[Foundation-l] Most read US newpaper blasts Wikipedia

Thu Dec 1 08:48:20 UTC 2005

My old friend Delirium wrote:

> I don't see how that differs from UseNet, which has for decades 
> allowed anonymous postings, with no editor to stand behind them.  
> If you get libeled on usenet, well, that's just too bad, eh?  
> Post a rebuttal.

The difference is, of course, that when you and I contribute to 
Wikipedia, we have the ambition to create something more lasting, 
more reliable than a bunch of Usenet postings.  It is still 
unclear exactly what level of reliability we should expect out of 
Wikipedia.  It is probably lower than what people used to expect 
of printed encyclopedias in previous centuries, but it should be 
higher than most arguments thrown around in discussion forums.  
On its front page, Wikipedia has the ambition to *be* a free 
encyclopedia, and that might set expectations just a little higher 
than can be achieved.  To the core community the emphasis is on 
"free," but many outside readers seem to focus on "encyclopedia."

This over-expectation is evident from Seigenthaler's piece, where 
he writes:

: Wales, in a recent C-Span interview with Brian Lamb, insisted 
: that his website is accountable and that his community of 
: thousands of volunteer editors (he said he has only one paid 
: employee) corrects mistakes within minutes.

I don't know what Jimbo might have said in that interview, but 
apparently Seigenthaler took it to be some kind of guarantee that 
every mistake will be corrected within minutes.  I doubt that 
Jimbo would ever promise anything like that.

> And in this case, I don't see how ethical issues enter into it 
> at all.  If the biography is inaccurate, it should be edited,

The ethical part is that Seigenthaler's biography was not only 
incorrect but also contained rather serious allegations.  We 
should probably be more careful to check facts when a person is 
called a criminal.  Many other errors can be less important.

Instead of a general requirement on sourcing every fact, I think 
it would make sense to require sources to such allegations.

-- 
  Lars Aronsson (lars at aronsson.se)
  Aronsson Datateknik - http://aronsson.se