Jimmy Wales news stories on Newser

Wikipedia to Go Dark in SOPA Protest

Kevin Spak — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:13:28 CST

"Student warning! Do your homework early. Wikipedia protesting bad law on Wednesday!" With that tweet, issued earlier today, Jimmy Wales revealed that Wikipedia will be joining up with Reddit, I Can Haz Cheezburger, and several other websites in their Jan. 18 protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act . Wikipedia's English-language...

PR Firm Rewrites Clients' Wikipedia Entries

Mary Papenfuss — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 01:43:32 CST

So much for reliable Wikipedia content. A high-powered British PR firm routinely rewrites Wikipedia content relating to its clients, reports the Independent . Bell Pottinger made hundreds of changes in Wiki entries over the last year, either adding positive comments or deleting negative ones about clients. At least ten contributing writer...

No One Wants to Edit Wikipedia These Days

Rob Quinn — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 05:40:08 CDT

Wikipedia is in danger of wasting away as contributors jump ship and aren't replaced by new ones, founder Jimmy Wales says. "We are not replenishing our ranks," he tells the AP . "It is not a crisis, but I consider it to be important." Wales—who describes the average contributor as...

Wikipedia Relaxes Editing Rules on Touchy Topics

Nick McMaster — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 16:26:32 CDT

Wikipedia is set to open up its most controversial articles for anonymous editing, rolling back locks that have kept topics like "George W. Bush," "Britney Spears" and even "homework" closed off from newcomers for years. The new system, called "pending changes," will make proposed changes visible immediately but also forward...

Porn Battle Rocks Wiki

Mary Papenfuss — Tue, 11 May 2010 02:55:44 CDT

Wikipedia's founders are battling against contributor objections to ax images they believe are pornographic from Wiki sites. Wikimedia Commons, a media file used by Wikipedia, last week deleted hundreds of images after co-founder Jimmy Wales said many of them appealed "solely to prurient interests." The action followed estranged Wiki co-founder...

Wales: Wikipedia Changes Exaggerated

Nick McMaster — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:30:06 CDT

Wikipedia's editorial changes aren't so sweeping after all, says co-founder Jimmy Wales. Reports that the open-source encyclopedia would restrict edits to entries on all living people are “just completely wrong," he tells Time . Instead, the site will adopt “flagged revision”—in which edits are checked by a Wikipedia veteran before...

Fake Deaths May Force Changes in Wikipedia

Rob Quinn — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 01:57:20 CST

The greatly exaggerated deaths of Sens. Robert Byrd and Ted Kennedy last week on Wikipedia has sparked a push for a radical change in how the site's information is edited, Wired reports. The edits, traditionally open to all users, gave the false impression that both lawmakers had died. Founder Jimmy...

Wikipedia Weighs Big Questions

Jason Farago — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 11:10:00 CDT

Forget dot-com excesses: A piece of printer paper taped to the door and cut-price desks and chairs from eBay and Craigslist are all that distinguish the new San Francisco office of the nonprofit that runs Wikipedia. "We are about as unsophisticated as we could possibly be," its executive director told...

Wiki's Wales Accused of Inappropriate Spending

Nick McMaster — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:47:05 CST

Jimmy Wales has been hit with allegations that he abused his position as founder of Wikipedia, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. A former Wikipedia employee, Danny Wool, has claimed on his blog that Wales used his Wikimedia Foundation credit card for personal expenses. Meanwhile, a former girlfriend released chat transcripts...