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  • We exist to shine the light of scrutiny into the dark crevices of Wikipedia and its related projects; to examine the corruption there, along with its structural flaws; and to inoculate the unsuspecting public against the torrent of misinformation, defamation, and general nonsense that issues forth from one of the world’s most frequently visited websites, the “encyclopedia that anyone can edit.”
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Sauce for the Gander

[Editor’s note: there have been many debates about which policy or policies at Wikipedia are most to blame for the wretched outcome there. But perhaps the problem lies not in the policies, but in the way that they are customarily used by “teh community”: as weapons in the world’s most widely used MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online role-playing game). It’s the Double Standards Gambit: for any given rule or policy, there is one interpretation that applies to whatever one particular contestant is doing, and another interpretation that applies to his or her opponent(s). Consequently, many contestants wind up spending little time actually writing or editing articles, and much time crafting long-winded and specious legalistic arguments in an effort to get their opponents censured or banned. For the minority of Wikipedians who are simply there because they enjoy writing articles, this situation may give rise to indignation, disgust, or despair. Or, it may engender essays, like this one by Mr. D. Tobias:]

There’s an old saying, “What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.” This meshes well with the Golden Rule, or ethic of reciprocity, which is a key moral principle in many religions and philosophies, and is often stated as “Do unto others as you wish to be done for you”, or conversely, “Don’t do unto others what you would not wish to be done to you.”

Are they reliable sauces?

Are they reliable sauces?

Unfortunately, when the infighting here in Wikipedia gets heated, participants often forget this principle and do unto their opponents things that would not be fair to be done unto them, and sometimes add insult to injury by crying “foul” if their

…continue reading Sauce for the Gander

ASSUME BAD FAITH

By Peter Damian

The so-called Precautionary Principle is a fundamental tenet of risk management. The Principle says that if the impact of an event is suitably high, then the default position, the burden of proof, is on those who wish to show the risk of the event is suitably low. A well-known example: there is some uncertainty about whether there will be a catastrophic result of global warming. Global warming is a fact – CO2 emission is causing the planet to heat up. But we don’t know how much it is going to heat up, given the wide range of future predicted temperatures. However, the impact of it heating up, at the upper bound of current estimates, is clearly catastrophic. Therefore take suitable precautions.

Adults and children

Corporal punishment

Earlier, I posted about a problem Wikipedia editor who we called ‘Dennis’. That’s not his real name. Nor is his actual Wikipedia user name his real name. We don’t know who he is at all. We know almost nothing about him except that he is middle-aged, that he has an interest in caning and corporal punishment, and that he is active in the child ‘mentoring’ projects on Wikipedia.

Is ‘Dennis’ guilty of anything bad? We don’t know. All we know is that he has interacted with children on Wikipedia in a way that would not be considered normal, even for a parent or a close relative. He befriended an 11-year old boy who had been bullied by older Wikipedia editors. This is not abnormal, and most adults would do the same if they saw this happening in the street. But then he began an email correspondence with the boy and messaged him, against the parent’s wishes. When the boy told him it was

…continue reading ASSUME BAD FAITH

YouTube calling

Here we present a brief survey of YouTube presentations on Wikipedia which feature humor, both intentional and unintentional (keep your eye on the water bottle.)

The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c The Word – Wikilobbying www.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive