Top ten reasons Napster failed.

[Kumioko]

No intelligent person should WANT to have a Wikipedia biography. Absolutely no good comes of them and in 99% of the articles somethings wrong or flat out lies.

[ericbarbour]

haha, Crow is logging in and blanking his posts. Maybe we will have a bit of peace and quiet now.

[Joe Crow]

Mick does have a bad habit of burning the bridges he sleeps under

[rog]

https://genderdesk.wordpress.com/2021/1 ... ent-100046

You could change every atom in the universe to a rofl smiley and it wouldn't be enough


oh, and I have it on good authority that Mick doesn't actually sleep under a bridge; he has a special room in his parents attic. He's not allowed to leave it thank heavens; his food is delivered under the door and he shits out the window

[Jake Is A Sellout]

haha, Crow is logging in and blanking his posts. Maybe we will have a bit of peace and quiet now.

Ha ha

[ericbarbour]

Alright

BACK TO THE ORIGINAL SUBJECT

I'd like to see Daniel's opinion of this top-ten bit.

[Daniel Brandt]

Alright

BACK TO THE ORIGINAL SUBJECT

I'd like to see Daniel's opinion of this top-ten bit.

I can't come up with ten reasons, but I can offer a big-picture overview.

From my perspective, I blame Section 230, which allows all types of nastiness to flourish on the web. Both the Wikimedia Foundation and Jimbo kept arms-length from the content on Wikipedia. In Jimbo's case, he wasn't clever enough to have anything to say, and had no particular agenda with respect to the content on Wikipedia, or with the editors who created the content. The Foundation stayed away from content also, because that was the only way to solicit big donations for WMF.

But many Wikipedia editors DID have an agenda. Most were too stupid or too lazy or too young to push their agenda effectively. Someone like SlimVirgin, on the other hand, was both tireless and talented. There weren't many like her.

Compare this situation with the situation on Encyclopedia Dramatica. Sherrod wan't stupid, and she also wasn't hell-bent on particular pet projects like SlimVirgin was. One day ED posted a fairly large article about a new user-friendly piece of software that could attack an IP address with a DDoS flood. All you had to do was download the package and use it anonymously to DDoS any IP address of your choice.

What fun!

The FBI came knocking on Sherrod's door to ask questions. You see, DDoS is illegal. If the perp is in the U.S., then the FBI has the authority to pursue the bad guy. I think this is why Sherrod lost interest in ED, and started OhmyNews. Now she could maintain more control over the content. At the same time, OhmyNews was too tame to attract bad-guy contributors.

The bad guys started fighting over the remains of ED, but they had to do it anonymously. Sherrod never tried to be anonymous, to her credit. Neither did Jimbo. The difference is that Jimbo was not hands-on with the content on their servers, and neither was the tax-exempt WMF. In Jimbo's case, I think he lacked the high-tech IQ. For the WMF, they were legally distanced from Wikipedia's content, and consequently untouchable.

The bottom line is that when Wikipedia started, the conditions on the web, legally speaking, were probably unique in the world. These conditions were just right for Jimbo and the Wikimedia Foundation. Editors with an agenda and talent, such as SlimVirgin, were able to use it as a tool.

[ericbarbour]

From my perspective, I blame Section 230, which allows all types of nastiness to flourish on the web.

Most people would agree, that's how it started. Before it the early Web was still too immature for real abuse, also partly because most people only had dial-up modems and broadband connections were very rare. Things started to change after 2001 when cable modem and DSL broadband began to spread in a serious way.

230 made a great "excuse" to ignore libel and copyright laws, and broadband made it far easier to pirate tv shows, movies etc. YouTube is the largest and most obvious copyright violation in human history. All they need to do to fight off a lawsuit is "sorry, 230, not responsible, all we can do is pull down the content and ban the account that uploaded it". And you can still get hundreds of thousands of hours of copyrighted music, tv shows, movies etc. off YT servers, because uploaders can always create a new account.

But many Wikipedia editors DID have an agenda. Most were too stupid or too lazy or too young to push their agenda effectively. Someone like SlimVirgin, on the other hand, was both tireless and talented. There weren't many like her.

The situation has continued to decline. One of Jimbo's early favorites, Fred Bauder, was recently pushed out. Quite a few of the early admins who were pushing agendas have bailed out completely, or backed off. It's mostly controlled by a new generation of angry fools ("deletionist patrollers" and bot operators) and I suspect they will be pushing Wales himself out, someday soon.

Compare this situation with the situation on Encyclopedia Dramatica.

Don't start me on Dramatica post-Sherrod. It is the true "Incel Wikimedia" and I don't give a damn if anyone agrees with me.

Just checked: Jacob Stellmach was arrested recently for shoplifting. His version of ED, at .wiki, has been down for months and his website malhub.com is a drifting ghost ship. The .online version pops up occasionally when it's not crashed by DDOS attacks or whatever; apparently those nerds are still squabbling over who will control the DNS and server passwords, when they're not chortling at Stellmach's stupidity or insulting each other. The messes made by Zaiger and Satanicdruggie are still fresh memories. Nobody looks good, or smart, here. The whole tale is too pathetic.

The bottom line is that when Wikipedia started, the conditions on the web, legally speaking, were probably unique in the world. These conditions were just right for Jimbo and the Wikimedia Foundation. Editors with an agenda and talent, such as SlimVirgin, were able to use it as a tool.

Agreed. It was a once-in-a-lifetime fluke. I continue to suspect that the Web will end up being regulated, taxed etc., whether the "libertarians" like it or not, thanks to an endless list of past abuses. Facebook continues to be used to feed misinformation and insane rumors to millions of suckers. And it just plain amazes me that TOR is still accessible to the general public. Guaranteed that right now thousands of people are using it to buy or sell drugs, child porn, weapons, and what-have-you.

[Daniel Brandt]

What would happen to Wikipedia if Congress deleted Section 230 from the Communications Decency Act of 1996?

1. One thing that would NOT happen is federal resistance if Congress made such a move. Both Biden and Trump would like to see 230 deleted. Biden has been quiet on this since getting elected, but that's because he's getting old and doesn't know what he's doing.

2. The Wikimedia Foundation will make an effort to review all BLPs on Wikipedia (Biographies of Living Persons). They might try to do this quietly, but it will get done one way or another. The WMF makes a lot of money and they need to protect this income. They will hire lawyers to review all questionable articles and delete them as necessary, to forestall controversy. Anyone with a BLP can get their bio deleted just for the asking.

3. Jimbo will have nothing intelligible or important to say about this entire situation.

4. Information in BLPs that survive the purge will be footnoted to the greatest extent possible. This will alleviate some pressure.

5. Donations to WMF will decrease, but will still be substantial from movie stars, musicians, and other performers who need publicity.

6. Websites critical of Wikipedia will assume more of a watchdog role than they do presently.

7. Eventually, Wikipedia will disappear altogether because useful monitors and keyboards will become extinct. Advertisers will adapt to this, but 95 percent of future Web users won't know anything could be different because they're too young to remember Internet content in the good old days.

[ericbarbour]

Sounds good to me. I also suspect every president since W has been unhappy with the treatment they get on political websites and blogs, latter of which can be incredibly toxic. And Facebook is a pinnacle of bullshit with mobs of angry people over 50 being fed insane lies every day. Check this if you don't believe me:

https://www.reddit.com/r/hermancainaward

Every thread posted by an angry/now dead conservative is the same: 99% of the items were on Facebook.

JImbo NEVER says anything consequential or "smart" -- and never really did. He fell into a vat of internet shit and popped up smelling like Axe body spray. It's a "miracle" I guess.....