News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on The Campaign to Delegitimize Wikipedia.

Re:The Campaign to Delegitimize Wikipedia by insane_dreamer on Sunday February 09, 2025 @12:58PM (#42992228)
Whatever else you may think of Jimmy Wales, the fact that he has resisted temptation to turn Wikipedia into a mega-profitable ad-powered site or sell to Google or someone else is pretty unprecedented in recent tech history. Could have easily joined the "tres commas club".
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Campaign to Delegitimize Wikipedia by ZeroGravitas on Sunday February 09, 2025 @01:03PM (#42992267)
Apparently it was a strike by Spanish contributors that stopped his original plan to use adverts, so props to them.

https://www.wired.com/story/wikipedia-spanish-fork/

I was always mildly suspicious of Jimmy Wales but he seems to have done well. Considering what a grifter his co-founder Larry Sager has become, he's a saint by comparison.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Campaign to Delegitimize Wikipedia by IndrekR on Sunday February 09, 2025 @03:43PM (#42993752)
* Larry Sanger, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Sanger
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Campaign to Delegitimize Wikipedia by dhdjruf on Sunday February 09, 2025 @04:42PM (#42994348)
How is he a grifter? I don't see any mentions of bitcoin or ai in his wiki.

Jimmy wales has a masters in finance. Larry Sanger has a PhD in philosophy.

Who would you trust more a guy with a finance degree or a guy with a PD in philosophy with great interest in ethics?

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Campaign to Delegitimize Wikipedia by ZeroGravitas on Sunday February 09, 2025 @06:09PM (#42995092)
He's always dabbled in right-wing culture war type stuff with his various Wikipedia alternatives but more recently he's been into QAnon and anti-vax stuff.

I'd got the impression he was doing it partly to get right-wing funding for his various projects but maybe he's a true believer and I'm doing him a great disservice by calling him a grifter and not a lunatic.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Campaign to Delegitimize Wikipedia by insane_dreamer on Sunday February 09, 2025 @01:29PM (#42992445)
I didn't know about that, thanks for the link; major kudos to them. Still, Wales has had many opportunities to "sell out".
[ Parent | on HN ]