From "Wikipedia co-founder: I no longer trust the website I created/Freddie Sayers spoke to Larry Sanger about why he left" (UnHerd).
July 15, 2021
"Historically, Wikipedia has been written and monitored by a community of volunteers who collaborated and contested competing claims with one another."
"In the words of Wikipedia’s co-founder, Larry Sanger who spoke to Freddie Sayers on LockdownTV, these volunteers would 'battle it out.'
This battle of ideas on Wikipedia’s platform formed a crucial part of the encyclopaedia’s commitment to neutrality, which according to Sanger, was abandoned after 2009. In the years since, on issues ranging from Covid to Joe Biden, it has become increasingly partisan, primarily espousing an establishment viewpoint that increasingly represents 'propaganda.' This, says Sanger, is why he left the site in 2007, describing it as 'broken beyond repair'.... 'Because there is a lot of influence. Wikipedia is known now by everyone to have a lot of influence in the world. So there’s a very big, nasty, complex game being played behind the scenes to make the article say what somebody wants them to say.'"
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6 comments:
Wince writes:
""From "Wikipedia co-founder: I no longer trust the website I created/Freddie Sayers spoke to Larry Sanger about why he left" (UnHerd).
"Sometimes you already know before reading it which Althouse links won't have a "(NYT)" or "(WaPo)" at the end.
""(Unherd)" being an aptly named substitute."
Hunter writes:
"Throughout the history of the Internet there have been numerous platforms based on collective inputs, whose usefulness was based on the assumption that those inputs reflected an unbiased consensus wisdom. Once established the platforms then attracted predators who could profit by gaming the inputs while trading on the platforms' reputations. Early examples of such predation included “search engine optimization” and later such practices as paid Amazon reviews or Yelp reviews written by the proprietor’s family. Wikipedia is just the latest victim.
"We are already approaching an equilibrium where the public realizes what’s going on and learns to use this information with a critical eye. I no longer pay any attention to “star rankings” on Amazon or TripAdvisor, but I do read comments to learn details that might matter to me. And I even trust Wikipedia if I just want to know when Donald Trump was born.
"All part of our continuing education. We used to trust the newspapers too, before we knew better."
RB writes:
"I find the STEM entries in Wikipedia to be very good -- useful detail and good references. After that, tread lightly!"
Temujin writes:
"Wikipedia followed the same path as academia, our media, Big Tech, and finally- our government- has followed. There is The Narrative. Everything else must be cast out. Good for Sanger to say it out loud and to leave it.
"I'm not sure where this all ends. Like any type of mass propaganda, the Left's corruption and control of the opinions and facts that are allowed out into the mainstream is seen clearly by everyone, and understood as propaganda by many, if not by most. However, that does not stop the machine from continuing to produce the propaganda, even so far as to try to criminalizing non-believers. And that is the point where free societies turn away from freedom and become something else. Something we've seen in this world previously. People either embrace or accept the sameness of being a part of The Approved Group or they fight it. But there is a time, and I do believe our time is at hand, when we either shake it off and fight it, en masse now, or sink down into Groupthink as it is just easier to do. That is, as long as The Group doesn't come for you.
"But the funny thing about Communists and Socialists and fascists- in the end they always do come for you. That never changes, no matter how it is dressed up. Best to fight them when you're a group and not one man or woman alone."
Brian writes:
"primarily espousing an establishment viewpoint "
Serious Questions.
What is the 'establishment viewpoint' today?
Who is working on preserving the status quo today?
Who are the Reactionaries today?
Who are the Radicals today?
If you want small government, free speech, free thinking... Aren't you a radical, today?
Iain writes:
"At least the Wikipedia entry for Robert Conquest correctly states his second law of politics: "Any organisation not explicitly right wing sooner or later becomes left wing.""
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