[Foundation-l] LA Times article / Advertising in Wikipedia

Thu Mar 13 04:49:50 UTC 2008

--- Birgitte SB <birgitte_sb at yahoo.com> wrote:

> 
> --- Mike Godwin <mgodwin at wikimedia.org> wrote:
> 
> > 
> > Birgitte writes:
> > 
> > >> Can you remind me again what sources we *do*
> > trust
> > >> altogether for
> > >> their objectivity?
> > >
> > >
> > > Consumer Reports?
> > >
> > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_Reports
> > 
> > Hey, I've actually represented Consumers Union,
> > which publishes  
> > Consumer Reports!  I love my friends there, but
> I'm
> > still traumatized  
> > by the issue in which they rated the IBM PCjr (an
> > ill-fated, hobbled  
> > machine) over the Apple //c (all the functionality
> > of a fitted out  
> > Apple //e, but portable!).  I'm not entirely sure
> > the review was all  
> > that objective.
> > 
> > 
> > --Mike
> > 
> 
> They certainly have gotten things wrong over the
> years.  There have been poorly designed tests, poor
> executed tests, math errors, and patently stupid
> preferences of certain criteria in the rankings (do
> read the full review and not just the rank number). 
> But biased?  That is quite a stretch. 
> 
> Do I entirely trust that I will agree that an item
> ranked #1 is better than on ranked #4? No.  Do I
> entirely trust the Consumer's Union is objective?
> Yes.
>

BTW I am assuming dropping in that you worked with
them professionally in the past is not a hint that you
know something about their lack of objectivity that
the general public does not.  Otherwise it would be a
bit foolish to disagree with your opinion having no
such first-hand experience with CU myself.

Birgitte SB

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