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the sum of all human knowledge
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The Sum of All Human Knowledge
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the sum of all human knowledge
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 »
the sum of all human knowledge
Why Sue Gardner hired a pedophilia supporter to run Wikipedia
Sue Gardner, the former pop-culture journalist now running Wikipedia, named Erik Möller as deputy director of the Wikimedia Foundation for a simple reason: to get him off the nonprofit's board. As a board member, Möller was her boss; now she is his. But the hire is coming back to haunt her. After Wikimedia COO Carolyn Doran was revealed to be a convicted felon last year, Gardner promised to conduct background checks on new employees. But one has to conclude she never bothered to Google Möller. If she had, wouldn't she have noticed his off-the-wall views on child sexuality? More »
the sum of all human knowledge
Wikipedia's Erik Möller on the history of child sexual abuse: All Greek to him!
Pederasty in ancient Greece took on mystical significance, where semen from a noble man was believed to give arete to a young man through anal intercourse. This was part of a common practice in Greece where a noble man took on a young male as a student. This relationship was highly idealized in Greek culture and often involved sexual acts as mentioned. Since the practice was so widespread in ancient Greece, and there is no indication of any detractors at the time, many do not consider this an example of child sexual abuse (see moral relativism). Generally, people who hold this view believe that sexual acts can only be termed "abuse" if there is a victim who experiences negative effects as a result of the activities. Since there is no evidence of this occurring, many have concluded that this should not be considered abuse.— Erik Möller, deputy director of the Wikimedia Foundation, editing a Wikipedia article on child sexual [Wikipedia]
erik moeller
Wikipedia's porn-loving No. 2 and his abiding concern for the children
A firestorm is now brewing over pornography on Wikipedia and its accessibility to children. The FBI is investigating the matter, right-wing news site WorldNetDaily reports. Jay Walsh, the spokesman for Wikipedia's nonprofit parent, the Wikimedia Foundation, has disclaimed all official responsibility for the contents of the world's greatest compendium of fictional balls. But who oversees the contents of Wikipedia for the foundation? Why, Erik Möller, its deputy director. And Möller is deeply, deeply concerned about the children. More »
9:20 AM on Thu May 8 2008
By Owen Thomas
9,656 views,
21 comments
Latest by WilliamMarkFelt: @XedMac [www.fbi.gov] I'm certain the FBI will be very interested in the long precedent of providing internet safe-haven to sexual deviants by Wales on Wikipedia, and Wikia too for that matter. more »
the sum of all human knowledge
Wikipedia leader Erik Möller: "Children are pornography"
Erik Möller, the deputy director of the nonprofit behind Wikipedia, sure likes to talk. Since our story yesterday about his defense of pedophilia, Möller has been going around explaining his views, at length, to Wikimedia Foundation's board members. One hopes they have a lot of time on their hands; Möller is famously verbose. While waiting for him to stop talking, they could pass the time reading a 2000 work by Möller. Its German title is "Kinder sind Pornos," which means "Children are pornography." Even in Google's rough translation, the gist is clear enough: Möller argues that nonviolent child pornography does no harm. He relates the frosty reception he received when he put forth this view at a conference in Nuremberg in 2000. Can Möller really claim to be surprised if his views on the sexuality of children prove just as unpopular today? (Photo by Bertram Korves)
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
Erik Möller, No. 2 at Wikipedia, a defender of pedophilia
Erik Möller is the deputy director at Wikipedia's nonprofit parent, the Wikimedia Foundation. As such, he oversees tech and editorial operations at the world's most comprehensive history of obscure British contemporary art movements. And as an editor on the site, he takes special interest in subjects such as "child abuse," "child sexuality," and "pedophilia." Wikipedians supposedly prize a "neutral point of view." But Möller's point of view on those subjects hardly seems neutral. Most would find it extreme. Möller once wrote: "What is my position on pedophilia, then? It's really simple. If the child doesn't want it, is neutral or ambiguous, it's inappropriate." More »
the sum of all human knowledge
Jimmy Wales to lecture teenage girls on leadership
This Saturday, the Castilleja School, an all-girls' college-prep academy in Palo Alto, has invited Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd, Google fashionista Marissa Mayer, and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales to a symposium on leadership. What, exactly, does Wales propose to teach, I wonder? More »
the sum of all human knowledge
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 »
the sum of all human knowledge
Wikipedia gerrymanders its board
Sue Gardner, the power-hungry executive director of Wikipedia's nonprofit parent, the Wikimedia Foundation, has carried out the first phase of her master plan. She's orchestrated a reorganization of Wikipedia's board. The chief changes to the rulers of the world's most complete list of people affected by bipolar disorder: Only 30 percent of the board is now elected. Two board members will be appointed by Wikipedia's "chapters," country-specific nonprofits which wield power far greater than their actual numbers would seem to warrant. Jimmy Wales has been granted an unelected "community founder" seat. The other five board seats, three of them currently empty, can be filled by board appointees with no connection to Wikipedia. Which would make it easy for Gardner to stack the board with wealthy venture capitalists interested in profiting from Wikipedia's highly-trafficked website. More »
the sum of all human knowledge
Jimmy Wales fails to usher in "new era of politics"
Chris Anderson, the editor of Wired, occasionally says something clever. Why doesn't his magazine cover politics? "We're not working on an election story," he told MarketWatch. "This comes from my own sense that politics today is being driven by the institutional structure of the past 20 years." Too bad Jimmy Wales hasn't figured this out. Proclaimed the founder of Wikipedia on July 4, 2006:Broadcast media brought us broadcast politics. And let's be simple and bluntly honest about it, left or right, conservative or liberal, broadcast politics are dumb, dumb, dumb.Wales's commandments to his followers: Join a mailing list and start editing his advertising-supported Campaigns Wikia site. The wiki has seen all of 14 changes in the last month. Wales himself stopped editing the wiki in September 2006. More »
2:20 PM on Fri Apr 25 2008
By Owen Thomas
720 views,
26 comments
Latest by Troll_2.0: Why didn't Jimmy just stick with his money making porn search, Bomis? Instead he comes up with a "Book of Common Wisdom" for an encyclopedia and has to steal lunch money from kids and defraud investors and the IRS to 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 »
the sum of all human knowledge
Ex-journalist Sue Gardner tries to silence Wikipedia board
Last year, Wikipedia hired an executive-search firm to find someone to run its nonprofit parent, the Wikimedia Foundation. Thousands of dollars later, it concluded that Wikipedia was "too immature" as an organization to hire a boss. It nonetheless landed Sue Gardner, head of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's website, as executive director. Her primary qualification, insiders say, was a lip-locking session with WIkipedia founder Jimmy Wales in Amsterdam. That's perhaps unkind. Gardner, after all, graduated from Ryerson with a degree in journalism, specializing in pop culture. With such a keen understanding of the ways of reporters, Gardner tried to get Wikipedia's restive board members to sign a nondisparagement and nondisclosure agreement. More »
the sum of all human knowledge
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 »
the sum of all human knowledge
