thin evidence for his being a true follower of Hayek politically given the radical leftist agenda of Wales close confidants in control of Wikipedia.[3] Wales describes himself as a communitarian (a form of communist).[3] The revisions have since been deleted by liberal Wikipedia administrators wishing to protect Jimbo's public image.[4] Hayek wrote in Road to Serfdom, "By the time Hitler came to power, liberalism was dead in Germany. And it was socialism that had killed it;"[5] editors trying to make this point in Wikipedia are routinely profiled, stalked, harassed, slandered, and banned. An irony of internet history is that Jimmy Wales, despite being an atheist, refers to himself as Wikipedia's "spiritual leader".[6]
Jimmy Wales became a millionaire by trading commodity options; before funding Wikipedia, he funded Bomis Inc. in 1996, which contained pornographic material.[7] Besides funding the non-profit Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales also funded the for-profit Wikia, a company that provides wiki services for businesses and organizations.
Wales was caught editing his own profile on Wikipedia in a bit of a scandal in an effort to downplay Larry Sanger's role in the company and distance himself from his Bomis past.[8]
Controversy
In early October 2005, former Robert F. Kennedy aide and retired journalist John Seigenthaler Sr. contacted Wales about false and libelous information in his Wikipedia biographical entry. Essjay got the call to deal with the situation.[9] On December 1, 2005 Wales told Editor & Publisher magazine, the nation’s oldest trade journal serving the newspaper industry regarding Daniel Brandt,
| “ | I don't regard him as a valid source about anything at all... I find it hard to take him very seriously ...[10] | ” |
Brandt was the victim of malicious[11] and vile slanders placed within his Wikipedia biographical entry[12] by prominent Wikipedia contributors, in violation of numerous published Wikipedia policies.[13] Four days later in a joint appearance with Seigenthaler on CNN Wales said,
| “ | we are very, very responsive to complaints and concerns.[14] | ” |
Essjay was entrusted with oversight responsibilities in the wake of the Seigenthaler scandal and wrote to a professor to persuade her to allow students to cite Wikipedia as a "reliable source,"
| “ | It is never the case that known incorrect information is allowed to remain in Wikipedia; we strive to provide a resource that is both accurate and expansive. As we approach one million articles (far more than any other encyclopedia could ever hope to attain) on the English Wikipedia alone (there are hundreds of thousands of articles in the projects that make up the Wikimedia Foundation in dozens of different languages), we prove ourselves as a resource like none ever known before. | ” |
The derogatory smears against Brandt, self-cited to a certifiably "extremist source" which "should never be used" remained in Brandt's biography for one and half years, with Jimbo Wales and the WikiMedia Foundations full knowledge.
References
- ↑ Interview with Jimmy Wales conducted by Brian Lamb, C-SPAN Transcript, September 25, 2005.
- ↑ Wikipedia and Beyond, Jimmy Wales' sprawling vision, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Reasononline.com, June 2007.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Davis, Jim. "Left in Control of Wikipedia", NewsMax, May 14, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-10-04.
- ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Jimbo_Wales&diff=238013334&oldid=366216764
- ↑ Road to Serfdom, Friedrich A. Hayek, Reader's Digest Condensed Version, April 1945, pg. 36.
- ↑ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/05/09/wikimedia_pron_purge/
- ↑ http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2005/12/69880
- ↑ Wikipedia Founder Edits Own Bio Wired. Accessed 17 March 2008
- ↑ User:Essjay/Letter. Retrieved from WikiTruth, November 3, 2007.
- ↑ Wikipedia Founder, Readers Respond to Seigenthaler Article, Jay DeFoore, Editor & Publisher, December 01, 2005.
- ↑ http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=5641&pid=22336&mode=threaded&show=&st=0&#entry22336
- ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Daniel_Brandt&diff=prev&oldid=55132392
- ↑ Wikipedia#Impugning critics, Conservapedia.com
- ↑ http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0512/05/lol.02.html
External Links
Jimmy Wales' Blog (this blog was last updated Feb. 16, 2007)