Valleywag
the sum of all human knowledge
Posts Tagged “
Jimmy Wales, The Sum of All Human Knowledge
”
the sum of all human knowledge
clips
Jimmy Wales, cult leader
Later this week, Wikipedia is holding its annual, aptly named Wikimania conference in Alexandria, Egypt. Want a preview? Check out this video of Jimmy Wales, cofounder of the world's largest volunteer-run, sneeringly incompetent bureaucracy, playing games with attendees of Foo Camp, a nerdfest held over the weekend in a semirural spot north of San Francisco. Not everyone thinks Wikimania is the same kind of innocent fun: There's talk of a boycott over Egypt's horrid human-rights policies and Internet censorship. More »
geek love
CNBC's Becky Quick joins long line of women emailing Jimmy Wales
Call it a strange attraction: Women whose Wikipedia entries aren't to their liking just can't seem to resist taking their case to the site's stubbly cofounder, Jimmy Wales. Even CNBC's Becky Quick struck up a correspondence, she admits in this clip. Unlike Canadian television commentator Rachel Marsden, whose call for help turned into a sexual fling, Quick is married.
4:40 PM on Thu Jul 10 2008
By Owen Thomas
1,203 views,
21 comments
clips
How to piss off Jimmy Wales
Watch Jimmy Wales's face as he's introduced in a segment for this morning's episode of Squawk Box on CNBC. Wales has long claimed to be Wikipedia's sole founder — a fact disputed by Larry Sanger, Wikipedia's cofounder. As CNBC's Joe Kernen matter-of-factly describes Wales as the site's cofounder, Wales furrows his brows, starts to open his mouth, darts his eyes back and forth, and then swallows his pride. You can just see him writing a blog post about it in his head.
the sum of all human knowledge
Jimmy Wales namedrops Richard Branson on CNBC
One of Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales's most charming personality traits is his relentless starfucking. It's a tendency that's exacerbated by his role as spiritual leader of the world's most comprehensive collection of inconsequentially inaccurate details about famous peoples' lives. On CNBC's Squawk Box this morning, note Wales's body language — the shoulder roll, the falsely modest talking-into-his-coffee-cup maneuver — as he chats up New York Times reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin, making sure to remind viewers that he's totally BFF with Virgin founder Richard Branson.
the sum of all human knowledge
How Jimmy Wales gets the ladies
We've always wondered how a schlubby guy like Jimmy Wales sees so much action. It can't be the I-founded-Wikipedia-can-I-edit-your-page pickup lines — for every Rachel Marsden he lands with those, one thinks Wales would get 10 drinks in the face. At last, we've gotten a scientific explanation: It's the stubble. A recent study found women prefer mates with stubbly cheeks to smooth faces or full beards. (Thank you, Don Johnson.) And according to Wales's comprehensive compendium of facial hair stylings, Wales himself is the iconic paragon of stubble. (Photo by EvgenyGenkin)
the sum of all human knowledge
In which we learn Jimmy Wales doesn't really believe in anything
Is Jimmy Wales the sole founder of Wikipedia? Not really. Did he run a porn site in the 1990s? Pretty much. Does he believe Wikipedia should be restrictive or inclusive in its choice of subjects? Both or neither. Is he a follower of Ayn Rand? Not a particularly good one. These are the muddled truths we learn from a profile of Wales in the Economist. The one absolute verity in the article: More »
the sum of all human knowledge
Jimmy Wales reduced to couchsurfing across the globe
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales's travel budget has tightened since the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit which pays Wikipedia's and Wales's bills, cracked down on his expense account. Last year, he told Reuters that he used a website, Extrabed.in, to secure a free crashpad with an Indian blogger on a trip to the subcontinent. "When I used ExtraBed to find a place to stay, I was excited to have the opportunity to meet a new family, a new friend," Wales emailed Reuters. That rings true enough; Wales is often excited to meet new friends, especially female ones, and he's too busy to pay much attention to his old family. (Still from Majestikx12)
the sum of all human knowledge
Jimmy Wales's grand economic plan for the Middle East
In inviting Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales to chair a World Economic Forum on the Middle East, organizers no doubt thought they were getting a brilliant thinker. Instead, they got a run-of-the-mill Randian, a Libertarian lite who has no ideas beyond cutting "red tape." Watch Wales, in this clip from the Forum's session on "The Future of the Middle East", stumble through his answer to a question on how to get economic growth, and whether he plans to invest more in the region. Sure, Wikipedia's about advancing the sum of all human knowledge. Specifically, Wales getting other people to do so for him. Anyone who expects advancement from Wales personally is doomed to disappointment.
the sum of all human knowledge
Jimmy Wales and the Church of Latter-Day Wikipedians
A perpetual dilettante, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has a habit of flitting in and out of his many projects. It's hard to say whether they suffer more from his neglect or from his attention. Wikinews, a news site operated similarly to Wikipedia and run by the same nonprofit parent, the Wikimedia Foundation, has seen Wales suddenly return asking for administrative privileges suspended in his absence to be restored. But why? Wales didn't specify which story he wanted to intervene in, but one tipster suggests that an article about a copyright-infringement claim by the Mormon Church — over a story posted on Wikinews itself — was the proximate cause. More »
the sum of all human knowledge
Jimmy Wales kicked off Wikipedia spinoff
At an offshoot of Wikipedia, the users are revolting. Administrators of Wikinews, a site where volunteers collaboratively write news articles have voted to strip Jimmy Wales of his administrative privileges. He has protested the decision: "Due to recent developments, I am here more often and anticipate being here more often." Wales is not just a Wikinews user, however; he is a board member of the site's nonprofit parent, the Wikimedia Foundation, with a guaranteed seat, thanks to a recent reshuffling of the board. As such, his participation on the site may put it at legal risk. More »
the sum of all human knowledge
Jimmy Wales, the so-called founder of Wikipedia, is in Egypt's Red Sea resort hobnobbing with heads of state as chairman of the World Economic Forum's Middle East summit, popularly known as "Davos in the Desert." The message he delivered in a press event: "Too often when people around the world reflect on the situation in the Middle East they focus on extremism and the different problems." With Internet adoption exploding in the region, "we're going to start hearing from ordinary people," Wales added. What Wales did not get into: How those "ordinary" people will react when they encounter his online encylopedia for the first time, and find that articles on child sexuality are edited by ardent defenders of pedophilia. Perhaps sharia will prove more effective than current management at enforcing Wikipedia's "neutral point of view" standard.
Jimmy Wales welcomes "ordinary" Arabs to the Internet
Jimmy Wales, the so-called founder of Wikipedia, is in Egypt's Red Sea resort hobnobbing with heads of state as chairman of the World Economic Forum's Middle East summit, popularly known as "Davos in the Desert." The message he delivered in a press event: "Too often when people around the world reflect on the situation in the Middle East they focus on extremism and the different problems." With Internet adoption exploding in the region, "we're going to start hearing from ordinary people," Wales added. What Wales did not get into: How those "ordinary" people will react when they encounter his online encylopedia for the first time, and find that articles on child sexuality are edited by ardent defenders of pedophilia. Perhaps sharia will prove more effective than current management at enforcing Wikipedia's "neutral point of view" standard.
the sum of all human knowledge
Is Jimmy Wales getting Wikipedia in legal trouble?
Jimmy Wales's clandestine editing of a girlfriend's Wikipedia entry has done more than just bring the online encyclopedia into disrepute. It may well put the site's nonprofit parent, the Wikimedia Foundation, in legal jeopardy. Wikipedia has thrived in part thanks to a protection granted by the Communications Decency Act, which spares websites which merely host users' content from liability for what they say. But what if one of the website's officials moves to have that content edited? Then the protection vanishes. That is the legal argument advanced by Wales's ex, Rachel Marsden, in a series of emails with Mike Godwin, Wikimedia's general counsel, that she has posted to Valleywag. More »
the sum of all human knowledge
Jimmy Wales denies FBI investigation of underage photos on Wikipedia
Since a controversial record cover led to charges of Wikipedia hosting child porn, Jimmy Wales, the creator of the world's most democratically assembled list of anarcho-punk bands, has kept his silence. Until Sunday, that is, when Wales logged onto an IRC channel to discuss the issue. Wikipedia Review posted a transcript of the chat. The essential points: Wales denied that there was an FBI investigation, "as far as I am aware." (Note the hedge: As a board member of Wikipedia's nonprofit parent, the Wikimedia Foundation, Wales has no day-to-day role in the site's operations.) On the image in question, a cover of the 1976 Scorpions album Virgin Killer, Wales equivocated. "I think people should be able to debate it with mutual respect," said Wales. There you have Wales's position on child pornography, in a nutshell: Let's talk about it! Excerpts from the transcript below: More »
mike godwin
Wikipedia lawyer backs out of ethics talk
Mike Godwin does not practice what he preaches. The general counsel for the Wikimedia Foundation, Wikipedia's nonprofit parent, once told the New York Times that "the best answer for bad speech is more speech." But in the face of a groundswell of criticism of Wikipedia — that its frontman, Jimmy Wales, is corrupt; that its executive director, Sue Gardner, is power-mad; and that its deputy director, Erik Möller, is dangerously out of touch with potential donors' views — Godwin has remained silent. That will not change anytime soon, it seems. Godwin was due to speak this Thursday at Santa Clara University on "The World that Wikipedia Made: The Ethics and Values of Public Knowledge." But Valleywag has learned that Godwin today backed out of the talk, with two days' notice, and that the foundation has refused to supply another Wikipedia official in his place. Could it be that in this case, the voluble Godwin really has nothing worth saying? So much for advancing the sum of all human knowledge. (Photo by Alice Lipowicz)
caption contest
You mean this isn't the Facebook prom?
Despite not making the cut for this year's Time 100, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales showed up at the magazine's party anyway. (Past honorees are reinvited to the party automatically.) Even more surprising: On his arm was Andrea Weckerle, the freelance public-relations professional long rumored to have been smitten with Wales. If this photo is an indication, her affections are less unrequited than has been said. More »
nerdspotting
Jimmy Wales bores crowd with stump speech in Norway
"Yesterday we went to see Jimmy Wales speak at the Nobel Peace Prize Center during the seminar 'How Free is the Internet.' Jimbo was less controversial than his wikipedia page and his jokes were not funny." — Aeron Bergman and Alejandra Salinas, on a visit by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales to Norway
the sum of all human knowledge
