Re:25 Years of Wikipedia
by oytis on Thursday January 15, 2026 @11:46AM
(#46635310)
Wikipedia itself says Larry Sanger "co-founded" Wikipedia, but I don't quite understand why. If you get into the details, he was Wales' employee at the time, and made initial version of Wikipedia while being paid as such. So I'm tentatively with Wales on that ATM.
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Employing someone doesn't let you pass off their achievements as your own.
If Wales had anyone else, or had gone it alone, it's unlikely Wikipedia would be what it is today.
> Employing someone doesn't let you pass off their achievements as your own.
Doesn't it? That's basically how tech companies work. You can tell he's written an initial version of Wikipedia, but founder is emphatically not an employee.
That's not how fame and credit for some novel thing is shared. The minds of two people were vital to its success, and we don't fold that into one because of business structure.
Please tell the founders of various companies I've developed novel things for that my name should be at the top with theirs :p
"founder" is a weasel word that doesn't belong on Wikipedia.