Valleywag
the sum of all human knowledge
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the sum of all human knowledge
superficial
What would Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan's love child look like?
One in a while a Web application comes along that's so damn useful, even we'd invest in it. Facebook? Meh. MakeMeBabies, the site that lets you create ruddy-cheeked mashups from any two photos? Its diapers will be filled with nothing but spun gold. Here's what the site came up with from photos of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and girlfriend Priscilla Chan. After the jump, we give a few other notable couples the same treatment. Please do add your own in the comments with our image-upload feature — best and worst fake babies will win an as-yet-undetermined prize of nominal value! More »
antivanity ads
New York Post's desperate bid for Google relevance keys on ... "Rachel Marsden"?
Google has turned us all into monetizable micromarkets. An ad for everyone, and everyone in an ad. the New York Post is now advertising against the keyword "Rachel Marsden" on Google to attract readers. If you're asking "Marsden who?", then you've gotten the point already. Marsden, the Canadian political commentator (and Valleywag commenter), is best known for having been dumped by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales on Wikipedia. Current Post readers are no doubt more interested in her reportedly unceremonious exit from the Fox News show Red Eye. What this ad buy tells us: That the Post thinks it can profit from attracting the small number of people who have heard enough about Marsden to search on her name. And that if Marsden is worth advertising against in Google's frictionless marketplace, every last one of us is next. More »
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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 »
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Jimmy Wales drops off the Time 100 list again
Safe to say that Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales's plan to take Canadian journalist Rachel Marsden to the Time 100 party are definitely off. Not only have Wales and Marsden broken up, but Time has, as we predicted, declined to return Wales to its list of the most influential people. Think he'll shrug this off? Check out this video from last year where he complained to Stephen Colbert about getting bumped for the likes of Tyra Banks: More »
nerdspotting
Jimmy Wales takes his Wikipedia magic show to New York City
For a province of California, Silicon Valley can be strangely puritan at times. That made it an uncomfortable locale for libertine Libertarian Jimmy Wales, the less-than-saintly founder of Wikipedia. Wales told ex-lover Rachel Marsden, the Canadian controversialist, that he wanted to move to New York to be closer to her. Their affair is over — ended, fittingly, via a posting on Wikipedia — but Wales has relocated to New York all the same. The likely reason has to do with work, or the appearance of work. Although Wikipedia's nonprofit parent, the Wikimedia Foundation, is located in San Francisco, and his ostensible employer, for-profit wiki venture Wikia, has itsheadquarters in a suburb to the south of the city, Wales is charged with running a search-engine project for Wikia which is based in New York. More »
11:40 AM on Tue Apr 29 2008
By Owen Thomas
1,201 views,
42 comments
Latest by Rachel Marsden: @gitahne-o: Damn straight. more »
the sum of all human knowledge
Jimmy Wales hires bodyguard for New York event
Invited to speak about "the future of the Internet" at New York University, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales instead spent the session dwelling on his smartphone's inbox. Why was the muse for the world's most exhaustive list of Simpsons episodes so distracted? Likely for the same reason he hired a personal security guard for the event: would-be paramour Andrea Weckerle. We're told that Weckerle, a PR consultant previously linked to Wales, has such a crush on Wales — unrequited — that she flew cross-country for the event, and told friends she was sharing a hotel room with Wales for a supposed tryst. More »
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Jimmy Wales edited Julia Allison's Wikipedia entry
We now know the kind of woman Jimmy Wales goes for: brunettes who appear on Fox News and have conveniently troubled Wikipedia entries. In January, the founder of the world's greatest online list of unusually shaped vegetables was courting Canadian controversialist Rachel Marsden with sex-fantasy-laden IM chats. But at the same time, Wales was also playing the gallant on Star editor-at-large and former Fox News late-night pundit Julia Allison's Wikipedia page. More »
comments
Commenter of the week: Rachel Marsden
"Could someone please go up and punch Al [Gore] in the face? Then, when he calls the cops, ask him why he didn't try the UN first." — TV pundit Rachel Marsden, Valleywag's newest bestest friend fatale, splashes cold, conservative Canadian water in the faces of our NPR-numbed Bay Area readership [Valleywag Comments]
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World Economic Forum organizers defend womanizing Randian Jimmy Wales as conference chair
Why is Jimmy Wales, the do-little founder of Wikipedia, cochair the annual World Economic Forum on the Middle East? The event is the "foremost global gathering of political, business and cultural leaders," according to the organizers. Wales was chosen for the "contribution [he has made] globally, regionally or within [his] industry... His expertise in terms of business, knowledge etc. is the important thing here, not necessarily any knowledge of the region... At present the gossip and allegations directed towards Mr. Wales remain just that — gossip and allegation — and as such, the Forum has no comment." What gossip and allegation are they referring to? Something like this, perhaps: More »
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Wales's ex-girlfriend on Wikipedia edits: "Game on, sweetheart"
There is no neutral point of view in a love affair gone bad. Jimmy Wales violated Wikipedia's rules in posting a note announcing his breakup with Canadian journalist Rachel Marsden on the world's most exacting collection of urban legends about McDonald's. Marsden has retaliated in kind, or attempted to. Her recent efforts to leave a note for Wales on Wikipedia — "the only way to have any sort of rational or caring discussion with him," she claims — resulted in her account being banned by administrators. More »
rumormonger
Did Jimmy Wales and Wikipedia boss make out in Amsterdam?
What is it about Jimmy Wales? The founder of Wikipedia has a thing for brainy women, and a penchant for mixing business and pleasure. But the latest rumor I've heard is mind-blowing: That Wales had a brief affair with Sue Gardner, the executive director of the nonprofit which runs Wikipedia. Gardner has always been swift to rush to Jimmy Wales's defense — oddly so, since he's just one of many board members she reports to. In a recent newspaper article on Wales, there was this line: "Ms. Gardner said there will always be a need for what Mr. Wales provides." Ah yes, what Mr. Wales provides. To Rachel Marsden, Elisabeth Bauer, and Barbara Cohen, among others, you mean? More »
wikpedia
Donor, ex-girlfriend accuse Jimmy Wales of Wikipedia extortion
Jeff Merkey, a former Novell chief scientist, has issued a statement accusing Jimmy Wales of extortion. Merkey says that Wales offered him "special protection" for his Wikipedia entry in exchange for a "substantial" donation to Wales's Wikimedia Foundation. After Merkey withdrew his donation over concerns that the funds were being mismanaged, he was banned from the site for "frivolous and unsubstantiated claims." Merkey's not the only one: Rachel Marsden, Wales's ex-girlfriend, has privately threatened Wales with a lawsuit over what she claims are hostile revisions to her Wikipedia entry which began after they broke up. While they were together, Wales promised Marsden swift action on edits so he could "continue fucking [her] brains out." After the jump, Merkey's statement and Marsden's email. More »
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"Modest, frugal" Jimmy Wales flies first-class
In a simpering interview on CNET — "Let's just get this out of the way," the host actually says — Sue Gardner, executive director of the foundation which runs Wikipedia, used the classic disgruntled-employee line to dismiss charges that Wales had abused his position there. But that's not the only way she made a fool of herself. "He's a good guy, he's a really good guy, he's a modest guy, he's a frugal guy," says Gardner. Oh, really? Read this transcript of a chat between Wales and ex-girlfriend Marsden, as he debates whether to go first-class or business-class on a junket to Korea in February, and judge for yourself. His hosts, not the foundation, apparently paid for the tickets; Gardner says Wales has only charged $1,100 to the Wikimedia Foundation in the past six months. All the same, if there's any sign of modesty or frugality here, I'm missing it. More »
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We keep hearing new rumors about women Jimmy Wales has been involved with. But why tell you? Some Wales critics say it's not the sex, it's the money. But it's hard to separate the two when charges fly that Wales took a girlfriend on trips paid for by the nonprofit WIkipedia. The latest names linked to Wales: Barbara Cohen, formerly an editor with the Public Library of Science, left; and Julie Melton, an online-learning expert, right. Wales's relationship with Cohen, former Wikipedia insiders say, contributed to the breakup of her marriage. Melton stayed in Wales's apartment, though she's said to be seeing someone else. Yes, yes, I know, enough about the sex — did he edit their Wikipedia entries?
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Jimbo's bimbos a brainiac pack
We keep hearing new rumors about women Jimmy Wales has been involved with. But why tell you? Some Wales critics say it's not the sex, it's the money. But it's hard to separate the two when charges fly that Wales took a girlfriend on trips paid for by the nonprofit WIkipedia. The latest names linked to Wales: Barbara Cohen, formerly an editor with the Public Library of Science, left; and Julie Melton, an online-learning expert, right. Wales's relationship with Cohen, former Wikipedia insiders say, contributed to the breakup of her marriage. Melton stayed in Wales's apartment, though she's said to be seeing someone else. Yes, yes, I know, enough about the sex — did he edit their Wikipedia entries?
More »
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Wikipedians cover up for Jimmy Wales
"The Wikipedia effort is not personality-driven," claims a commenter who insists that "nobody cares" about Jimmy Wales's behavior. The cult of personality in action: Journalist Cyrus Farivar — a regular contributor to NPR, The Economist, Wired and the New York Times — has had his Wikipedia page deleted several times in retaliation for a joke he made on Slate ("Yes, I added an entry on myself to Wikipedia. Why haven't you?") Meanwhile, Wales's entry is missing the "Personal controversies" section that sprouts on any conservative media personality's page. Of course, his Fox TV paramour Rachel Marsden has one. Here's the current sum of all human knowledge of the Wales/Marsden affair stored in Wikipedia as of 9:15 a.m. PST: More »
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News Corp. overlord Rupert Murdoch may be getting a bit slow in his dotage, but he still knows a good story. Is it a coincidence that three arms of his media empire — the Times of London, Fox News, and the New York Post — have belatedly picked up on Jimmy Wales's bizarre breakup with Rachel Marsden? Marsden was, until last fall, a Fox News commentator, which can only make the tale more delicious for Murdoch: The prodigal daughter welcomed back as grist for the gossip mill. Beyond that, why the onslaught?
More »
Rupert Murdoch's underlings lets loose on Jimmy Wales
News Corp. overlord Rupert Murdoch may be getting a bit slow in his dotage, but he still knows a good story. Is it a coincidence that three arms of his media empire — the Times of London, Fox News, and the New York Post — have belatedly picked up on Jimmy Wales's bizarre breakup with Rachel Marsden? Marsden was, until last fall, a Fox News commentator, which can only make the tale more delicious for Murdoch: The prodigal daughter welcomed back as grist for the gossip mill. Beyond that, why the onslaught?
More »
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In an IM chat with ex-girlfriend Rachel Marsden, Jimmy Wales scolded Valleywag for not following his sex life more closely: "I have shown up at many different Silicon Valley events with many different "dates" through the past year or so, although not always actually dates, so the assumption would be colleagues or whatever, and figured they would eventually pay attention to that." True, Jimbo, we've been remiss. And we're doing our best to make it up to you. Besides Marsden, we've heard two names frequently linked to Wales, who is separated from his wife. Either would be an impressive catch. If the rumors are true, then all we can say is — well-played, Jimbo, well-played.
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Jimmy Wales's other other women
In an IM chat with ex-girlfriend Rachel Marsden, Jimmy Wales scolded Valleywag for not following his sex life more closely: "I have shown up at many different Silicon Valley events with many different "dates" through the past year or so, although not always actually dates, so the assumption would be colleagues or whatever, and figured they would eventually pay attention to that." True, Jimbo, we've been remiss. And we're doing our best to make it up to you. Besides Marsden, we've heard two names frequently linked to Wales, who is separated from his wife. Either would be an impressive catch. If the rumors are true, then all we can say is — well-played, Jimbo, well-played.
More »
