MyWikiBiz - User contributions [en]

File:Gwen Gale with heads of contributors she blocked.jpg

2011-10-03T02:38:43Z

LyubaPol:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Gwen_Gale&oldid=403226565 Gwen Gale] with heads of absolutely innocent contributors she blocked

Wikipedia scandals

2011-10-03T02:37:49Z

LyubaPol: /* Heidi Wyss editing as Gwen Gale */

'''Wikipedia scandals''' are the all-too-frequent ethical lapses that pervade [[Wikipedia]]. This page will attempt to document some of those that are worth saving for history, since otherwise they will likely be whitewashed out of Wikipedia culture.

==Essjay is not a professor==
A wave of problems began with a decision by Wikipedia co-founder [[Directory:Jimmy Wales|Jimmy Wales]], when he hired a 24-year-old college dropout named [http://www.wikipedia-watch.org/gifs/wmessjay.png Ryan Jordan] to work at Wales' for-profit corporation Wikia, Inc. The hiring decision was made, even though Wales apparently knew Jordan had been passing himself off to the Wikipedia community (and to ''The New Yorker'' magazine's Pulitzer Prize winning [[Interviewed By:=Stacy Schiff]]) as a tenured professor [http://www.wikipedia-watch.org/gifs/essjay5.png holding multiple advanced degrees].

Further aggravating the issue, Jordan (whose Wikipedia screen name was "Essjay") was soon appointed by Wales to the highest volunteer adjudicating body within Wikipedia -- the Arbitration Committee.

[[Image:Wikipedia_scandals.jpg|right|thumb|275px|Wikimedia Foundation donations are dropping substantially]]When ''The New Yorker'' outted Ryan Jordan's academic fraud, their editors contacted Jimmy Wales for comment. Wales was quoted with the now infamous, "I regard it as a pseudonym and I don’t really have a problem with it." This set off a firestorm of criticism, both within Wikipedia and external to the world's largest encyclopedia community. Especially damaging seemed to be the numerous administrative cover-ups that attempted to hide the historical wiki record of Essjay's actions and the community debates that followed.

===The financial consequences===
The Essjay incident appeared to have an adverse impact on daily financial donations to the [[Directory:Wikimedia Foundation|Wikimedia Foundation]]. The downward slide closely mirrored a number of ethically questionable decisions by key administrators of [[Directory:Wikipedia|Wikipedia]].

The Wikimedia Foundation enjoyed a total of $3,477 in donations on February 23rd, the day Essjay was elevated to ArbCom status. Contrast this with a total of only $739 made on March 18th, less than one month later. This represented a 79% drop in daily contributions!

==Wikia / Wikimedia finances==
''Discussions took place on Wikipedia about the relationship between Wikia, Inc. and the leadership of the Wikimedia Foundation board of trustees. As you can see, these discussions were mostly rebuffed by hard-headed loyalists who couldn't imagine any wrongdoing.''

I heard that the person who is in charge of the Wikimedia Foundation's finances is the very same person who is in charge of the for-profit Wikia, Inc.'s finances. Is that true? --[[User:Dude Manchap|Dude Manchap]] 03:56, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
:Good question. [[User:Durova|Durova]]''[[User talk:Durova|Charge!]]'' 20:35, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
::So what if it is? I certainly trust them to do a good job if they are, and I'm sure that the board (who is in charge of the person) knows about this considering the owners of Wikia are previous board members. (...and the Board isn't stupid). '''[[User:Cbrown1023|Cbrown1023]]''' '''[[User talk:Cbrown1023|talk]]''' 23:01, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
:::That's fine if you personally trust them, Cbrown1023, but you may want to look at the [http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1023.pdf IRS form 1023] (no joke -- it's the same form number as the number found in your User name -- coincidence or irony?), especially what's said about Line 5a: '''A "conflict of interest" arises when a person in a position of authority over an organization, such as a director, officer, or manager, may benefit personally from a decision he or she could make.''' Note also Appendix A, starting at Page 25, which outlines a sample Conflict of Interest policy that a non-profit organization might adopt. Do you think that, as Appendix A suggests, either Jimmy Wales or Michael E. Davis have ever left the room during a Wikimedia Foundation board meeting, so that the other board members could discuss whether a conflict of interest was present for those two, who just happen to be former business partners and are currently vested in Wikia, which benefits from many, many favorable associations within Wikipedia? Jimmy Wales tried to hire a Wikipedia Arbitration Committee member onto Wikia. Wikia has many thousands of outbound links from Wikipedia, which point to pages monetized by Google AdSense ads. I guess, Cbrown1023, the question is not whether the Board "knows about this", but rather, why are they allowing such a gross appearance of conflict of interest to continue unabated? --[[User:Dude Manchap|Dude Manchap]] 03:27, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
::::If you feel that the Wikimedia Foundation is doing something wrong, by all means file a complaint with them. Otherwise, please take this discussion elsewhere. This noticeboard isn't for solving legal problems. - [[User:Jehochman|Jehochman]] [[User_talk:Jehochman|Talk]] 03:43, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
:::::This is not currently a legal problem. Nobody said it was. It is a Conflict of Interest problem. Another administrator has called it a "Good question", so why should it be swept under the rug and be "Resolved" by a non-administrator? --[[User:Dude Manchap|Dude Manchap]] 14:23, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
Hi again Dude. A few clarifications: you posted to ask whether there's a conflict of interest but haven't supplied much information. Normally requests to this board cite specific activity and evidence. And normally there's an onsite edit history to reference. If this person actually has registered and edits in a way that reflects a conflict of interest, this noticeboard might be able to accomplish something. If the conflict of interest relationship doesn't extend to actual editing activity then I have no direct power and only a little influence. Yet as the founder of [[:Category:Eguor admins]] I'm particularly open to this type of request. Sure, why not investigate a Wikipedia/Wikia COI? Burden of evidence rests squarely on your shoulders. Go for it if it's particularly important to you. Just expect to shoulder most of the work yourself. I'll check it out, see if there's anything I can do about it, and possibly ask for broader input. That's as fair as I can be. [[User:Durova|Durova]]''[[User talk:Durova|Charge!]]'' 15:19, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
:Well, this is a wiki, so the burden of evidence isn't just on me -- it's on the other users who will hopefully see this thread and have enough "wikisleuthing" in their blood to check it out some more. I appreciate your support of it staying in the open, rather than being hastily "resolved", which really would have reflected poorly on the Foundation. For starters, people may wish to look at these discussions about the Wikia/Wikipedia conflict of interest:
::*[http://www.joeszilagyi.com/2007/04/30/wikipedia-unethical-conflict-of-interest Joe Szilagyi blog]
::*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikia#Financial_conflict_of_interest.3F Wikia article discussion in Wikipedia]
::*[http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/04/28/wikipedia-special-treatment-for-wikia-and-other-wikis/ TechCrunch article by Nik Cubrilovic, including many illuminating comments]
::*[http://www.state.il.us/court/Opinions/AppellateCourt/2006/1stDistrict/March/Html/1041110.htm Court case against Michael E. Davis, Treasurer of both Wikimedia Foundation and Wikia, Inc.] This one is important, as it shows that Davis has not paid $817,830 that he was judged to owe the plaintiff. We are simultaneously being asked to "trust" that Davis will do a good job with the books at both Wikimedia and Wikia, Inc..—The preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment was added by [[User:Dude Manchap|Dude Manchap]] ([[User talk:Dude Manchap|talk]] • [[Special:Contributions/Dude Manchap|contribs]]){{#if:16:00, August 20, 2007 (UTC)| 16:00, August 20, 2007 (UTC)}}. 
::*[http://www.ihatewikipedia.com/uploads/Wikimedia_IRS_Form_990_2006_YE_063006.pdf Wikimedia Form 990 (Line 80) indicates there is a financial "relationship" with Wikia, Inc.]—The preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment was added by [[User:Dude Manchap|Dude Manchap]] ([[User talk:Dude Manchap|talk]] • [[Special:Contributions/Dude Manchap|contribs]]){{#if:16:00, August 20, 2007 (UTC)| 16:00, August 20, 2007 (UTC)}}. 
::*[http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/htdig/wikien-l/2007-January/059882.html Angela Beesley moved rejected Wikipedia articles to co-opt them for Wikia's benefit] —The preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment was added by [[User:Dude Manchap|Dude Manchap]] ([[User talk:Dude Manchap|talk]] • [[Special:Contributions/Dude Manchap|contribs]]){{#if:17:07, August 20, 2007 (UTC)| 17:07, August 20, 2007 (UTC)}}. 
:Again, I look forward to whether anyone else will step up and investigate this further. --[[User:Dude Manchap|Dude Manchap]] 15:48, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
::(stepping over issues of whether this is the right page to talk about the subject)...indeed, board members and accountants both have [[fiduciary]] duties to act in the best interest of their organizations. By various laws and governance principles they have to recuse themselves or avoid involvement when there is a conflict. Even a perceived conflict can be corrosive to governance and is sometimes prohibited because people lose faith. Someone who is on the board of Wikimedia or does its finances and also has a financial stake in Wikia should be very careful about taking positions here on things that benefit Wikia by directing traffic there, banning things from Wikipedia so as to distinguish it from a commercial site, making Wikipedia less attractive to constituents than Wikia. Actions that seem to raise a conflict include banning commercial links, advertisements, fair use media, conflict-of-interest editors, etc., from Wikipedia so that people go to Wikia for that.[[User:Wikidemo|Wikidemo]] 16:05, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
(outdent) Looking over those five links, two of them are specifically legal issues outside my expertise. I have no qualification to evaluate them. Joe Szlilagyi's blog is hardly a reliable source and another on-wikipedia thread was started by someone who's expended his credibility also. The techcrunch.com article holds water, in my opinion. What exactly are you seeking? If the basic complaint regards financial relationships at that level, then the most I could do would be to ask the WMF board to review this matter, and possibly to ask someone to institute nofollow to outgoing links to Wikia. My sysop tools would be useless to address this. Or is more forthcoming? [[User:Durova|Durova]]''[[User talk:Durova|Charge!]]'' 17:06, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
:This is a wiki -- there's no telling if there is "more forthcoming" or not. Another example might be the Essjay situation. Essjay was nominated by Jimmy Wales to the Arbitration Committee -- the highest level of dispute resolution below the Board itself. Only a month earlier (I may be wrong about the timeline), Wales had also hired Essjay to work for Wikia, Inc. This took place this year, well after the issue of "Conflict of Interest" has been made so noticeable on Wikipedia, thanks in part (ironically) to Wales' discussions of editing by conflicted parties. Was it appropriate for Wales to nominate one of his Wikia employees to a position on the Arbitration Committee? I believe that question was obscured by the whole firestorm over Essjay's fabricated credentials. Yes, I think the Board of Directors should look at this entire matter; but do you realize that it should be while Wales and Davis and Beesley (and any other Wikia parties I may have missed) are not present in the room? The other factor that I think is important here is that this discussion remain open for some time. Already two non-admin users have attempted to hide it from plain view, with the reason being it belongs somewhere else. This seems very weak, being that this is a Conflict of Interest Noticeboard, and this is a conflict of interest issue. --[[User:Dude Manchap|Dude Manchap]] 17:15, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

:How does this question have anything to do with the purpose of this page? [[User:Corvus cornix|Corvus cornix]] 17:15, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

==Heidi Wyss editing as ''Gwen Gale''==
[[File:Gwen Gale with heads of contributors she blocked.jpg| [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Gwen_Gale&oldid=403226565 Gwen Gale] with heads of contributors she blocked|thumb|350px]]
Heidi Wyss is a Swiss administrator of Wikipedia. Under the user name ''Gwen Gale'', she has handed out numerous account blocks ([http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&offset=20081201000000&limit=500&type=block&user=Gwen+Gale&month=11&year=2008 more than 500] in October and November of 2008) to other users who supposedly violated Wikipedia's rules. However, she herself broke a cardinal rule of Wikipedia -- don't self-publish autobiographical puff pieces in the encyclopedia. The article she wrote looked something like this:

===Heidi Wyss (article for deletion)===
'''Heidi Wyss''' (born 1975, [[Geneva]]) is a [[Swiss]] author.

Wyss was educated in Geneva and in the [[United Kingdom]]. She has worked as an [[histology|histologist]] and technical writer. Her first [[novel]] ''[[Gormglaith (novel)|Gormglaith]]'', published in 2007, has been described as a "Radical lesbian separatist cult hit set in a plausible future with a witchy bent",<ref>The Secret Society of Lesbian Propellerheads, ''[http://www.ssolp.org/index.php SSOLP home page]'', accessed February 1, 2008</ref> "...like a female ''[[Finnegans Wake]]''..." along with "touches of [[JRR Tolkien|Tolkien]]" and reminiscent "...in some ways of the very intricate work of [[Patricia Kennealy-Morrison]]'s Keltiad novels."<ref>Swann, Morgaine, ''[http://www.womenwriters.net/winter05/Gormglaith1.htm Gormglaith by Heidi Wyss]'', womenwriters.net, accessed February 1, 2008</ref>

'''References'''
{{reflist}}

'''External links'''
*[http://skepchick.org/blog/?p=636 Wyss interviewed at Skepchick.org]

<nowiki>[[Category:Swiss feminists]]</nowiki>
<nowiki>[[Category:Swiss science fiction writers]]</nowiki>
<nowiki>[[Category:1975 births]]</nowiki>
<nowiki>[[Category:Living people]]</nowiki>

[[File:Gwen Gale aka the Witch is roaming around wikipedia .jpg|left|thumb|350px|After Gwen Gale got her [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Admin_mop.PNG administrative tool] she quickly turned the mop to a witch's broomstick. Now she uses this broomstick to fly around Wikipedia to collect heads of innocent editors while allowing trolls to troll.]]

===Gormglaith (article for deletion)===

''As if the autobiography were not enough, administrator Gwen Gale went on to write a self-promotional advertisement on Wikipedia about her rather non-noteworthy novel, '''Gormglaith''':'' 

'''''Gormglaith''''' (2007) by [[Heidi Wyss]] is a hard science fiction novel set in a radical feminist separatist world of the future.

'''Plot introduction'''
The tale follows its protagonist Gormglaith as she copes with the outcome of her own rashness throughout five life-shifting days and nights.

'''Reception'''
Morgaine Swann in her review on womenwriters.net said "I'm sure there are Druids and Wiccans who'll devour it whole... LOTR fans who'll sleep out for tickets to the movie and Witchy young women enamored of fantasy books on all things Keltic... for my part, I had trouble getting into it. It isn't just a book -- it's a project. From the first page, it was incomprehensible and there was nothing there to draw me in, or make me care enough to dig in. A little seduction, or at least introduction, would go a long way. It felt like a female [[Finnegan's Wake]], with all that implies, good and bad. It had touches of [[J. R. R. Tolkien|Tolkien]] and reminded me in some ways of the very intricate work of [[Patricia Kennealy-Morrison|Patricia Kennealy-Morrison's]] [[The Keltiad|Keltiad]] novels. If that appeals to you, I recommend this book."<ref name="urlGormglaith">{{cite web |url=http://www.womenwriters.net/winter05/Gormglaith1.htm |title=Gormglaith |author= Morgaine Swann|authorlink= |coauthors= |date= 2004-12-01|format= |work= |publisher= |pages= |language= |archiveurl= http://www.webcitation.org/5bfJe9kFD|archivedate= 2008-10-18|quote= |accessdate=2008-10-18}}</ref> Karen Campbell in her review on Quiet Mountain Essays said "We meet Gormglaith Hafgan Halsen (Celtic for "dark blue-green lake, storm in summer changing course") in a pastoral late summer setting under elm trees, mid-conversation with her friend Findabair. Their rolling banter deftly pulls us into the story, and a state of extreme culture shock. This is wonderfully written and fun English dialog, but not quite any sort the reader has encountered before... Gormglaith's radical setting, vocabulary and deceptively linear structure will present a challenging and rewarding read for some, but it'll be a difficult, uneven slog for others. This may depend more on individual temperament and interest in the story than on reading skills. As feminist literature it's unceasingly assertive, positive and controversial. As hard science fiction it offers a deeply structured, often entertaining story, at turns inspiring and disturbing, in a unique contribution to the genre."<ref name="urlQuiet Mountain Essays; Gormglaith Book Review by Karen Campbell">{{cite web |url=http://www.quietmountainessays.org/Gormglaith.html |title=Quiet Mountain Essays; "Gormglaith" Book Review by Karen Campbell |author= Karen Campbell|authorlink= |coauthors= |date= 2004|format= |work= |publisher= |pages= |language= |archiveurl= http://www.webcitation.org/5bfJs3ZS8|archivedate= 2008-10-18|quote= |accessdate=2008-10-18}}</ref>

'''Notes'''
{{reflist}}

'''External links'''
*[http://skepchick.org/blog/?p=636 Wyss interviewed about ''Gormglaith'' at Skepchick.org]
*[http://www.literateweb.com/wyss.htm Gormglaith] online at Literateweb.

<nowiki>[[Category:2007 novels]]</nowiki>
<nowiki>[[Category:Science fiction novels]]</nowiki>
<nowiki>[[Category:Utopian novels]]</nowiki>
<nowiki>[[Category:Feminist science fiction]]</nowiki>

===Consequences===
As usual on Wikipedia, even the most conflicted volunteers think that they are better than others to lead the project, and ''Gwen Gale'' had even put herself up for election to the Arbitration Committee, Wikipedia's highest ruling authority below the Wikimedia Foundation board of trustees and staff. Once her conflicted edits were exposed, though, she withdrew herself from consideration for ArbCom.

The lesson here, of course, is not so much that what Heidi Wyss had done was so terribly wrong, but rather that Wikipedia is corrupt from the very top down. Thus, we should not be surprised as observers when these conflicts of interest are exposed; indeed, we should be surprised that such conflicts are not revealed more often... because what gets publicized is only the tip of the iceberg.

In January of 2010 [[:user:Willowtree|Willowtree]](probably [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Gwen_Gale Gwen Gale]) [http://mywikibiz.com/index.php?title=Wikipedia_scandals&diff=prev&oldid=106377 tried to remove the information about herself from this article] just as she [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3AArbitration_Committee_Elections_December_2008%2FCandidate_statements%2FGwen_Gale%2FQuestions_for_the_candidate&diff=254715552&oldid=254671400 did] many times on English wikipedia, but this time it did not work out, and she [http://mywikibiz.com/index.php?title=Wikipedia_scandals&diff=106400&oldid=106377 was reverted]. It is not the only appearance of Gwen Gale on mywikibiz. [http://mywikibiz.com/Special:Contributions/81.62.148.165 In 2007 she wrote an article about her novel]. According to [http://img362.imageshack.us/img362/6083/92979875oe7.jpg this screenshot] this IP#81.62.148.165 was used by Heidi Wyss (Gwen Gale) to edit an article about her novel on wikipedia as well.

==Tolerance of plagiarism==
The original version of any wiki-formatted article about the Arch Coal company was authored in September 2006 by [[Directory:Gregory J. Kohs|Gregory Kohs]] and released under the terms of the GFDL on this website, [[Directory:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz.com]]. It was then scraped by an independent editor into Wikipedia. In October 2006, erroneously thinking that the article was paid for by Arch Coal, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales acted to delete the article from Wikipedia, but the Wikipedia community determined that Wales' action had been unjustified. The article was revised, largely by "User:JzG" (Guy Chapman). However, in January 2008, Kohs demonstrated to Chapman that the article as modified by User:JzG actually plagiarized many aspects of the original. Faced with that evidence, Chapman elected to cover up his misdeed by [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&page=Arch_Coal deleting the original edits] on the Wikipedia site, thus making the provenance of the article appear to have come from Chapman, and not from MyWikiBiz. When Jimmy Wales was notified about this violation of professional ethics and proper GFDL attribution of the edit history, Wales '''very reluctantly''' restored the original edit history, with the childish edit summary, "''might as well restore all of it I suppose''".

When later asked to comment on this affair, Jimmy Wales instead relied on one of his loyal followers to [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Jimbo_Wales&diff=255481782&oldid=255480598 erase the uncomfortable question] and to [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&type=block&page=User%3AEast_Bradford block the editor] who asked it.

===Additional comment===
When in December 2008, Kohs [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arch_Coal&diff=255480884&oldid=255154863 sought to improve] the article about Arch Coal on Wikipedia, his improvements were [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arch_Coal&diff=next&oldid=255480884 reverted back] by a mindless administrator from Belgium. This underscores the true system of editorial control on Wikipedia -- it matters not the '''content''' of one's edits, but rather '''who''' authors the content. (Which, of course, directly contradicts Wikipedia's supposed credo that "anyone can edit".)

==Rachel Marsden affair==
Wales allegedly made attempts to "clean up" a Wikipedia entry for a woman with whom he had a relationship, and it generated headlines.

The Wikipedia article regarding controversial [[Directory:Canada|Canadian]] radio commentator [[Rachel Marsden]] has been the subject of controversy on Wikipedia from some years. According to Ms. Marsden, whom Wales has admitted to dating, she had asked [[Wikipedia]] to delete her [[biography]]. Her concerns led her to contact Wikipedia co-founder [[Jimmy Wales]] in 2006, claiming that it was wrong and libelous. According to her, he reviewed her biography and, deeming that it was not up to standard, helped to clean up the entry. However, the article was mainly revised as the result of an extensive review by Wikipedia's arbitration committee.<ref>I did much of the work on this case, and probably played the major role in providing guidelines for revising the article. Jimmy Wales played little, if any, role in editing the article or requesting its revision. Guidelines for editing were based on Wikipedia's Biographies of living person's policy, <nowiki>[[w:Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons]]. [[User:Fred Bauder|Fred]] [[User talk:Fred Bauder|Talk]]</nowiki> 22:44, 17 March 2008 (EDT) </ref>

Wales announced in a statement on Wikipedia "My involvement in cases like this is completely routine, and I am proud of it."<ref name=smh/> On [[February 29]], [[2008]], the technology gossip blog [[Valleywag]] claimed that they had entered into a relationship, and published instant messaging chats that they had allegedly exchanged. On the following day Wales announced on his Wikipedia user page that he was no longer involved with her. In return, Marsden, who claimed to have learned about the breakup by reading about it on the Internet, turned to [[eBay]] and put up for auction a [[t-shirt]] and sweater that she claimed to be Wales'.<ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/03/02/marsden-breakup.html
| title = Canadian pundit, Wikipedia founder in messy breakup
| author = Siri Agrell
| publisher = [[The Canadian Press]]
| date = [[2008-03-02]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-06
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080304.wlbreakup04/BNStory/lifeMain/home
| title = Ms. Marsden's cyberspace breakup: tit-for-tat-for-T-shirt
| author = Siri Agrell
| publisher = [[The Globe and Mail]]
| date = [[2008-03-04]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,334652,00.html
| title = Wikipedia Founder's Fling With Columnist Ends in Nasty Public Breakup
| publisher = [[Fox News Channel|FOXNews.com]]
| date = [[2008-03-03]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3475722.ece
| title = Fury of a woman scorned – on Wikipedia
| publisher = [[The Times]]
| date = [[2008-03-04]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref name=smh>{{cite news
| url = http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/ex-takes-her-revenge-on-mr-wiki/2008/03/04/1204402405901.html
| title = Ex takes her revenge on Mr Wikipedia
| publisher = [[The Sydney Morning Herald]]
| author = Asher Moses
| date = [[2008-03-04]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref>
<ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2008-03-04-wikipedia-wales_N.htm?csp=34
| title = Wikipedia's Wales defends breakup, expenses
| publisher = [[USA Today]]
| date = [[2008-03-05]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2004286879_btwikipedia17.html
| title = Wikipedia experiences growing pains
| author = Alana Semuels
| publisher = Seattle Times
| date = [[2008-03-17]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-17
}}</ref>

A typical editor of Wikipedia is not allowed to document this incident within the Wikipedia article about Jimmy Wales.

==Scorpions "Virgin Killer" album cover==
In December 2008, the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) added to its "potentially illegal" list the Wikipedia image of the original album cover of The Scorpions' fourth release, ''Virgin Killer''. The image depicted a young girl posed naked with only her vulva covered by the appearance of cracked glass. Many found the picture offensive. Internet service providers in the [[Directory:United Kingdom|UK]] followed suit with the IWF and blocked the image and page from users' browsing, and channeling those requests through a very limited set of IP addresses.

Regardless of your opinions about whether this image constitutes child pornography, or whether the IWF engaged in "censorship" of art, one thing was clearly missed by the mainstream media in this affair:

:''If Wikipedia did not suffer from an intractable vandalism problem, this one-page block on a 22-yr old album cover might never have been noticed. It was only noticed because the proxy IP was blocked on the Wikipedia side of the connection.''
:''The fact of the matter is, Wikipedia admins blithely block thousands of IPs, sometimes in wholesale range-blocks that affect major metropolitan areas.'' - [http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=21516&view=findpost&p=146163 Barry Kort], 12/09/2008.

That is, the Wikipedia apparatus practices wide-scale editorial censorship, without due process, on an hourly basis; yet few seem concerned about this even within an encyclopedia that purportedly ''anyone can edit''. Yet, there is much wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth when an image that portrays a young girl, told by a photographer to strip down naked and pose for the camera, all in the name of marketing a rock band's album, is censored.

===Put images to the test===
[[Image:St_Pete_billboard.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Would you contribute $25 to see this billboard in real life? ''(Click picture only if you're a not-easily-offended adult)'']] Many Wikipedia zealots possess a feverish reflex urge to shout "Wikipedia is not censored" and will defend vehemently not only the ''right'' but the '''''need''''' to publish on Wikimedia servers prurient content that is neither properly sourced nor even encyclopedic in nature. One Wikipedian pauses to note:

:''...I really do worry that any media organisation actually putting the effort in to scratch beneath the surface of the Wiki machine may find some things that will be harder to defend than an album cover from 1976.'' - [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Jimbo_Wales&diff=next&oldid=256870274 "George the Dragon"], 12/09/2008.

Wouldn't it be interesting to put the Wikipedia standard to the test, say, in an environment of "community standards" like St. Petersburg, [[Directory:Florida|Florida]]? How fun would it be to start a grassroots fundraising campaign to pay for a "free speech"-testing, GFDL billboard such as this one? Comment on [[Talk:Wikipedia_scandals|this talk page]].

==David Boothroyd, sockpuppet admin==
[[Directory:David Boothroyd|David Boothroyd]] created controversy in 2009 when it was discovered that he edited [[Wikipedia]] under the user names '''Dbiv''', '''Fys''', and '''Sam Blacketer''' and eventually became part of the site's policy-enforcing Arbitration Committee. After earning Administrator status with one account, then being de-sysopped for inappropriate use of the admin tools, Boothroyd regained Administrator status with the "Sam Blacketer" sockpuppet account. A [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] member, after being sleuthed out by [[Directory:Wikipedia Review|Wikipedia Review]] contributor, "Tarantino", Boothroyd outted himself for having used [[sockpuppet|sockpuppets]] in the course of obtaining his position and for having edited the article of [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] leader [[David Cameron]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/05/26/wikipedia_westminster_councillor/|title=Sockpuppeting British politico resigns from Wikisupremecourt|last=Metz|first=Cade|date=26 May 2009|publisher=[[The Register]]|accessdate=2009-05-27}}</ref>
==Johann Hari and his socks==

Johann Hari a disgraced journalist used Wikipedia for a few years [[Johann Hari and David Rose|to prize himself in his own entry, and to libel his opponents in their entries]].

== See also ==
* [[Wikipedia]]
* [[Criticism of Jimmy Wales|Jimmy Wales]]
* [[Directory:Wikimedia Foundation|Wikimedia Foundation]]
* [[Nationalistic Editing on Wikipedia]]
* [[Directory:Josip Broz Tito and Wikipedia| Wikipedia's bias towards Dictator Josip Broz Tito and Communist Yugoslavia]]

==External links==
<references/>
[http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=18620 Milton Roe's 18 Promises about Editing Wikipedia] - A Wikipedia Dissenter's Credo

 
[[Keyword:=Wikipedia]], [[Keyword:=Scandal]]
[[Category:Wikipedia]]

User talk:MyWikiBiz

2011-09-14T04:06:36Z

LyubaPol: /* Email */ new section

'''Past discussions are archived here''':

*[[User talk:MyWikiBiz/Archive 1|Archive 1]] ''(Oct 2006 - Mar 2007)''
*[[User talk:MyWikiBiz/Archive 2|Archive 2]] ''(Mar 2007 - May 2007)''
*[[User talk:MyWikiBiz/Archive 3|Archive 3]] ''(June 2007 - June 2008)''
*[[User talk:MyWikiBiz/Archive 4|Archive 4]] ''(July 2008 - January 2009)''
*[[User talk:MyWikiBiz/Archive 5|Archive 5]] ''(January 2009 - December 2009)''

==Aricle not doing well in google==

this article [[Sarey Savy]] is number 15 on google i need to make it number one! Help! please?! ([[User:Michael Chen|Michael Chen]] 21:06, 11 February 2010 (PST))
: You just created it. It may take some time to get to #1. Also, it will help if you go to other websites (Facebook, MySpace, Wikia, etc.) and try to get an external link placed FROM there TO this article here. I will look at the [[Sarey Savy]] page and see if I can help matters with the semantic tagging in the article. -- [[User:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz]] 06:00, 12 February 2010 (PST)

Thanks man this is WAY better than Wikipedia =] If i could give away awards for best wikis i would give you millions and you'd win all the time =] ([[User:Michael Chen|Michael Chen]] 08:42, 12 February 2010 (PST))

Oh it's decreasing it's rank on google. ([[User:Michael Chen|Michael Chen]] 09:08, 12 February 2010 (PST))

Why is it decreasing? ([[User:Michael Chen|Michael Chen]] 09:47, 12 February 2010 (PST))

:It probably senses your panic. Seriously, calm down -- these things take time. And there's no saying that this page is going to go to #1 -- there's already a page on MySpace and on Facebook. They tend to perform stronger than MyWikiBiz. Have you set up any inbound, "dofollow" links on other sites? -- [[User:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz]] 12:52, 12 February 2010 (PST)

Yes it is linked on myspace facebook etc. ([[User:Michael Chen|Michael Chen]] 14:03, 12 February 2010 (PST))

What can i do to improve the google ranking? ([[User:Michael Chen|Michael Chen]] 21:40, 12 February 2010 (PST))

:Mr. Chen, may I ask how old are you? Please [http://www.slideshare.net/bencrothers/10-tips-to-boost-your-google-ranking read this] and follow what you learn there. These are basic tips for boosting the Google ranking of a site or page you wish to optimize. Good luck! -- [[User:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz]] 06:51, 13 February 2010 (PST)

Thanks! It's number 3 on google ranking! Can't you take the Directory talk out? ([[User:Michael Chen|Michael Chen]] 10:37, 13 February 2010 (PST))

Okay it fell down it's not even on google!!! I just deleted my history and everything then the next thing you know Sarey Savy-Mywikibiz is GONE! ([[User:Michael Chen|Michael Chen]] 16:01, 14 February 2010 (PST))

The directory doesn't show up but, yet when i take the directory out it does at number 3. ([[User:Michael Chen|Michael Chen]] 09:39, 15 February 2010 (PST))

== Problems With SVG Images ==

Hi, Greg, there's some kind of problem with SVG images. Maybe we're a couple of MediaWiki updates behind?

* Here's my test page: http://mywikibiz.com/User:Jon_Awbrey/SVG

* Here's what it should look like: http://oeis.org/wiki/User:Jon_Awbrey/SVG

[[User:Jon Awbrey|Jon Awbrey]] 10:50, 16 February 2010 (PST)

:We will look into it and [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Image_Administration#SVG seek a repair]. -- [[User:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz]] 13:42, 16 February 2010 (PST)

==Can you please explain to me what your site is for?==
I don't want to break any rules here. I really don't want to be banned from here. They banned me at wikipedia review and it just hurt my feelings even more. I would like to help out here, but I don't want any more bans because it makes me feel bad. I guess I have a very big problem with following or understanding site rules, so if you could please help me out with what you expect here and what this is for - before I do anything wrong and get banned I would appreciate it.[[User:Wiki Greek Basketball|Wiki Greek Basketball]] 12:45, 19 February 2010 (PST)
:[http://www.mywikibiz.com/Help:Introduction This page] should answer most of your questions. I'm happy that you're here. Not looking to ban you. In fact, three of the four top contributors to MyWikiBiz.com are blocked on Wikipedia. You basically have a lot of options here, but the first thing you need to square away is whether you are going to try to make a little bit of money here (more effort and slightly more rules to obey), or whether money is not of interest to you (easier, and fewer rules to stay on top of). -- [[User:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz]] 17:10, 19 February 2010 (PST)

== Wikia ==

Do you suppose Wikia would be profitable by now, or ever if Wikipedia did not tag Wikia links with the "nofollow" tag for however long? Do you know for how long they were not tagged with "nofollow"?

I saw that you posted this link, I think on WR:

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:LinkSearch&limit=5000&offset=20000&target=http://*.wikia.com

So there are like 22,000 Wikia links? Wow. [[User:Wikademia|Wikademia]]

:Considering that Wikia is only barely profitable at this time (and with $14 million sunk into it, and likely very little of that recuperated), I would honestly suggest that Wikia would not be profitable by now if they hadn't had the early and ongoing boost(s) from Wikipedia-based link relevance and traffic. If you add to this how often Jimmy Wales has traveled on purportedly a Wikimedia Foundation "mission", but manages to talk about Wikia even briefly to large audiences, then I am absolutely certain Wikia would be well underwater without that self-promotional boost. -- [[User:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz]] 09:18, 18 March 2010 (PDT)

:: But it is probably legal to do things like that I suppose? I am not a lawyer. I have no idea. [[User:Wikademia|Wikademia]]

::: Oh, I'm sure it's legal... up until the point the IRS decides to conduct an audit of either your personal or your corporation's taxes. But, regardless; the real point is when you consider how Wales speaks so glowingly of his free (and freewill) contributions to the Wikimedia Foundation mission (with no mention of how he's appropriated that mission to almost entirely drive his personal fortunes), his character is revealed to be that of a hypocrite when he speaks with revulsion about those who would "exploit" Wikipedia for profit. You're smart enough to see through that phony baloney, right? -- [[User:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz]] 14:15, 18 March 2010 (PDT)
:::: Self deception maybe? Or maybe just the way capitalism has to work? [[User:Wikademia|Wikademia]]

== Wikademia and Wikieducator ==

I'm sure you'd be welcome to edit on both of those. [[User:Wikademia|Wikademia]]

:Have you seen the Alexa ratings of WikiEducator? They are a bit lower than MyWikiBiz. I'd reach more people working here. As for Wikademia, let me know when it reaches the top million on Alexa. -- [[User:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz]] 21:50, 21 March 2010 (PDT)

== Hi MyWikiBiz ==

I would like to edit the article 'Greg James Sculpture Studio Gallery' but it appears to be locked. The article was created by Peter Z. who doesn't seem to have any problems in editing it. My menu bar displays on the article 'View Source'. Can you please help? [[User:Greg James Sculpture|Greg James Sculpture]] 21:11, 31 March 2010 (PDT)
:It is open now to your being able to edit it. However, be advised, once you make an edit, you will become the "owner" of the article (because it's in Directory space), and others (including Peter) will not have access to edit. That's how our Directory space is set up at MyWikiBiz -- it's intended to be one-editor-only. If the two of you are both equally interested in editing it, I would suggest creating a joint account between you and share the password. -- [[User:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz]] 21:30, 31 March 2010 (PDT)
:: Thank you [[User:Greg James Sculpture|Greg James Sculpture]] 21:47, 31 March 2010 (PDT)

== Title Help ==
Hi MyWikiBiz! Could you please help me. I've created a new article & left a dot at the end of the title: [[Directory:Robert Dawkins-The Silver Gallery.]] Is their a way of removing the dot, because I can't figure out how to do it? Regards:) [[User:Peter Z.|Peter Z.]] 19:34, 7 April 2010 (PDT)
: I have moved it to [[Directory:Robert_Dawkins-The_Silver_Gallery|a new location]], sans period. -- [[User:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz]] 04:55, 8 April 2010 (PDT)
:: Thanks. [[User:Peter Z.|Peter Z.]] 05:38, 8 April 2010 (PDT)

== Help:SMW ==

There is a note on one of my pages which says that ASK is no longer supported but to use 'SMW'. Is there any documentation on this pls? (Couldn't find any). [[User:Ockham|Ockham]] 19:50, 5 May 2010 (UTC)

[edit] Does [http://semantic-mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Inline_queries this] have anything to do with it? If I can figure this out I will add some help files. [[User:Ockham|Ockham]] 19:52, 5 May 2010 (UTC)

:Yes, that is exactly the page I was going to point you to, Ockham. This was one of the most frustrating aspects of our transfer to a new server host and a complete upgrade/update to both the most current Mediawiki core software, but also the most current Semantic Mediawiki extension that used to run all of our Attributes and Relations. Now, both Attributes and Relations are lumped into a new field called "Properties". And instead of using a := for Attributes, all Properties now need a :: instruction. I'm going to be hiring a coder to try to make some of these universal, global changes to try to make things a bit more polished around here. -- [[User:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz]] 02:21, 6 May 2010 (UTC)
:: Hi thanks. I [http://www.mywikibiz.com/index.php?title=List_of_medieval_philosophers&oldid=116947 tested] the medieval philosophers query with the SMW syntax but still doesn't work. I think it needs a professional to set us on the right road and then we can take it from there. [[User:Ockham|Ockham]] 07:07, 6 May 2010 (UTC)

[edit] ah my mistake. It does work (see [http://www.mywikibiz.com/index.php?title=List_of_medieval_philosophers this version] of the page). [[User:Ockham|Ockham]] 07:23, 6 May 2010 (UTC)
{edit] The key is to remember that it doesn't support the '=<' sign. '<' in SMW means 'less or equal to'. Otherwise you get the bug. [[User:Ockham|Ockham]] 07:40, 6 May 2010 (UTC)

===How about this===

I think SMW is going to be more powerful than ASK. I have created a new version of [[List_of_Scholastic_Texts]], which as you can see now supports links to the authors, which the old version never did.

I am going to experiment with catalogues of medieval manuscripts. I have a digitised version of M.R.James catologue of manuscripts held in Gonville and Caius' library. This has details of condition, production date or century, lists of Authors and so on. There are currently projects to take catalogues like these and use professional software developers in the old-fahshioned and expensive way, to build large and difficult-to-maintain databases that only professional developers (rather than users) can understand. Using environments like this, you hardly need developers. A team of users and experts working together can quickly build a database that is far easier to use and far more transparent than any expensive database developed in the traditional IT-led way.

The problem is to get the users (i.e. medievalists or whoever) to understand how powerful this can be, and how easy to use. I will make some experiments with the James catalogue and if this works I will publish something in 'Digital Medievalist'. [[User:Ockham|Ockham]] 08:27, 6 May 2010 (UTC)

:I agree that while this was a painful upgrade, the opportunities for even better uses of the Semantic architecture are worth it. I am very, very pleased (you don't know how much) that a "regular user" figured this out and will be setting an example for others. I'm going to be hiring the coder later today or tomorrow, and I hope that he'll do quite a lot to help "clean up" the old messes left behind by the upgrade. -- [[User:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz]] 16:35, 6 May 2010 (UTC)
::Thanks, it's no problem. I also succeeded in setting up [[List_of_medieval_manuscripts]] as mentioned above. This points to pages like [[Directory:Logic_Museum/Caius_344/540]] which are a much better way of structuring information than in the old [[Directory:Logic_Museum/Manuscripts]], which is the old Wikipedia-style of hard-coding a list of things that cannot be sorted or filtered or categorised. If I have time I will write a little 1-2-3 tutorial that will take someone used to the old ways and show them the new way. [[User:Ockham|Ockham]] 17:09, 6 May 2010 (UTC)

== Access to The_Wikipedia_Point_of_View ==

Hi Greg I have lost edit rights to [[Directory:The_Wikipedia_Point_of_View|The_Wikipedia_Point_of_View]]. I can edit subdirectories of it, and other directories I own, but not this. Oddly, Peter Z seems able to edit it. How strange. I was going to start a subdirectory on terrible economics articles. [[User:Ockham|Ockham]] 17:24, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

:Try again. We're working on this issue. -- [[User:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz]] 17:49, 2 June 2010 (UTC)
:: No. Still 'View source' only.[[User:Ockham|Ockham]] 18:01, 2 June 2010 (UTC)
==Problems with my articles==

Hi MyWikiBiz! There are problems with my articles. What do you think is going on? [http://www.mywikibiz.com/Titoism_and_Totalitarianism link] [[User:Peter Z.|Peter Z.]] 00:56, 12 June 2010 (UTC)

This one too. [http://www.mywikibiz.com/Criticism_of_Jimmy_Wales link] [[User:Peter Z.|Peter Z.]] 01:34, 12 June 2010 (UTC)

==Hello Greg==
How are you doing? Would it be ok if i posted some pages here that i made elsewhere? [[User:Raf|Raf]] 19:11, 22 October 2010 (UTC)
:I also noticed your paid wiki-gnome thread, but how do you send money to people online, and is it valid for people who live outside the USA? [[User:Raf|Raf]] 19:13, 22 October 2010 (UTC)
I think it's okay to post pages that you made elsewhere, as long as you have rights to do so, and that the pages don't violate our own [[Help:General_disclaimer|terms of service]]. Payment for wiki-gnoming can be via PayPal.com, or via a mailed commercial check drawn in US dollars on a US bank. If neither of those options work, then I'm not sure how to transact. -- [[User:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz]] 19:25, 22 October 2010 (UTC)
::So in theory, i just have to set up a pre-paid card with PayPal and then it's all good for transferring money, from any country to any country? [[User:Raf|Raf]] 20:27, 22 October 2010 (UTC)
:::I'm sure certain limitations and restrictions apply, so see PayPal.com for details. However, I know that I have transacted payments internationally on PayPal, multiple times. As for this particular wiki-gnoming project, though... I believe I have another taker working on it now. For a $15 ''Om nom nom nom'' payment to the Wikimedia Foundation. Ugh. -- [[User:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz]] 14:41, 23 October 2010 (UTC)
::::''Om nom nom nom''? ... Well for my part give 1 dollar to the WMF with a comment like "Wikipedia keeps being [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwear_fetishism child] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urolagnia friendly] with appropriate pictures for an encyclopedia" or something like that. The other 14 dollars could go to [http://scoobysworkshop.com/support.htm this], he puts a lot of time for his non-profit hobby to give advice on how to fight obesity and sedentary lifestiles. Also, if you donate 200 $ or more to him, he will give you a t-shirt. [[User:Raf|Raf]] 19:55, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

:::::Regarding the possible pages i can import here, they're mostly not business related and are quite obscure topics, to which i have no relation at all. Since there are pages like [[Directory:Quasi Brands]], would they be fine here? [[User:Raf|Raf]] 21:26, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

::::::Raf, did you read the [[Help:General_disclaimer|terms of service]]? Here, we seek to fashion this site as a safe, pleasant environment for gentle people of ages 13 and older. The management reserves the right to delete the following sorts of content at any time: pornography, adult or mature content, pedophilia or the advocacy of pedophilia, illegal gambling or wagering, gratuitous violence, hate speech, fraudulent information, and business scams. Editors who self-identify as proponents or behave in a way that strongly suggests they are proponents of any of these topics will be blocked indefinitely. These types of content are also restricted by Google AdSense, and because AdSense currently displays on many editors' content pages on MyWikiBiz, we cannot jeopardize AdSense account(s) with such prohibited content. If your obscure content doesn't seem to ruffle these terms, you should be fine. -- [[User:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz]] 03:13, 24 October 2010 (UTC)

== The Letter ==

Title: '''The Letter''' 
Artist: '''Greg Kohs''' 
Composer: '''Wayne Carson Thompson and Barsoom Tork Associates''' 
YouTube: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lIxvIUz4aY '''The Letter'''] — The Box Tops (1967) 
 
Gimme a tax break for a donation, 
My column's more fun than Sony PlayStation. 
Boring days are gone, I'm a-goin' strong, 
'Cause Jimbo just wrote me a letter. 
 
I don't care how much money he's gotta spend, 
Getting back to New York again 
Boring days are gone, my column's going strong, 
'Cause Jimbo just wrote me a letter. 
 
Well, he wrote me a letter 
Said he couldn't fly without some more dough. 
Listen friends, can't you see he's got to get back 
To New York once more --anyway... 
 
Gimme a tax break for a donation, 
My column's more fun than Sony PlayStation. 
Boring days are gone, I'm a-goin' strong, 
'Cause Jimbo just wrote me a letter. 
 
Well, he wrote me a letter 
Said he couldn't fly without some more dough. 
Listen critics, can't you see we got to get back 
To Wikimania once more --anyway... 
 
Gimme a tax break for a donation, 
My column's more fun than Sony PlayStation. 
Boring days are gone, my column's going strong, 
'Cause Jimbo just wrote me a letter. 
Because Jimbo just wrote me a letter. 
 
 
''CopyClef 2010 Wayne Carson Thompson and Barsoom Tork Associates.'' 
''Resurrection Hackware. All songs abused.'' 

== e-mail ==

I sent you an e-mail. Did you receive it? [[User:Jonas Rand|Jonas Rand]] 02:35, 21 January 2011 (UTC)
:I did. -- [[User:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz]] 19:43, 21 January 2011 (UTC)

== Delete "Sarey Savy" ==

Hi may i ask you to delete "Sarey Savy". The article has been created on a wikipedia. Thanks! ([[User:Michael Chen|Michael Chen]] 04:06, 27 January 2011 (UTC))
:Are you [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Sarey_Savy sure about that]? Let me know. -- [[User:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz]] 20:40, 27 January 2011 (UTC)

Oops i mean on Wikinfo he is featured. [http://www.wikinfo.org/ Sarey featured]
:Michael, I'll be happy to delete any page that you created, but I'm really confused why you'd want to delete something here, just because it now also appears on another web site (and one that gets less than one-third of our traffic reach). -- [[User:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz]] 05:00, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

Ok well at least til' the article stays may we just take the semantic rankings tag for now than add it again later? ([[User:Michael Chen|Michael Chen]] 08:49, 28 January 2011 (UTC))

== Recent Edited ==
Thanks for the recent [http://www.mywikibiz.com/index.php?title=Titoism_and_Totalitarianism&diff=0&oldid=133346 edited] [[User:Peter Z.|Peter Z.]] 02:32, 26 February 2011 (UTC)

== Do You Know Of Other Sites Like MyWikiBiz? ==

Do You Know Of Other Sites Like MyWikiBiz? That is my question. Thank you. [[User:Geoff White|Geoff White]] 04:59, 7 March 2011 (UTC)

:Yes, the sites I typically point to as possible similar venues are Wikipedia, AboutUs, Wikinfo, MerchantCircle, HotFrog, and NetKnowledge. -- [[User:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz]] 14:45, 7 March 2011 (UTC)

== Problematic Edits ==

Hi, Greg, been away for a while, but noticed a few problematic edits and editors creeping in.
# [http://mywikibiz.com/Blow_Gallery_Job_Mpeg_Tgp]
— [[User:Jon Awbrey|Jon Awbrey]] 11:50, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

: Frustrating how spam bots have apparently found an automated technique to register here, confirm registration, then post one new page, never to return. I'm going to look into how we can limit them, maybe with a captcha. -- [[User:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz]] 15:20, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

:: I know, it's almost enough to make one think that maybe wikis are not such a hot idea, after all … [[User:Jon Awbrey|Jon Awbrey]] 22:07, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Hi, Greg, more problematic stuff at the top of recent changes. Been real busy with local politics lately, but I tend to notice these sorts of things whenever I recommend a new batch of users to the site. [[User:Jon Awbrey|Jon Awbrey]] 04:56, 15 May 2011 (UTC)

: Thanks, Jon. I've deleted a few of them, but the solution will have to be a captcha for new account registration. I have my developer working on it, but he's been busy. Might have to outsource the task soon. This is really out of hand. -- [[User:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz]] 12:33, 15 May 2011 (UTC)
:: Hello MyWikiBiz! Problematic edits are happening again. Regards [[User:Peter Z.|Peter Z.]] 10:49, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

I didn't realize that I forgot to mention that we've installed a captcha test for all new account registration, just a couple of days ago. But, it clearly has only slowed the problem, but not halted it.

Wow, they are persistent little devils, aren't they? I'll bet they're using some form of Amazon Mechanical Turk to pay Pakistanis about 3 cents for every captcha they crack. Next step, I believe, will be adding some "test of intelligence" like "What is the fifth word in this sentence?" for every new account, and possibly for every new-page creation. If that doesn't slow them down, I'm open for suggestions. I'm going to leave in place the recent ones, so that my developer can analyze their process. I don't know what the fascination is with joyful male chickens, anyway. -- [[User:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz]] 13:40, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

== Spam protection filter ==
Hi MyWikiBiz! I've been encountering the Spam protection filter. I tried to add an AdBrite of my own and the Spam protection ''filter'' was triggered. Also when I tried to use one of the [[Help:Listing#Add a Directory Listing|"Add a Directory Listing"]] for an article template the Spam protection filter was triggered. Am I doing something wrong ? [[User:Peter Z.|Peter Z.]] 05:38, 20 July 2011 (UTC)
:You're not doing anything wrong. We have been victimized in a collateral way by the Mediawiki developers and the Wikimedia "movement", where they have decided that their interpretation of sites that are "spam" will be promulgated to all users of the Mediawiki software. I have a developer looking into how we either remove or modify that "spam blacklist". Even highly useful sites like Examiner.com and TinyURL.com are blocked. It's yet another example of the tyranny of the Mediawiki hive. They will decide for us which links are worthy of publication! - [[User:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz]] 16:13, 20 July 2011 (UTC)
:: That's crap! [[User:Peter Z.|Peter Z.]] 01:15, 21 July 2011 (UTC)

== CheckUser ==

It's high time a CheckUser is introduced. I see that vandals are not being traced to their original name(s).
Without CheckUser, sockpuppet investigations are very hard to carry out. I see so many 'buy X' usernames out there.
Even the Sherrod of OhInternet is clever enough to put a CheckUser on her wiki. The wiki was created 4 months ago.
15 times the span of Sherrod's wiki and no check user? No way.
See [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:CheckUser the page on CheckUser] for more details. --[[User:Fiver7|Fiver7]] 10:55, 8 August 2011 (UTC)
:I'm not philosophically interested in spying on my users, as a rule. If many of our users are trying to get Internet consumers to "buy X" product or service, that's okay with me. It's one of the tenets of MyWikiBiz -- you can sell things here. -- [[User:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz]] 12:02, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

But sockpuppetry is the inevitable! [[User:Fiver7|''Fiver'''''7''']] ([[User talk:Fiver7|t]]|[[Special:Contributions/Fiver7|c]]|[[Directory:Muhammad Umar Alvi|b]]) 18:20, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

==Problems with Robots.txt==

Has anyone been messing with Robots.txt? The Web Archive is complaining that it can't find it for this site. [[User:Jon Awbrey|Jon Awbrey]] 06:36, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

: Seems to be working okay now. [[User:Jon Awbrey|Jon Awbrey]] 20:00, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

== Email ==

Hi MyWikiBiz,

I wonder, if you got my ''second'' email.[[User:LyubaPol|LyubaPol]] 04:06, 14 September 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia scandals

2011-09-13T17:48:03Z

LyubaPol: /* Heidi Wyss editing as Gwen Gale */

'''Wikipedia scandals''' are the all-too-frequent ethical lapses that pervade [[Wikipedia]]. This page will attempt to document some of those that are worth saving for history, since otherwise they will likely be whitewashed out of Wikipedia culture.

==Essjay is not a professor==
A wave of problems began with a decision by Wikipedia co-founder [[Directory:Jimmy Wales|Jimmy Wales]], when he hired a 24-year-old college dropout named [http://www.wikipedia-watch.org/gifs/wmessjay.png Ryan Jordan] to work at Wales' for-profit corporation Wikia, Inc. The hiring decision was made, even though Wales apparently knew Jordan had been passing himself off to the Wikipedia community (and to ''The New Yorker'' magazine's Pulitzer Prize winning [[Interviewed By:=Stacy Schiff]]) as a tenured professor [http://www.wikipedia-watch.org/gifs/essjay5.png holding multiple advanced degrees].

Further aggravating the issue, Jordan (whose Wikipedia screen name was "Essjay") was soon appointed by Wales to the highest volunteer adjudicating body within Wikipedia -- the Arbitration Committee.

[[Image:Wikipedia_scandals.jpg|right|thumb|275px|Wikimedia Foundation donations are dropping substantially]]When ''The New Yorker'' outted Ryan Jordan's academic fraud, their editors contacted Jimmy Wales for comment. Wales was quoted with the now infamous, "I regard it as a pseudonym and I don’t really have a problem with it." This set off a firestorm of criticism, both within Wikipedia and external to the world's largest encyclopedia community. Especially damaging seemed to be the numerous administrative cover-ups that attempted to hide the historical wiki record of Essjay's actions and the community debates that followed.

===The financial consequences===
The Essjay incident appeared to have an adverse impact on daily financial donations to the [[Directory:Wikimedia Foundation|Wikimedia Foundation]]. The downward slide closely mirrored a number of ethically questionable decisions by key administrators of [[Directory:Wikipedia|Wikipedia]].

The Wikimedia Foundation enjoyed a total of $3,477 in donations on February 23rd, the day Essjay was elevated to ArbCom status. Contrast this with a total of only $739 made on March 18th, less than one month later. This represented a 79% drop in daily contributions!

==Wikia / Wikimedia finances==
''Discussions took place on Wikipedia about the relationship between Wikia, Inc. and the leadership of the Wikimedia Foundation board of trustees. As you can see, these discussions were mostly rebuffed by hard-headed loyalists who couldn't imagine any wrongdoing.''

I heard that the person who is in charge of the Wikimedia Foundation's finances is the very same person who is in charge of the for-profit Wikia, Inc.'s finances. Is that true? --[[User:Dude Manchap|Dude Manchap]] 03:56, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
:Good question. [[User:Durova|Durova]]''[[User talk:Durova|Charge!]]'' 20:35, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
::So what if it is? I certainly trust them to do a good job if they are, and I'm sure that the board (who is in charge of the person) knows about this considering the owners of Wikia are previous board members. (...and the Board isn't stupid). '''[[User:Cbrown1023|Cbrown1023]]''' '''[[User talk:Cbrown1023|talk]]''' 23:01, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
:::That's fine if you personally trust them, Cbrown1023, but you may want to look at the [http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1023.pdf IRS form 1023] (no joke -- it's the same form number as the number found in your User name -- coincidence or irony?), especially what's said about Line 5a: '''A "conflict of interest" arises when a person in a position of authority over an organization, such as a director, officer, or manager, may benefit personally from a decision he or she could make.''' Note also Appendix A, starting at Page 25, which outlines a sample Conflict of Interest policy that a non-profit organization might adopt. Do you think that, as Appendix A suggests, either Jimmy Wales or Michael E. Davis have ever left the room during a Wikimedia Foundation board meeting, so that the other board members could discuss whether a conflict of interest was present for those two, who just happen to be former business partners and are currently vested in Wikia, which benefits from many, many favorable associations within Wikipedia? Jimmy Wales tried to hire a Wikipedia Arbitration Committee member onto Wikia. Wikia has many thousands of outbound links from Wikipedia, which point to pages monetized by Google AdSense ads. I guess, Cbrown1023, the question is not whether the Board "knows about this", but rather, why are they allowing such a gross appearance of conflict of interest to continue unabated? --[[User:Dude Manchap|Dude Manchap]] 03:27, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
::::If you feel that the Wikimedia Foundation is doing something wrong, by all means file a complaint with them. Otherwise, please take this discussion elsewhere. This noticeboard isn't for solving legal problems. - [[User:Jehochman|Jehochman]] [[User_talk:Jehochman|Talk]] 03:43, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
:::::This is not currently a legal problem. Nobody said it was. It is a Conflict of Interest problem. Another administrator has called it a "Good question", so why should it be swept under the rug and be "Resolved" by a non-administrator? --[[User:Dude Manchap|Dude Manchap]] 14:23, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
Hi again Dude. A few clarifications: you posted to ask whether there's a conflict of interest but haven't supplied much information. Normally requests to this board cite specific activity and evidence. And normally there's an onsite edit history to reference. If this person actually has registered and edits in a way that reflects a conflict of interest, this noticeboard might be able to accomplish something. If the conflict of interest relationship doesn't extend to actual editing activity then I have no direct power and only a little influence. Yet as the founder of [[:Category:Eguor admins]] I'm particularly open to this type of request. Sure, why not investigate a Wikipedia/Wikia COI? Burden of evidence rests squarely on your shoulders. Go for it if it's particularly important to you. Just expect to shoulder most of the work yourself. I'll check it out, see if there's anything I can do about it, and possibly ask for broader input. That's as fair as I can be. [[User:Durova|Durova]]''[[User talk:Durova|Charge!]]'' 15:19, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
:Well, this is a wiki, so the burden of evidence isn't just on me -- it's on the other users who will hopefully see this thread and have enough "wikisleuthing" in their blood to check it out some more. I appreciate your support of it staying in the open, rather than being hastily "resolved", which really would have reflected poorly on the Foundation. For starters, people may wish to look at these discussions about the Wikia/Wikipedia conflict of interest:
::*[http://www.joeszilagyi.com/2007/04/30/wikipedia-unethical-conflict-of-interest Joe Szilagyi blog]
::*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikia#Financial_conflict_of_interest.3F Wikia article discussion in Wikipedia]
::*[http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/04/28/wikipedia-special-treatment-for-wikia-and-other-wikis/ TechCrunch article by Nik Cubrilovic, including many illuminating comments]
::*[http://www.state.il.us/court/Opinions/AppellateCourt/2006/1stDistrict/March/Html/1041110.htm Court case against Michael E. Davis, Treasurer of both Wikimedia Foundation and Wikia, Inc.] This one is important, as it shows that Davis has not paid $817,830 that he was judged to owe the plaintiff. We are simultaneously being asked to "trust" that Davis will do a good job with the books at both Wikimedia and Wikia, Inc..—The preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment was added by [[User:Dude Manchap|Dude Manchap]] ([[User talk:Dude Manchap|talk]] • [[Special:Contributions/Dude Manchap|contribs]]){{#if:16:00, August 20, 2007 (UTC)| 16:00, August 20, 2007 (UTC)}}. 
::*[http://www.ihatewikipedia.com/uploads/Wikimedia_IRS_Form_990_2006_YE_063006.pdf Wikimedia Form 990 (Line 80) indicates there is a financial "relationship" with Wikia, Inc.]—The preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment was added by [[User:Dude Manchap|Dude Manchap]] ([[User talk:Dude Manchap|talk]] • [[Special:Contributions/Dude Manchap|contribs]]){{#if:16:00, August 20, 2007 (UTC)| 16:00, August 20, 2007 (UTC)}}. 
::*[http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/htdig/wikien-l/2007-January/059882.html Angela Beesley moved rejected Wikipedia articles to co-opt them for Wikia's benefit] —The preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment was added by [[User:Dude Manchap|Dude Manchap]] ([[User talk:Dude Manchap|talk]] • [[Special:Contributions/Dude Manchap|contribs]]){{#if:17:07, August 20, 2007 (UTC)| 17:07, August 20, 2007 (UTC)}}. 
:Again, I look forward to whether anyone else will step up and investigate this further. --[[User:Dude Manchap|Dude Manchap]] 15:48, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
::(stepping over issues of whether this is the right page to talk about the subject)...indeed, board members and accountants both have [[fiduciary]] duties to act in the best interest of their organizations. By various laws and governance principles they have to recuse themselves or avoid involvement when there is a conflict. Even a perceived conflict can be corrosive to governance and is sometimes prohibited because people lose faith. Someone who is on the board of Wikimedia or does its finances and also has a financial stake in Wikia should be very careful about taking positions here on things that benefit Wikia by directing traffic there, banning things from Wikipedia so as to distinguish it from a commercial site, making Wikipedia less attractive to constituents than Wikia. Actions that seem to raise a conflict include banning commercial links, advertisements, fair use media, conflict-of-interest editors, etc., from Wikipedia so that people go to Wikia for that.[[User:Wikidemo|Wikidemo]] 16:05, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
(outdent) Looking over those five links, two of them are specifically legal issues outside my expertise. I have no qualification to evaluate them. Joe Szlilagyi's blog is hardly a reliable source and another on-wikipedia thread was started by someone who's expended his credibility also. The techcrunch.com article holds water, in my opinion. What exactly are you seeking? If the basic complaint regards financial relationships at that level, then the most I could do would be to ask the WMF board to review this matter, and possibly to ask someone to institute nofollow to outgoing links to Wikia. My sysop tools would be useless to address this. Or is more forthcoming? [[User:Durova|Durova]]''[[User talk:Durova|Charge!]]'' 17:06, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
:This is a wiki -- there's no telling if there is "more forthcoming" or not. Another example might be the Essjay situation. Essjay was nominated by Jimmy Wales to the Arbitration Committee -- the highest level of dispute resolution below the Board itself. Only a month earlier (I may be wrong about the timeline), Wales had also hired Essjay to work for Wikia, Inc. This took place this year, well after the issue of "Conflict of Interest" has been made so noticeable on Wikipedia, thanks in part (ironically) to Wales' discussions of editing by conflicted parties. Was it appropriate for Wales to nominate one of his Wikia employees to a position on the Arbitration Committee? I believe that question was obscured by the whole firestorm over Essjay's fabricated credentials. Yes, I think the Board of Directors should look at this entire matter; but do you realize that it should be while Wales and Davis and Beesley (and any other Wikia parties I may have missed) are not present in the room? The other factor that I think is important here is that this discussion remain open for some time. Already two non-admin users have attempted to hide it from plain view, with the reason being it belongs somewhere else. This seems very weak, being that this is a Conflict of Interest Noticeboard, and this is a conflict of interest issue. --[[User:Dude Manchap|Dude Manchap]] 17:15, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

:How does this question have anything to do with the purpose of this page? [[User:Corvus cornix|Corvus cornix]] 17:15, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

==Heidi Wyss editing as ''Gwen Gale''==
[[File:Gwen Gale with heads of contributors she blocked.jpg| [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Gwen_Gale Gwen Gale] with heads of contributors she blocked|thumb|350px]]
Heidi Wyss is a Swiss administrator of Wikipedia. Under the user name ''Gwen Gale'', she has handed out numerous account blocks ([http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&offset=20081201000000&limit=500&type=block&user=Gwen+Gale&month=11&year=2008 more than 500] in October and November of 2008) to other users who supposedly violated Wikipedia's rules. However, she herself broke a cardinal rule of Wikipedia -- don't self-publish autobiographical puff pieces in the encyclopedia. The article she wrote looked something like this:

===Heidi Wyss (article for deletion)===
'''Heidi Wyss''' (born 1975, [[Geneva]]) is a [[Swiss]] author.

Wyss was educated in Geneva and in the [[United Kingdom]]. She has worked as an [[histology|histologist]] and technical writer. Her first [[novel]] ''[[Gormglaith (novel)|Gormglaith]]'', published in 2007, has been described as a "Radical lesbian separatist cult hit set in a plausible future with a witchy bent",<ref>The Secret Society of Lesbian Propellerheads, ''[http://www.ssolp.org/index.php SSOLP home page]'', accessed February 1, 2008</ref> "...like a female ''[[Finnegans Wake]]''..." along with "touches of [[JRR Tolkien|Tolkien]]" and reminiscent "...in some ways of the very intricate work of [[Patricia Kennealy-Morrison]]'s Keltiad novels."<ref>Swann, Morgaine, ''[http://www.womenwriters.net/winter05/Gormglaith1.htm Gormglaith by Heidi Wyss]'', womenwriters.net, accessed February 1, 2008</ref>

'''References'''
{{reflist}}

'''External links'''
*[http://skepchick.org/blog/?p=636 Wyss interviewed at Skepchick.org]

<nowiki>[[Category:Swiss feminists]]</nowiki>
<nowiki>[[Category:Swiss science fiction writers]]</nowiki>
<nowiki>[[Category:1975 births]]</nowiki>
<nowiki>[[Category:Living people]]</nowiki>

[[File:Gwen Gale aka the Witch is roaming around wikipedia .jpg|left|thumb|350px|After Gwen Gale got her [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Admin_mop.PNG administrative tool] she quickly turned the mop to a witch's broomstick. Now she uses this broomstick to fly around Wikipedia to collect heads of innocent editors while allowing trolls to troll.]]

===Gormglaith (article for deletion)===

''As if the autobiography were not enough, administrator Gwen Gale went on to write a self-promotional advertisement on Wikipedia about her rather non-noteworthy novel, '''Gormglaith''':'' 

'''''Gormglaith''''' (2007) by [[Heidi Wyss]] is a hard science fiction novel set in a radical feminist separatist world of the future.

'''Plot introduction'''
The tale follows its protagonist Gormglaith as she copes with the outcome of her own rashness throughout five life-shifting days and nights.

'''Reception'''
Morgaine Swann in her review on womenwriters.net said "I'm sure there are Druids and Wiccans who'll devour it whole... LOTR fans who'll sleep out for tickets to the movie and Witchy young women enamored of fantasy books on all things Keltic... for my part, I had trouble getting into it. It isn't just a book -- it's a project. From the first page, it was incomprehensible and there was nothing there to draw me in, or make me care enough to dig in. A little seduction, or at least introduction, would go a long way. It felt like a female [[Finnegan's Wake]], with all that implies, good and bad. It had touches of [[J. R. R. Tolkien|Tolkien]] and reminded me in some ways of the very intricate work of [[Patricia Kennealy-Morrison|Patricia Kennealy-Morrison's]] [[The Keltiad|Keltiad]] novels. If that appeals to you, I recommend this book."<ref name="urlGormglaith">{{cite web |url=http://www.womenwriters.net/winter05/Gormglaith1.htm |title=Gormglaith |author= Morgaine Swann|authorlink= |coauthors= |date= 2004-12-01|format= |work= |publisher= |pages= |language= |archiveurl= http://www.webcitation.org/5bfJe9kFD|archivedate= 2008-10-18|quote= |accessdate=2008-10-18}}</ref> Karen Campbell in her review on Quiet Mountain Essays said "We meet Gormglaith Hafgan Halsen (Celtic for "dark blue-green lake, storm in summer changing course") in a pastoral late summer setting under elm trees, mid-conversation with her friend Findabair. Their rolling banter deftly pulls us into the story, and a state of extreme culture shock. This is wonderfully written and fun English dialog, but not quite any sort the reader has encountered before... Gormglaith's radical setting, vocabulary and deceptively linear structure will present a challenging and rewarding read for some, but it'll be a difficult, uneven slog for others. This may depend more on individual temperament and interest in the story than on reading skills. As feminist literature it's unceasingly assertive, positive and controversial. As hard science fiction it offers a deeply structured, often entertaining story, at turns inspiring and disturbing, in a unique contribution to the genre."<ref name="urlQuiet Mountain Essays; Gormglaith Book Review by Karen Campbell">{{cite web |url=http://www.quietmountainessays.org/Gormglaith.html |title=Quiet Mountain Essays; "Gormglaith" Book Review by Karen Campbell |author= Karen Campbell|authorlink= |coauthors= |date= 2004|format= |work= |publisher= |pages= |language= |archiveurl= http://www.webcitation.org/5bfJs3ZS8|archivedate= 2008-10-18|quote= |accessdate=2008-10-18}}</ref>

'''Notes'''
{{reflist}}

'''External links'''
*[http://skepchick.org/blog/?p=636 Wyss interviewed about ''Gormglaith'' at Skepchick.org]
*[http://www.literateweb.com/wyss.htm Gormglaith] online at Literateweb.

<nowiki>[[Category:2007 novels]]</nowiki>
<nowiki>[[Category:Science fiction novels]]</nowiki>
<nowiki>[[Category:Utopian novels]]</nowiki>
<nowiki>[[Category:Feminist science fiction]]</nowiki>

===Consequences===
As usual on Wikipedia, even the most conflicted volunteers think that they are better than others to lead the project, and ''Gwen Gale'' had even put herself up for election to the Arbitration Committee, Wikipedia's highest ruling authority below the Wikimedia Foundation board of trustees and staff. Once her conflicted edits were exposed, though, she withdrew herself from consideration for ArbCom.

The lesson here, of course, is not so much that what Heidi Wyss had done was so terribly wrong, but rather that Wikipedia is corrupt from the very top down. Thus, we should not be surprised as observers when these conflicts of interest are exposed; indeed, we should be surprised that such conflicts are not revealed more often... because what gets publicized is only the tip of the iceberg.

In January of 2010 [[:user:Willowtree|Willowtree]](probably [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Gwen_Gale Gwen Gale]) [http://mywikibiz.com/index.php?title=Wikipedia_scandals&diff=prev&oldid=106377 tried to remove the information about herself from this article] just as she [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3AArbitration_Committee_Elections_December_2008%2FCandidate_statements%2FGwen_Gale%2FQuestions_for_the_candidate&diff=254715552&oldid=254671400 did] many times on English wikipedia, but this time it did not work out, and she [http://mywikibiz.com/index.php?title=Wikipedia_scandals&diff=106400&oldid=106377 was reverted]. It is not the only appearance of Gwen Gale on mywikibiz. [http://mywikibiz.com/Special:Contributions/81.62.148.165 In 2007 she wrote an article about her novel]. According to [http://img362.imageshack.us/img362/6083/92979875oe7.jpg this screenshot] this IP#81.62.148.165 was used by Heidi Wyss (Gwen Gale) to edit an article about her novel on wikipedia as well.

==Tolerance of plagiarism==
The original version of any wiki-formatted article about the Arch Coal company was authored in September 2006 by [[Directory:Gregory J. Kohs|Gregory Kohs]] and released under the terms of the GFDL on this website, [[Directory:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz.com]]. It was then scraped by an independent editor into Wikipedia. In October 2006, erroneously thinking that the article was paid for by Arch Coal, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales acted to delete the article from Wikipedia, but the Wikipedia community determined that Wales' action had been unjustified. The article was revised, largely by "User:JzG" (Guy Chapman). However, in January 2008, Kohs demonstrated to Chapman that the article as modified by User:JzG actually plagiarized many aspects of the original. Faced with that evidence, Chapman elected to cover up his misdeed by [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&page=Arch_Coal deleting the original edits] on the Wikipedia site, thus making the provenance of the article appear to have come from Chapman, and not from MyWikiBiz. When Jimmy Wales was notified about this violation of professional ethics and proper GFDL attribution of the edit history, Wales '''very reluctantly''' restored the original edit history, with the childish edit summary, "''might as well restore all of it I suppose''".

When later asked to comment on this affair, Jimmy Wales instead relied on one of his loyal followers to [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Jimbo_Wales&diff=255481782&oldid=255480598 erase the uncomfortable question] and to [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&type=block&page=User%3AEast_Bradford block the editor] who asked it.

===Additional comment===
When in December 2008, Kohs [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arch_Coal&diff=255480884&oldid=255154863 sought to improve] the article about Arch Coal on Wikipedia, his improvements were [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arch_Coal&diff=next&oldid=255480884 reverted back] by a mindless administrator from Belgium. This underscores the true system of editorial control on Wikipedia -- it matters not the '''content''' of one's edits, but rather '''who''' authors the content. (Which, of course, directly contradicts Wikipedia's supposed credo that "anyone can edit".)

==Rachel Marsden affair==
Wales allegedly made attempts to "clean up" a Wikipedia entry for a woman with whom he had a relationship, and it generated headlines.

The Wikipedia article regarding controversial [[Directory:Canada|Canadian]] radio commentator [[Rachel Marsden]] has been the subject of controversy on Wikipedia from some years. According to Ms. Marsden, whom Wales has admitted to dating, she had asked [[Wikipedia]] to delete her [[biography]]. Her concerns led her to contact Wikipedia co-founder [[Jimmy Wales]] in 2006, claiming that it was wrong and libelous. According to her, he reviewed her biography and, deeming that it was not up to standard, helped to clean up the entry. However, the article was mainly revised as the result of an extensive review by Wikipedia's arbitration committee.<ref>I did much of the work on this case, and probably played the major role in providing guidelines for revising the article. Jimmy Wales played little, if any, role in editing the article or requesting its revision. Guidelines for editing were based on Wikipedia's Biographies of living person's policy, <nowiki>[[w:Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons]]. [[User:Fred Bauder|Fred]] [[User talk:Fred Bauder|Talk]]</nowiki> 22:44, 17 March 2008 (EDT) </ref>

Wales announced in a statement on Wikipedia "My involvement in cases like this is completely routine, and I am proud of it."<ref name=smh/> On [[February 29]], [[2008]], the technology gossip blog [[Valleywag]] claimed that they had entered into a relationship, and published instant messaging chats that they had allegedly exchanged. On the following day Wales announced on his Wikipedia user page that he was no longer involved with her. In return, Marsden, who claimed to have learned about the breakup by reading about it on the Internet, turned to [[eBay]] and put up for auction a [[t-shirt]] and sweater that she claimed to be Wales'.<ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/03/02/marsden-breakup.html
| title = Canadian pundit, Wikipedia founder in messy breakup
| author = Siri Agrell
| publisher = [[The Canadian Press]]
| date = [[2008-03-02]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-06
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080304.wlbreakup04/BNStory/lifeMain/home
| title = Ms. Marsden's cyberspace breakup: tit-for-tat-for-T-shirt
| author = Siri Agrell
| publisher = [[The Globe and Mail]]
| date = [[2008-03-04]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,334652,00.html
| title = Wikipedia Founder's Fling With Columnist Ends in Nasty Public Breakup
| publisher = [[Fox News Channel|FOXNews.com]]
| date = [[2008-03-03]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3475722.ece
| title = Fury of a woman scorned – on Wikipedia
| publisher = [[The Times]]
| date = [[2008-03-04]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref name=smh>{{cite news
| url = http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/ex-takes-her-revenge-on-mr-wiki/2008/03/04/1204402405901.html
| title = Ex takes her revenge on Mr Wikipedia
| publisher = [[The Sydney Morning Herald]]
| author = Asher Moses
| date = [[2008-03-04]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref>
<ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2008-03-04-wikipedia-wales_N.htm?csp=34
| title = Wikipedia's Wales defends breakup, expenses
| publisher = [[USA Today]]
| date = [[2008-03-05]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2004286879_btwikipedia17.html
| title = Wikipedia experiences growing pains
| author = Alana Semuels
| publisher = Seattle Times
| date = [[2008-03-17]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-17
}}</ref>

A typical editor of Wikipedia is not allowed to document this incident within the Wikipedia article about Jimmy Wales.

==Scorpions "Virgin Killer" album cover==
In December 2008, the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) added to its "potentially illegal" list the Wikipedia image of the original album cover of The Scorpions' fourth release, ''Virgin Killer''. The image depicted a young girl posed naked with only her vulva covered by the appearance of cracked glass. Many found the picture offensive. Internet service providers in the [[Directory:United Kingdom|UK]] followed suit with the IWF and blocked the image and page from users' browsing, and channeling those requests through a very limited set of IP addresses.

Regardless of your opinions about whether this image constitutes child pornography, or whether the IWF engaged in "censorship" of art, one thing was clearly missed by the mainstream media in this affair:

:''If Wikipedia did not suffer from an intractable vandalism problem, this one-page block on a 22-yr old album cover might never have been noticed. It was only noticed because the proxy IP was blocked on the Wikipedia side of the connection.''
:''The fact of the matter is, Wikipedia admins blithely block thousands of IPs, sometimes in wholesale range-blocks that affect major metropolitan areas.'' - [http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=21516&view=findpost&p=146163 Barry Kort], 12/09/2008.

That is, the Wikipedia apparatus practices wide-scale editorial censorship, without due process, on an hourly basis; yet few seem concerned about this even within an encyclopedia that purportedly ''anyone can edit''. Yet, there is much wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth when an image that portrays a young girl, told by a photographer to strip down naked and pose for the camera, all in the name of marketing a rock band's album, is censored.

===Put images to the test===
[[Image:St_Pete_billboard.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Would you contribute $25 to see this billboard in real life? ''(Click picture only if you're a not-easily-offended adult)'']] Many Wikipedia zealots possess a feverish reflex urge to shout "Wikipedia is not censored" and will defend vehemently not only the ''right'' but the '''''need''''' to publish on Wikimedia servers prurient content that is neither properly sourced nor even encyclopedic in nature. One Wikipedian pauses to note:

:''...I really do worry that any media organisation actually putting the effort in to scratch beneath the surface of the Wiki machine may find some things that will be harder to defend than an album cover from 1976.'' - [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Jimbo_Wales&diff=next&oldid=256870274 "George the Dragon"], 12/09/2008.

Wouldn't it be interesting to put the Wikipedia standard to the test, say, in an environment of "community standards" like St. Petersburg, [[Directory:Florida|Florida]]? How fun would it be to start a grassroots fundraising campaign to pay for a "free speech"-testing, GFDL billboard such as this one? Comment on [[Talk:Wikipedia_scandals|this talk page]].

==David Boothroyd, sockpuppet admin==
[[Directory:David Boothroyd|David Boothroyd]] created controversy in 2009 when it was discovered that he edited [[Wikipedia]] under the user names '''Dbiv''', '''Fys''', and '''Sam Blacketer''' and eventually became part of the site's policy-enforcing Arbitration Committee. After earning Administrator status with one account, then being de-sysopped for inappropriate use of the admin tools, Boothroyd regained Administrator status with the "Sam Blacketer" sockpuppet account. A [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] member, after being sleuthed out by [[Directory:Wikipedia Review|Wikipedia Review]] contributor, "Tarantino", Boothroyd outted himself for having used [[sockpuppet|sockpuppets]] in the course of obtaining his position and for having edited the article of [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] leader [[David Cameron]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/05/26/wikipedia_westminster_councillor/|title=Sockpuppeting British politico resigns from Wikisupremecourt|last=Metz|first=Cade|date=26 May 2009|publisher=[[The Register]]|accessdate=2009-05-27}}</ref>

==External links==
<references/>
[http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=18620 Milton Roe's 18 Promises about Editing Wikipedia] - A Wikipedia Dissenter's Credo

 
[[Keyword:=Wikipedia]], [[Keyword:=Scandal]]
[[Category:Wikipedia]]

File:Gwen Gale aka the Witch is roaming around wikipedia .jpg

2011-09-13T17:44:27Z

LyubaPol:

After Gwen Gale got her [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Admin_mop.PNG administrative tool] she quickly turned the mop to a witch's broomstick. Now she uses this broomstick to fly around Wikipedia to collect heads of innocent editors while allowing trolls to troll.

File:Gwen Gale aka the Witch is roaming around wikipedia .jpg

2011-09-13T17:41:09Z

LyubaPol: When Gwen Gale got her [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Admin_mop.PNG administrative tool] she quickly turned the mop to a witch's broomstick. Now she uses this broomstick to fly around Wikipedia to collect heads of innocent editors whi

When Gwen Gale got her [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Admin_mop.PNG administrative tool] she quickly turned the mop to a witch's broomstick. Now she uses this broomstick to fly around Wikipedia to collect heads of innocent editors while allowing trolls to troll.

Criticism of Jimmy Wales

2011-09-06T15:55:41Z

LyubaPol: /* Jeffrey Merkey favors-for-payment allegations */

[[Image:Jimbo_sleepy.jpg|right|thumb|214px|The man, the legend, Jimmy Wales]][[Wikipedia]] co-founder '''Jimmy "Jimbo" Wales has often been criticized''' for his sometimes authoritarian, sometimes unaccountable, and sometimes inept style in his direction of the online encyclopedia community and for his mismanagement of the [[Directory:Wikimedia Foundation|Wikimedia Foundation]] that is responsible for running it.

As a [[Directory:The New York Times|New York Times]] writer commented in a column once:
:''"As long as he is involved with Wikipedia, however, Mr. Wales will continue to be a guiding light for its many contributors — as well as a lightning rod for its critics."'' <ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/17/technology/17wikipedia.html?_r=1&bl&ex=1205899200&en=e0949ec94f152e85&ei=5087%0A&oref=slogin "Open-Source Troubles in Wiki World"], Noam Cohen, March 17, 2008.</ref>

As a [http://toolserver.org/~soxred93/pcount/index.php?name=Everyking&lang=en&wiki=wikipedia Wikipedia administrator] with over 125,000 edits on the project has said:
:''It is a sad, sad statement on the Wikipedia community that it has never gotten rid of Jimbo Wales. It's remarkable to me that now, in 2010, Jimbo is still around, while the project itself is stagnating quite badly. I thought at one time that such a vibrant project with so much potential would surely jettison Jimbo -- who is so obviously a useless and unprincipled opportunist -- in relatively short order, once it matured to a certain point. Instead I'm starting to wonder if the project will sink and Jimbo will still be sitting there when it does.'' <ref>[http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=30616&view=findpost&p=250652 User:Everyking], August 31, 2010.</ref>

==Not a pornographer?==
[[Image:Captain_Jimbo.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Seems an odd way to market a "web portal"]]Jimbo Wales made repeated edits to his own biography on Wikipedia. One particularly hard bone of contention was [[Directory:Bomis|Bomis]], Jimbo's thriving Internet venture prior to Wikipedia. Bomis, a search portal, also included a healthy dose of "adult content", which Jimbo previously downplayed as ''glamour photography'' -- though as [[Directory:The New Yorker|The New Yorker]] notes, "glamour photography" is ''"not the most precise way to describe lesbian strip-poker threesomes."'' Nonetheless, Jimbo has been steadfast in his efforts to [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jimmy_Wales&diff=26702273&oldid=26658959 remove any suggestion that the beacon of free culture was at one time an unapologetic pornography peddler].

=="Sole Founder" controversy with Larry Sanger==
While the Wikipedia project consistently released statements to the press in its earliest years describing Larry Sanger as the "co-founder" of the encyclopedia, Jimmy Wales later took it upon himself to reframe the description of Sanger as an "employee" of Wales'. Wales has stated that he appreciates Sanger's contributions, but he seems unwilling to accept Sanger as a pioneer of Wikipedia's construction.

Dr. Sanger has [http://www.larrysanger.org/roleinwp.html taken the time] to elaborate on the factual evidence that supports his identification as "co-founder" of Wikipedia. Jimmy Wales has done very little such work to compile evidence that he is the "sole founder".<ref>[http://www.larrysanger.org/roleinwp.html My role in Wikipedia (links)], Dr. Larry Sanger, 2007, ''LarrySanger.org''.</ref>

More recently, Sanger has called out Wales via an "open letter",<ref>[http://blog.citizendium.org/2009/04/08/an-open-letter-to-jimmy-wales-copy/ An open letter to Jimmy Wales], Dr. Larry Sanger, 2009, ''Citizendium.org''.</ref> where the displeased creator of the Wikipedia name and architecture accuses Wales of "lies and distortions", being "transparently self-serving", and issuing "particularly outrageous" claims.

Clearly, the facts remain:

*Larry Sanger came to Wales in January 2001, asking him to install wiki software to feed the Nupedia encyclopedia project.
*Sanger named this new feeder project "Wikipedia".
*Sanger issued the first invitation for the public to come help build Wikipedia.
*Sanger, not Wales, crafted most of the key guidelines and policies that still govern Wikipedia today.

==Flip-flopping on paid editing of Wikipedia==
In August 2006, Wales [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2006-August/051897.html crafted a compromise] with a paid-editing firm to create and serve GFDL content on their own website about paying entities not currently featured in Wikipedia. Other unpaid, independent editors could determine whether the material was worth scraping into Wikipedia.

However, just a couple of months later in October 2006, Wales would renege on this agreement and, in fact, chastised anyone in the public relations industry as "[http://blog.bitepr.com/2006/08/jimmy_wales_on_.html deeply unethical]" if they attempt to create or influence GFDL content of an encyclopedic nature. Of course, the GFDL specifically bars licensees from restricting content to either commercial or non-commercial parties, so Wales really had no clue here.

==Essjay scandal==
[[Image:Jimmy Wales shilling wristwatches.jpg|left|thumb|170px|Want to buy a watch?]]In January 2007, Wales hired Ryan Jordan (pseudonymously known as "Essjay" on Wikipedia) to work at Wikia, Inc. At that time, it is [http://blog.citizendium.org/2007/03/05/one-last-brief-comment-on-the-essjay-scandal/ known that Wikia's co-founders knew] that Jordan was not academically credentialed as a Theology professor holding a PhD, as described on his Wikipedia user page. In fact, he was a 24-year-old college dropout. Regardless of this fraud, later in February, Wales appointed Essjay to Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee, the highest authority on Wikipedia short of the Wikimedia Foundation's own board of directors and staff. When the ''[http://www.WikipediaReview.com Wikipedia Review]'' engaged the ''New Yorker'' magazine to expose Essjay's fraud, Wales' first reaction [http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=%22I+don%27t+really+have+a+problem+with+it%22+Essjay&btnG=Search&hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8 was to say] he "didn't really have a problem with it".

 
{{GKAdBrite}}
 
Well after [[Wikipedia_scandals#Essjay_is_not_a_professor|the scandal]] evolved into a serious public relations threat to Wikipedia's credibility, Wales sought to deflect responsibility for the whole affair by blaming the Arbitration Committee that he himself had created: "EssJay was appointed at the request of and unanimous support of the ArbCom." - Jimmy Wales [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2007-October/083549.html 17 October 2007]. Perplexed members of the Arbitration Committee responded by saying it would be more accurate to describe their "unanimous support" as "nobody objected to Jimbo's nomination of Essjay".

==Spyware? What spyware?==
[[Image:Jimmy_Wales_bright_eyed.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Me? Support spyware?]]Jimbo must have some fond connection with a piece of hated software called BonziBUDDY, because Jimbo has no problem stepping in personally on this Wikipedia subject. Those Internet veterans among you may remember BonziBUDDY, that obnoxious purple gorilla whose friendly and helpful appearance just happened to hide a program designed to infest your computer with truckloads of adware and malware. The mainstream media was virtually unanimous in scorning BonziBUDDY on various "most hated" lists. Jimbo, however, had a curiously different opinion; in fact, he couldn't keep this opinion to himself, so he [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=BonziBUDDY&diff=168350569&oldid=168303939 personally edited Wikipedia's BonziBUDDY article] to systematically erase mention of "spyware" from the article. In fact, Jimbo also violated the Wikipedia rule against "original research" by becoming an expert paralegal for a moment: ''"In the following legal settlement, the issue was not the issue of "spyware", a term which does not appear in any of the legal documents."''

==Rachel Marsden affair==
His alleged attempts to "clean up" a Wikipedia entry for a woman with whom he had a relationship has also [http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=%22Rachel+Marsden%22+Wales&btnG=Search&hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8 generated headlines]. Wales was accused of intervening to sanitize the Wikipedia article of a news commentator with whom he was having a romantic online relationship, which was about to culminate in a sexual romp in a [[Directory:Hilton_Hotels/Doubletree/Washington_DC|Doubletree Hotel in the nation's capital]].

The Wikipedia article regarding controversial [[Directory:Canada|Canadian]] radio commentator [[Directory:Rachel Marsden|Rachel Marsden]] had been the subject of controversy on Wikipedia for some years. According to Marsden, she had asked [[Directory:Wikipedia|Wikipedia]] to delete her [[biography]]. Her concerns led her to contact Wikipedia co-founder [[Directory:Jimmy Wales|Jimmy Wales]], claiming that it was incorrect and libelous. Wales reviewed her biography and, deeming that it was not up to standard, helped to clean up the entry by quietly requesting that a closely allied administrator [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rachel_Marsden&diff=189784135&oldid=185926385 do the work], literally hours before Wales would meet Marsden in person at the hotel.

Wales announced in a statement on Wikipedia "My involvement in cases like this is completely routine, and I am proud of it."<ref name=smh/> On [[February 29]], [[2008]], the technology gossip blog [[Valleywag]] claimed that they had entered into a relationship, and published instant messaging chats that they had allegedly exchanged. On the following day Wales announced on his Wikipedia user page that he was no longer involved with Marsden. In return, Marsden, who claimed to have learned about the breakup by reading about it on the Internet, turned to [[eBay]] and put up for auction a [[t-shirt]] and sweater that she claimed to be Wales'.<ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/03/02/marsden-breakup.html
| title = Canadian pundit, Wikipedia founder in messy breakup
| author = Siri Agrell
| publisher = [[The Canadian Press]]
| date = [[2008-03-02]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-06
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080304.wlbreakup04/BNStory/lifeMain/home
| title = Ms. Marsden's cyberspace breakup: tit-for-tat-for-T-shirt
| author = Siri Agrell
| publisher = [[The Globe and Mail]]
| date = [[2008-03-04]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,334652,00.html
| title = Wikipedia Founder's Fling With Columnist Ends in Nasty Public Breakup
| publisher = [[Fox News Channel|FOXNews.com]]
| date = [[2008-03-03]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3475722.ece
| title = Fury of a woman scorned – on Wikipedia
| publisher = [[The Times]]
| date = [[2008-03-04]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref name=smh>{{cite news
| url = http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/ex-takes-her-revenge-on-mr-wiki/2008/03/04/1204402405901.html
| title = Ex takes her revenge on Mr Wikipedia
| publisher = [[The Sydney Morning Herald]]
| author = Asher Moses
| date = [[2008-03-04]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref>
<ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2008-03-04-wikipedia-wales_N.htm?csp=34
| title = Wikipedia's Wales defends breakup, expenses
| publisher = [[USA Today]]
| date = [[2008-03-05]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2004286879_btwikipedia17.html
| title = Wikipedia experiences growing pains
| author = Alana Semuels
| publisher = Seattle Times
| date = [[2008-03-17]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-17
}}</ref>

There is curiously only a brief mention of this episode in the anonymous-edit-protected Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Wales article about Jimmy Wales], even though it was the [http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=%22Rachel+Marsden%22+Wales&btnG=Search&hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8 talk of mainstream media] for the better part of March 2008. Compare, there is [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Gibson_DUI_incident an entire article] about Mel Gibson's DUI incident; an article which any anonymous IP address can edit and malign. Not so, Jimmy Wales' article. He merits special protective editorial favors, it would appear.

In filing for divorce from Jimmy, his second wife Christine A. Wales is being represented by attorney [http://zacurgrahm.com/Firm%20Info/Lawyers/2444756.aspx Sean A. Costis]. Mr. Wales is represented by [http://thackerlawgroup.com/profiles.htm#john John Thacker].

==Misspending Foundation funds==
[[Image:Jimbo_in_Vogue.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Jimbo playing dress-up]]In March 2008, Wales was accused by former Wikimedia Foundation employee Danny Wool of subsidizing personal expenditures with foundation funds. These included rebuffed attempts to have reimbursed a $1200 dinner for four, a $650 wine tab, and even a visit to a Moscow massage parlor that Wales submitted ''twice'' for payback from the Foundation. Wool also stated that Wales had his Wikimedia credit card taken away in part because of his spending habits, though Wales denied this claim.<ref>[http://smh.com.au/news/biztech/wikipedia-head-accused-of-expenses-rort/2008/03/05/1204402516874.html Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales accused of expenses rort], Asher Moses, March 5, 2008, ''[[Sydney Morning Herald]]''</ref> Foundation Chair Florence Devouard and former foundation interim Executive Director Brad Patrick denied any wrongdoing by Wales or the foundation, saying that Wales accounted for every expense and that for items he did not have receipts for, he paid out of his own pocket.<ref>[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/05/BUVFVDM3H.DTL San Francisco Chronicle]</ref> Executive Director Sue Gardner would later defend Wales on CNET video, saying, "Jimmy has never done anything wrong."<ref>[http://news.cnet.com/1606-2-6233396.html CNET video of an extremely uncomfortable Sue Gardner]</ref>

If these facts are not enough to convince you that money makes its way through the back door to Wales' wallet, then perhaps a look [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049340.html at the front door] is in order. The Wikimedia Foundation announced in January 2009 that it was to begin paying rent to Jimmy Wales' company, Wikia, Inc., on a monthly basis. They would use the tax-advantaged funds granted by the Ruth and Frank Stanton Fund. Did Wikia offer the lowest-priced rent solution to the Wikimedia Foundation? Not at all! After a [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049345.html frantic] back-and-forth [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049354.html attempt] by different [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049360.html agents] of the Wikimedia Foundation to [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049411.html explain] how this [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049389.html level] of [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049391.html self-dealing] was [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049393.html allowed to happen], Wikia's CEO Gil Penchina finally revealed (a year later, January 4, 2010) in a personal e-mail:

<blockquote>''They <nowiki>[the Wikimedia Foundation]</nowiki> approached us and asked if they could rent space on a temporary basis.. and I think it ended up being 4-6 months give or take. I thought about giving it to them for free and I wasn't sure which was worse... getting accused of bribing a non-profit for giving it away, or getting accused of stealing for a non-profit for charging... so we ended up asking them to get competitng (sic) quotes from other landlords so that THEY could feel comfortable with the decision.''</blockquote>

First there is a request to rent space from a hand-picked bidder, and only ''then'' a suggestion to get competing bids from other landlords? It sounds like someone at the Wikimedia Foundation wanted to make sure that Jimmy Wales' for-profit company had the inside track on that bid, worth many thousands of dollars.

==Jeffrey Merkey favors-for-payment allegations==
[[Image:Jimmy Wales on Washington Post interview.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Napping on the job.]]Later in March 2008, it was alleged by [[Jeff V. Merkey|Jeffrey Vernon Merkey]] that Wales had edited Merkey's entry in Wikipedia to make it more "favourable" in return for donations to the Wikimedia Foundation. In May 2006 Wales had erased Merkey's article "because of the unpleasantness of it" and stated "we are nearing a resolution of this longstanding conflict," referring to a dispute between the Wikipedia community and Merkey over the content of the biography. Wales called the allegation that the Wikimedia Foundation had received donations in exchange for this "nonsense."<ref>[http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/cashforkindness-scandal-rattles-wikipedia/2008/03/11/1205125911471.html Cash for kindness]</ref> <ref name="bbcpaidediting">{{citeweb|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7291382.stm|title=Wiki boss 'edited for donation'|accessdate=2008-03-12}}</ref> Nonetheless, Merkey made a very clear and very deliberate statement to the Associated Press that attested: <blockquote>''Wales agreed that in exchange for a substantial donation and other financial support of the Wikimedia Foundation projects, Wales would use his influence to make Merkey's article adhere to Wikipedia's stated policies with regard to internet libel "as a courtesty" and place Merkey under his "special protection" as an editor.''<ref>[http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2008-March/039545.html [Foundation-l] Statement to the Associated Press], Jeffrey Merkey, March 9, 2008.</ref></blockquote>

A few news sources that reported the story [http://pages.citebite.com/w1n0s3r6h3bmk provided the link to the article's history to show Jimbo edited the article], except if one is to hit "edit history" he will see nothing. The page was deleted from Wikipedia in May 2010. Still [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&page=Jeff+V.+Merkey the page's log from October 2006 "(investigating new edits for possible violations of WP:NOR, WP:RS, and WP:BIO [edit=autoconfirmed:move=autoconfirmed)"] shows that Jimbo Wales protected the page just as Merkey said he did. The page reminded protected for almost two years. It is very unusual for an article of little importance. Also unusual is [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Jimbo_Wales/Archive_30#Question_about_Merkey this exchange]: Jimbo was asked about the article:
<blockquote>''I have no clue whether or not I'm stepping into a landmine here...

I'm a brand new admin and in trying to clean up pages that have been "semi" protected, I ran across Jeff V. Merkey. From what I can tell, there seem to have been several bouts of COI, BLP, harassment, etc around the article. But most if not all of that seems to have happened last year (late 2006), so I was wondering if the page should still be protected, or if it can be unprotected. Since you protected it back in Oct. 2006, I bring it to you to decide :)'' -- SatyrTN (talk | contribs) 02:01, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
</blockquote> Jimbo responded:<blockquote>''I would recommend keeping it semi-protected for now. It could be unprotected at some point in the future.''--Jimbo Wales (talk) 21:58, 10 December 2007 (UTC)</blockquote>

In 2009 Jimbo Wales was [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Jimbo_Wales&diff=prev&oldid=323106636 notified about the deletion request for the article] as the article creator. This notification mean that Jimbo himself created the article that is very unusual and probably is yet another confirmation of the editing Wikipedia for donations. Jimbo removed this notification with the edit summary: "''I prefer to have nothing to do with this at all''".

==Tolerance of plagiarism==
The original version of any wiki-formatted article about the Arch Coal company was authored in September 2006 by [[Directory:Gregory J. Kohs|Gregory Kohs]] and released under the terms of the GFDL on this website, [[Directory:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz.com]]. It was then scraped by an independent editor into Wikipedia. In October 2006, erroneously thinking that the article was paid for by Arch Coal, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales acted to delete the article from Wikipedia, but the Wikipedia community determined that Wales' action had been unjustified. The article was revised, largely by "User:JzG" (Guy Chapman), who would [http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=15321 later claim] that he wrote his version of the article ''ab initio'', "from the ground up". However, in January 2008, Kohs demonstrated to Chapman that the article as modified by User:JzG actually plagiarized many aspects of the original. Faced with that evidence, Chapman elected to cover up his misdeed by [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&page=Arch_Coal deleting the original edits] on the Wikipedia site, thus making the provenance of the article appear to have come from Chapman, and not from MyWikiBiz. When Jimmy Wales was notified about this violation of professional ethics and proper GFDL attribution of the edit history, Wales '''very reluctantly''' restored the original edit history, with the childish edit summary, "''might as well restore all of it I suppose''".

===Additional comment===
When in December 2008, Kohs [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arch_Coal&diff=255480884&oldid=255154863 sought to improve] the article about Arch Coal on Wikipedia, his improvements were [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arch_Coal&diff=next&oldid=255480884 reverted back] by a mindless administrator from Belgium. This underscores the true system of editorial control on Wikipedia -- it matters not the '''content''' of one's edits, but rather '''who''' authors the content. (Which, of course, directly contradicts Wikipedia's supposed credo that "anyone can edit".)

===Jimbo (finally) sees the light===
After about 26 months, Wales did ultimately [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk%3AArch_Coal&diff=258731121&oldid=224255965 apologize in a round-about way] for his mistakes in handling this situation. Bravo! <nowiki><golf clap></nowiki>

==Jimbo plagiarizes photography==
When delivering an important presentation in Spain in 2010, Jimmy Wales [http://www.mywikibiz.com/File:Jimbo_stealing_CC_content.jpg featured an image] that he (or his speech writer) had altered, mislabeled into the wrong decade, then presented as a "Wikia" product. He did not properly attribute the image to the original photographer, thus violating the CC-by-SA 2.0 Generic license by which the photo was released.

 
<div style="overflow:auto;height:1px;">
[[Keyword:=Jimmy Wales]]
[[Keyword:=Jimbo Wales]]
[[Keyword:=Jimmy Donal Wales]]
[[Keyword:=criticism]]
[[Keyword:=fraud]]
[[Keyword:=controversy]]
[[Keyword:=scandal]]
[[Keyword:=critique]]
</div>
{{GKAnt}}

==Openserving==
In December 2006, Jimmy Wales launched a spin-off from Wikia called [http://openserving.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page Openserving]. Wales was attempting to copy another business model that had been floated by [[Centiare|Centiare.com]] (which is currently regenerated at [[Directory:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz]]), and by Helium.com, where the unpaid labor who create new content would have the opportunity to earn advertising revenue as a reward for their authorship. Although Wales claimed that "thousands" of interested queries were made of Openserving, the project never got a single new forum off the ground. It was a failure.

Wikia.com is perhaps Wales' most successful project financially, although it has been speculated that it won't be able to turn a regular profit, as meager ad revenues can't possibly support the staffing needs.

==Spanking Art Wikia==
[[Image:Spanking Art Wikia ad for March of Dimes.jpg|left|thumb|230px|Centextual ads supported spanking]]Jimmy Wales' privately-held Wikia company as recently as January 2008 hosted online a web menagerie of freely-licensed images of innocent children juxtaposed with depraved images of children being mercilessly spanked until purple, along with photos of various sexual-enhancement toys. A critic of the site led an urgent campaign that challenged this '''[http://web.archive.org/web/20071214201347rn_1/spankingart.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page Spanking Art Wikia]''' wiki. Wales became quite ruffled under the collar, irritated that the agitator had not "made a complaint through the proper channels". Imagine, sexually-charged images of deviant abuse against children, and the man hosting it on his company's servers was more upset that the complaints against his site weren't filed properly.

==Wikia Search==
Jimbo's venture into the search engine market was much-ballyhooed by the tech media, but after only an 18-month effort, Wales pulled the plug on the failure that was Wikia Search. Evidence was clear early on that it would [http://andrewkeen.typepad.com/the_great_seduction/2008/10/the.html not be a success]. But even as late as March 2009, Wales [http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/22475.asp deceived reporter Susan Kuchinskas] with the assurance, "''I have my team focused on the front end, working on the user experience, and making sure we have all the wiki-like tools people need to work on the site. We're just cranking away.''" Merely days later, Wales would face reality, fire the people he'd employed to try to make this pig fly, and shut down the site.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Additional reading==
*[[Top 10 Reasons Not to Donate to Wikipedia]]
*[[The Six Rotten Pillars of Wikipedia‎]]
*[http://moriyosi.livejournal.com/28156.html Moriyosi on LiveJournal] - The Problem With Wikipedia, Part 1
*[http://www.wikitruth.info/index.php?title=Jimbo_Wales Wikitruth] - Jimbo Wales

[[Category:Wikipedia]]

Criticism of Jimmy Wales

2011-09-06T01:06:51Z

LyubaPol: /* Jeffrey Merkey favors-for-payment allegations */

[[Image:Jimbo_sleepy.jpg|right|thumb|214px|The man, the legend, Jimmy Wales]][[Wikipedia]] co-founder '''Jimmy "Jimbo" Wales has often been criticized''' for his sometimes authoritarian, sometimes unaccountable, and sometimes inept style in his direction of the online encyclopedia community and for his mismanagement of the [[Directory:Wikimedia Foundation|Wikimedia Foundation]] that is responsible for running it.

As a [[Directory:The New York Times|New York Times]] writer commented in a column once:
:''"As long as he is involved with Wikipedia, however, Mr. Wales will continue to be a guiding light for its many contributors — as well as a lightning rod for its critics."'' <ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/17/technology/17wikipedia.html?_r=1&bl&ex=1205899200&en=e0949ec94f152e85&ei=5087%0A&oref=slogin "Open-Source Troubles in Wiki World"], Noam Cohen, March 17, 2008.</ref>

As a [http://toolserver.org/~soxred93/pcount/index.php?name=Everyking&lang=en&wiki=wikipedia Wikipedia administrator] with over 125,000 edits on the project has said:
:''It is a sad, sad statement on the Wikipedia community that it has never gotten rid of Jimbo Wales. It's remarkable to me that now, in 2010, Jimbo is still around, while the project itself is stagnating quite badly. I thought at one time that such a vibrant project with so much potential would surely jettison Jimbo -- who is so obviously a useless and unprincipled opportunist -- in relatively short order, once it matured to a certain point. Instead I'm starting to wonder if the project will sink and Jimbo will still be sitting there when it does.'' <ref>[http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=30616&view=findpost&p=250652 User:Everyking], August 31, 2010.</ref>

==Not a pornographer?==
[[Image:Captain_Jimbo.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Seems an odd way to market a "web portal"]]Jimbo Wales made repeated edits to his own biography on Wikipedia. One particularly hard bone of contention was [[Directory:Bomis|Bomis]], Jimbo's thriving Internet venture prior to Wikipedia. Bomis, a search portal, also included a healthy dose of "adult content", which Jimbo previously downplayed as ''glamour photography'' -- though as [[Directory:The New Yorker|The New Yorker]] notes, "glamour photography" is ''"not the most precise way to describe lesbian strip-poker threesomes."'' Nonetheless, Jimbo has been steadfast in his efforts to [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jimmy_Wales&diff=26702273&oldid=26658959 remove any suggestion that the beacon of free culture was at one time an unapologetic pornography peddler].

=="Sole Founder" controversy with Larry Sanger==
While the Wikipedia project consistently released statements to the press in its earliest years describing Larry Sanger as the "co-founder" of the encyclopedia, Jimmy Wales later took it upon himself to reframe the description of Sanger as an "employee" of Wales'. Wales has stated that he appreciates Sanger's contributions, but he seems unwilling to accept Sanger as a pioneer of Wikipedia's construction.

Dr. Sanger has [http://www.larrysanger.org/roleinwp.html taken the time] to elaborate on the factual evidence that supports his identification as "co-founder" of Wikipedia. Jimmy Wales has done very little such work to compile evidence that he is the "sole founder".<ref>[http://www.larrysanger.org/roleinwp.html My role in Wikipedia (links)], Dr. Larry Sanger, 2007, ''LarrySanger.org''.</ref>

More recently, Sanger has called out Wales via an "open letter",<ref>[http://blog.citizendium.org/2009/04/08/an-open-letter-to-jimmy-wales-copy/ An open letter to Jimmy Wales], Dr. Larry Sanger, 2009, ''Citizendium.org''.</ref> where the displeased creator of the Wikipedia name and architecture accuses Wales of "lies and distortions", being "transparently self-serving", and issuing "particularly outrageous" claims.

Clearly, the facts remain:

*Larry Sanger came to Wales in January 2001, asking him to install wiki software to feed the Nupedia encyclopedia project.
*Sanger named this new feeder project "Wikipedia".
*Sanger issued the first invitation for the public to come help build Wikipedia.
*Sanger, not Wales, crafted most of the key guidelines and policies that still govern Wikipedia today.

==Flip-flopping on paid editing of Wikipedia==
In August 2006, Wales [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2006-August/051897.html crafted a compromise] with a paid-editing firm to create and serve GFDL content on their own website about paying entities not currently featured in Wikipedia. Other unpaid, independent editors could determine whether the material was worth scraping into Wikipedia.

However, just a couple of months later in October 2006, Wales would renege on this agreement and, in fact, chastised anyone in the public relations industry as "[http://blog.bitepr.com/2006/08/jimmy_wales_on_.html deeply unethical]" if they attempt to create or influence GFDL content of an encyclopedic nature. Of course, the GFDL specifically bars licensees from restricting content to either commercial or non-commercial parties, so Wales really had no clue here.

==Essjay scandal==
[[Image:Jimmy Wales shilling wristwatches.jpg|left|thumb|170px|Want to buy a watch?]]In January 2007, Wales hired Ryan Jordan (pseudonymously known as "Essjay" on Wikipedia) to work at Wikia, Inc. At that time, it is [http://blog.citizendium.org/2007/03/05/one-last-brief-comment-on-the-essjay-scandal/ known that Wikia's co-founders knew] that Jordan was not academically credentialed as a Theology professor holding a PhD, as described on his Wikipedia user page. In fact, he was a 24-year-old college dropout. Regardless of this fraud, later in February, Wales appointed Essjay to Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee, the highest authority on Wikipedia short of the Wikimedia Foundation's own board of directors and staff. When the ''[http://www.WikipediaReview.com Wikipedia Review]'' engaged the ''New Yorker'' magazine to expose Essjay's fraud, Wales' first reaction [http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=%22I+don%27t+really+have+a+problem+with+it%22+Essjay&btnG=Search&hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8 was to say] he "didn't really have a problem with it".

 
{{GKAdBrite}}
 
Well after [[Wikipedia_scandals#Essjay_is_not_a_professor|the scandal]] evolved into a serious public relations threat to Wikipedia's credibility, Wales sought to deflect responsibility for the whole affair by blaming the Arbitration Committee that he himself had created: "EssJay was appointed at the request of and unanimous support of the ArbCom." - Jimmy Wales [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2007-October/083549.html 17 October 2007]. Perplexed members of the Arbitration Committee responded by saying it would be more accurate to describe their "unanimous support" as "nobody objected to Jimbo's nomination of Essjay".

==Spyware? What spyware?==
[[Image:Jimmy_Wales_bright_eyed.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Me? Support spyware?]]Jimbo must have some fond connection with a piece of hated software called BonziBUDDY, because Jimbo has no problem stepping in personally on this Wikipedia subject. Those Internet veterans among you may remember BonziBUDDY, that obnoxious purple gorilla whose friendly and helpful appearance just happened to hide a program designed to infest your computer with truckloads of adware and malware. The mainstream media was virtually unanimous in scorning BonziBUDDY on various "most hated" lists. Jimbo, however, had a curiously different opinion; in fact, he couldn't keep this opinion to himself, so he [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=BonziBUDDY&diff=168350569&oldid=168303939 personally edited Wikipedia's BonziBUDDY article] to systematically erase mention of "spyware" from the article. In fact, Jimbo also violated the Wikipedia rule against "original research" by becoming an expert paralegal for a moment: ''"In the following legal settlement, the issue was not the issue of "spyware", a term which does not appear in any of the legal documents."''

==Rachel Marsden affair==
His alleged attempts to "clean up" a Wikipedia entry for a woman with whom he had a relationship has also [http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=%22Rachel+Marsden%22+Wales&btnG=Search&hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8 generated headlines]. Wales was accused of intervening to sanitize the Wikipedia article of a news commentator with whom he was having a romantic online relationship, which was about to culminate in a sexual romp in a [[Directory:Hilton_Hotels/Doubletree/Washington_DC|Doubletree Hotel in the nation's capital]].

The Wikipedia article regarding controversial [[Directory:Canada|Canadian]] radio commentator [[Directory:Rachel Marsden|Rachel Marsden]] had been the subject of controversy on Wikipedia for some years. According to Marsden, she had asked [[Directory:Wikipedia|Wikipedia]] to delete her [[biography]]. Her concerns led her to contact Wikipedia co-founder [[Directory:Jimmy Wales|Jimmy Wales]], claiming that it was incorrect and libelous. Wales reviewed her biography and, deeming that it was not up to standard, helped to clean up the entry by quietly requesting that a closely allied administrator [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rachel_Marsden&diff=189784135&oldid=185926385 do the work], literally hours before Wales would meet Marsden in person at the hotel.

Wales announced in a statement on Wikipedia "My involvement in cases like this is completely routine, and I am proud of it."<ref name=smh/> On [[February 29]], [[2008]], the technology gossip blog [[Valleywag]] claimed that they had entered into a relationship, and published instant messaging chats that they had allegedly exchanged. On the following day Wales announced on his Wikipedia user page that he was no longer involved with Marsden. In return, Marsden, who claimed to have learned about the breakup by reading about it on the Internet, turned to [[eBay]] and put up for auction a [[t-shirt]] and sweater that she claimed to be Wales'.<ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/03/02/marsden-breakup.html
| title = Canadian pundit, Wikipedia founder in messy breakup
| author = Siri Agrell
| publisher = [[The Canadian Press]]
| date = [[2008-03-02]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-06
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080304.wlbreakup04/BNStory/lifeMain/home
| title = Ms. Marsden's cyberspace breakup: tit-for-tat-for-T-shirt
| author = Siri Agrell
| publisher = [[The Globe and Mail]]
| date = [[2008-03-04]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,334652,00.html
| title = Wikipedia Founder's Fling With Columnist Ends in Nasty Public Breakup
| publisher = [[Fox News Channel|FOXNews.com]]
| date = [[2008-03-03]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3475722.ece
| title = Fury of a woman scorned – on Wikipedia
| publisher = [[The Times]]
| date = [[2008-03-04]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref name=smh>{{cite news
| url = http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/ex-takes-her-revenge-on-mr-wiki/2008/03/04/1204402405901.html
| title = Ex takes her revenge on Mr Wikipedia
| publisher = [[The Sydney Morning Herald]]
| author = Asher Moses
| date = [[2008-03-04]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref>
<ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2008-03-04-wikipedia-wales_N.htm?csp=34
| title = Wikipedia's Wales defends breakup, expenses
| publisher = [[USA Today]]
| date = [[2008-03-05]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2004286879_btwikipedia17.html
| title = Wikipedia experiences growing pains
| author = Alana Semuels
| publisher = Seattle Times
| date = [[2008-03-17]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-17
}}</ref>

There is curiously only a brief mention of this episode in the anonymous-edit-protected Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Wales article about Jimmy Wales], even though it was the [http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=%22Rachel+Marsden%22+Wales&btnG=Search&hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8 talk of mainstream media] for the better part of March 2008. Compare, there is [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Gibson_DUI_incident an entire article] about Mel Gibson's DUI incident; an article which any anonymous IP address can edit and malign. Not so, Jimmy Wales' article. He merits special protective editorial favors, it would appear.

In filing for divorce from Jimmy, his second wife Christine A. Wales is being represented by attorney [http://zacurgrahm.com/Firm%20Info/Lawyers/2444756.aspx Sean A. Costis]. Mr. Wales is represented by [http://thackerlawgroup.com/profiles.htm#john John Thacker].

==Misspending Foundation funds==
[[Image:Jimbo_in_Vogue.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Jimbo playing dress-up]]In March 2008, Wales was accused by former Wikimedia Foundation employee Danny Wool of subsidizing personal expenditures with foundation funds. These included rebuffed attempts to have reimbursed a $1200 dinner for four, a $650 wine tab, and even a visit to a Moscow massage parlor that Wales submitted ''twice'' for payback from the Foundation. Wool also stated that Wales had his Wikimedia credit card taken away in part because of his spending habits, though Wales denied this claim.<ref>[http://smh.com.au/news/biztech/wikipedia-head-accused-of-expenses-rort/2008/03/05/1204402516874.html Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales accused of expenses rort], Asher Moses, March 5, 2008, ''[[Sydney Morning Herald]]''</ref> Foundation Chair Florence Devouard and former foundation interim Executive Director Brad Patrick denied any wrongdoing by Wales or the foundation, saying that Wales accounted for every expense and that for items he did not have receipts for, he paid out of his own pocket.<ref>[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/05/BUVFVDM3H.DTL San Francisco Chronicle]</ref> Executive Director Sue Gardner would later defend Wales on CNET video, saying, "Jimmy has never done anything wrong."<ref>[http://news.cnet.com/1606-2-6233396.html CNET video of an extremely uncomfortable Sue Gardner]</ref>

If these facts are not enough to convince you that money makes its way through the back door to Wales' wallet, then perhaps a look [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049340.html at the front door] is in order. The Wikimedia Foundation announced in January 2009 that it was to begin paying rent to Jimmy Wales' company, Wikia, Inc., on a monthly basis. They would use the tax-advantaged funds granted by the Ruth and Frank Stanton Fund. Did Wikia offer the lowest-priced rent solution to the Wikimedia Foundation? Not at all! After a [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049345.html frantic] back-and-forth [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049354.html attempt] by different [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049360.html agents] of the Wikimedia Foundation to [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049411.html explain] how this [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049389.html level] of [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049391.html self-dealing] was [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049393.html allowed to happen], Wikia's CEO Gil Penchina finally revealed (a year later, January 4, 2010) in a personal e-mail:

<blockquote>''They <nowiki>[the Wikimedia Foundation]</nowiki> approached us and asked if they could rent space on a temporary basis.. and I think it ended up being 4-6 months give or take. I thought about giving it to them for free and I wasn't sure which was worse... getting accused of bribing a non-profit for giving it away, or getting accused of stealing for a non-profit for charging... so we ended up asking them to get competitng (sic) quotes from other landlords so that THEY could feel comfortable with the decision.''</blockquote>

First there is a request to rent space from a hand-picked bidder, and only ''then'' a suggestion to get competing bids from other landlords? It sounds like someone at the Wikimedia Foundation wanted to make sure that Jimmy Wales' for-profit company had the inside track on that bid, worth many thousands of dollars.

==Jeffrey Merkey favors-for-payment allegations==
[[Image:Jimmy Wales on Washington Post interview.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Napping on the job.]]Later in March 2008, it was alleged by [[Jeff V. Merkey|Jeffrey Vernon Merkey]] that Wales had edited Merkey's entry in Wikipedia to make it more "favourable" in return for donations to the Wikimedia Foundation. In May 2006 Wales had erased Merkey's article "because of the unpleasantness of it" and stated "we are nearing a resolution of this longstanding conflict," referring to a dispute between the Wikipedia community and Merkey over the content of the biography. Wales called the allegation that the Wikimedia Foundation had received donations in exchange for this "nonsense."<ref>[http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/cashforkindness-scandal-rattles-wikipedia/2008/03/11/1205125911471.html Cash for kindness]</ref> <ref name="bbcpaidediting">{{citeweb|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7291382.stm|title=Wiki boss 'edited for donation'|accessdate=2008-03-12}}</ref> Nonetheless, Merkey made a very clear and very deliberate statement to the Associated Press that attested: <blockquote>''Wales agreed that in exchange for a substantial donation and other financial support of the Wikimedia Foundation projects, Wales would use his influence to make Merkey's article adhere to Wikipedia's stated policies with regard to internet libel "as a courtesty" and place Merkey under his "special protection" as an editor.''<ref>[http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2008-March/039545.html [Foundation-l] Statement to the Associated Press], Jeffrey Merkey, March 9, 2008.</ref></blockquote>

A few news sources that reported the story [http://pages.citebite.com/w1n0s3r6h3bmk provided the link to the article's history to show Jimbo edited the article], except if one is to hit "edit history" he will see nothing. The page was deleted from Wikipedia in May 2010. Still [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&page=Jeff+V.+Merkey the page's log from October 2006 "(investigating new edits for possible violations of WP:NOR, WP:RS, and WP:BIO [edit=autoconfirmed:move=autoconfirmed)"] shows that Jimbo Wales protected the page just as Merkey said he did. The page reminded protected for almost two years. It is very unusual for an article of little importance. Also unusual is [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Jimbo_Wales/Archive_30#Question_about_Merkey this exchange]: Jimbo was asked about the article:
<blockquote>''I have no clue whether or not I'm stepping into a landmine here...

I'm a brand new admin and in trying to clean up pages that have been "semi" protected, I ran across Jeff V. Merkey. From what I can tell, there seem to have been several bouts of COI, BLP, harassment, etc around the article. But most if not all of that seems to have happened last year (late 2006), so I was wondering if the page should still be protected, or if it can be unprotected. Since you protected it back in Oct. 2006, I bring it to you to decide :)'' -- SatyrTN (talk | contribs) 02:01, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
</blockquote> Jimbo responded:<blockquote>''I would recommend keeping it semi-protected for now. It could be unprotected at some point in the future.''--Jimbo Wales (talk) 21:58, 10 December 2007 (UTC)</blockquote>

In 2009 Jimbo Wales was [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Jimbo_Wales&diff=prev&oldid=323106636 notified about the deletion request for the article] as the article creator. This notification mean that Jimbo himself created the article that is very unusual and probably is yet another confirmation of the editing Wikipedia for donations.

==Tolerance of plagiarism==
The original version of any wiki-formatted article about the Arch Coal company was authored in September 2006 by [[Directory:Gregory J. Kohs|Gregory Kohs]] and released under the terms of the GFDL on this website, [[Directory:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz.com]]. It was then scraped by an independent editor into Wikipedia. In October 2006, erroneously thinking that the article was paid for by Arch Coal, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales acted to delete the article from Wikipedia, but the Wikipedia community determined that Wales' action had been unjustified. The article was revised, largely by "User:JzG" (Guy Chapman), who would [http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=15321 later claim] that he wrote his version of the article ''ab initio'', "from the ground up". However, in January 2008, Kohs demonstrated to Chapman that the article as modified by User:JzG actually plagiarized many aspects of the original. Faced with that evidence, Chapman elected to cover up his misdeed by [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&page=Arch_Coal deleting the original edits] on the Wikipedia site, thus making the provenance of the article appear to have come from Chapman, and not from MyWikiBiz. When Jimmy Wales was notified about this violation of professional ethics and proper GFDL attribution of the edit history, Wales '''very reluctantly''' restored the original edit history, with the childish edit summary, "''might as well restore all of it I suppose''".

===Additional comment===
When in December 2008, Kohs [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arch_Coal&diff=255480884&oldid=255154863 sought to improve] the article about Arch Coal on Wikipedia, his improvements were [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arch_Coal&diff=next&oldid=255480884 reverted back] by a mindless administrator from Belgium. This underscores the true system of editorial control on Wikipedia -- it matters not the '''content''' of one's edits, but rather '''who''' authors the content. (Which, of course, directly contradicts Wikipedia's supposed credo that "anyone can edit".)

===Jimbo (finally) sees the light===
After about 26 months, Wales did ultimately [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk%3AArch_Coal&diff=258731121&oldid=224255965 apologize in a round-about way] for his mistakes in handling this situation. Bravo! <nowiki><golf clap></nowiki>

==Jimbo plagiarizes photography==
When delivering an important presentation in Spain in 2010, Jimmy Wales [http://www.mywikibiz.com/File:Jimbo_stealing_CC_content.jpg featured an image] that he (or his speech writer) had altered, mislabeled into the wrong decade, then presented as a "Wikia" product. He did not properly attribute the image to the original photographer, thus violating the CC-by-SA 2.0 Generic license by which the photo was released.

 
<div style="overflow:auto;height:1px;">
[[Keyword:=Jimmy Wales]]
[[Keyword:=Jimbo Wales]]
[[Keyword:=Jimmy Donal Wales]]
[[Keyword:=criticism]]
[[Keyword:=fraud]]
[[Keyword:=controversy]]
[[Keyword:=scandal]]
[[Keyword:=critique]]
</div>
{{GKAnt}}

==Openserving==
In December 2006, Jimmy Wales launched a spin-off from Wikia called [http://openserving.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page Openserving]. Wales was attempting to copy another business model that had been floated by [[Centiare|Centiare.com]] (which is currently regenerated at [[Directory:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz]]), and by Helium.com, where the unpaid labor who create new content would have the opportunity to earn advertising revenue as a reward for their authorship. Although Wales claimed that "thousands" of interested queries were made of Openserving, the project never got a single new forum off the ground. It was a failure.

Wikia.com is perhaps Wales' most successful project financially, although it has been speculated that it won't be able to turn a regular profit, as meager ad revenues can't possibly support the staffing needs.

==Spanking Art Wikia==
[[Image:Spanking Art Wikia ad for March of Dimes.jpg|left|thumb|230px|Centextual ads supported spanking]]Jimmy Wales' privately-held Wikia company as recently as January 2008 hosted online a web menagerie of freely-licensed images of innocent children juxtaposed with depraved images of children being mercilessly spanked until purple, along with photos of various sexual-enhancement toys. A critic of the site led an urgent campaign that challenged this '''[http://web.archive.org/web/20071214201347rn_1/spankingart.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page Spanking Art Wikia]''' wiki. Wales became quite ruffled under the collar, irritated that the agitator had not "made a complaint through the proper channels". Imagine, sexually-charged images of deviant abuse against children, and the man hosting it on his company's servers was more upset that the complaints against his site weren't filed properly.

==Wikia Search==
Jimbo's venture into the search engine market was much-ballyhooed by the tech media, but after only an 18-month effort, Wales pulled the plug on the failure that was Wikia Search. Evidence was clear early on that it would [http://andrewkeen.typepad.com/the_great_seduction/2008/10/the.html not be a success]. But even as late as March 2009, Wales [http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/22475.asp deceived reporter Susan Kuchinskas] with the assurance, "''I have my team focused on the front end, working on the user experience, and making sure we have all the wiki-like tools people need to work on the site. We're just cranking away.''" Merely days later, Wales would face reality, fire the people he'd employed to try to make this pig fly, and shut down the site.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Additional reading==
*[[Top 10 Reasons Not to Donate to Wikipedia]]
*[[The Six Rotten Pillars of Wikipedia‎]]
*[http://moriyosi.livejournal.com/28156.html Moriyosi on LiveJournal] - The Problem With Wikipedia, Part 1
*[http://www.wikitruth.info/index.php?title=Jimbo_Wales Wikitruth] - Jimbo Wales

[[Category:Wikipedia]]

Criticism of Jimmy Wales

2011-09-06T00:22:10Z

LyubaPol: /* Jeffrey Merkey favors-for-payment allegations */

[[Image:Jimbo_sleepy.jpg|right|thumb|214px|The man, the legend, Jimmy Wales]][[Wikipedia]] co-founder '''Jimmy "Jimbo" Wales has often been criticized''' for his sometimes authoritarian, sometimes unaccountable, and sometimes inept style in his direction of the online encyclopedia community and for his mismanagement of the [[Directory:Wikimedia Foundation|Wikimedia Foundation]] that is responsible for running it.

As a [[Directory:The New York Times|New York Times]] writer commented in a column once:
:''"As long as he is involved with Wikipedia, however, Mr. Wales will continue to be a guiding light for its many contributors — as well as a lightning rod for its critics."'' <ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/17/technology/17wikipedia.html?_r=1&bl&ex=1205899200&en=e0949ec94f152e85&ei=5087%0A&oref=slogin "Open-Source Troubles in Wiki World"], Noam Cohen, March 17, 2008.</ref>

As a [http://toolserver.org/~soxred93/pcount/index.php?name=Everyking&lang=en&wiki=wikipedia Wikipedia administrator] with over 125,000 edits on the project has said:
:''It is a sad, sad statement on the Wikipedia community that it has never gotten rid of Jimbo Wales. It's remarkable to me that now, in 2010, Jimbo is still around, while the project itself is stagnating quite badly. I thought at one time that such a vibrant project with so much potential would surely jettison Jimbo -- who is so obviously a useless and unprincipled opportunist -- in relatively short order, once it matured to a certain point. Instead I'm starting to wonder if the project will sink and Jimbo will still be sitting there when it does.'' <ref>[http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=30616&view=findpost&p=250652 User:Everyking], August 31, 2010.</ref>

==Not a pornographer?==
[[Image:Captain_Jimbo.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Seems an odd way to market a "web portal"]]Jimbo Wales made repeated edits to his own biography on Wikipedia. One particularly hard bone of contention was [[Directory:Bomis|Bomis]], Jimbo's thriving Internet venture prior to Wikipedia. Bomis, a search portal, also included a healthy dose of "adult content", which Jimbo previously downplayed as ''glamour photography'' -- though as [[Directory:The New Yorker|The New Yorker]] notes, "glamour photography" is ''"not the most precise way to describe lesbian strip-poker threesomes."'' Nonetheless, Jimbo has been steadfast in his efforts to [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jimmy_Wales&diff=26702273&oldid=26658959 remove any suggestion that the beacon of free culture was at one time an unapologetic pornography peddler].

=="Sole Founder" controversy with Larry Sanger==
While the Wikipedia project consistently released statements to the press in its earliest years describing Larry Sanger as the "co-founder" of the encyclopedia, Jimmy Wales later took it upon himself to reframe the description of Sanger as an "employee" of Wales'. Wales has stated that he appreciates Sanger's contributions, but he seems unwilling to accept Sanger as a pioneer of Wikipedia's construction.

Dr. Sanger has [http://www.larrysanger.org/roleinwp.html taken the time] to elaborate on the factual evidence that supports his identification as "co-founder" of Wikipedia. Jimmy Wales has done very little such work to compile evidence that he is the "sole founder".<ref>[http://www.larrysanger.org/roleinwp.html My role in Wikipedia (links)], Dr. Larry Sanger, 2007, ''LarrySanger.org''.</ref>

More recently, Sanger has called out Wales via an "open letter",<ref>[http://blog.citizendium.org/2009/04/08/an-open-letter-to-jimmy-wales-copy/ An open letter to Jimmy Wales], Dr. Larry Sanger, 2009, ''Citizendium.org''.</ref> where the displeased creator of the Wikipedia name and architecture accuses Wales of "lies and distortions", being "transparently self-serving", and issuing "particularly outrageous" claims.

Clearly, the facts remain:

*Larry Sanger came to Wales in January 2001, asking him to install wiki software to feed the Nupedia encyclopedia project.
*Sanger named this new feeder project "Wikipedia".
*Sanger issued the first invitation for the public to come help build Wikipedia.
*Sanger, not Wales, crafted most of the key guidelines and policies that still govern Wikipedia today.

==Flip-flopping on paid editing of Wikipedia==
In August 2006, Wales [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2006-August/051897.html crafted a compromise] with a paid-editing firm to create and serve GFDL content on their own website about paying entities not currently featured in Wikipedia. Other unpaid, independent editors could determine whether the material was worth scraping into Wikipedia.

However, just a couple of months later in October 2006, Wales would renege on this agreement and, in fact, chastised anyone in the public relations industry as "[http://blog.bitepr.com/2006/08/jimmy_wales_on_.html deeply unethical]" if they attempt to create or influence GFDL content of an encyclopedic nature. Of course, the GFDL specifically bars licensees from restricting content to either commercial or non-commercial parties, so Wales really had no clue here.

==Essjay scandal==
[[Image:Jimmy Wales shilling wristwatches.jpg|left|thumb|170px|Want to buy a watch?]]In January 2007, Wales hired Ryan Jordan (pseudonymously known as "Essjay" on Wikipedia) to work at Wikia, Inc. At that time, it is [http://blog.citizendium.org/2007/03/05/one-last-brief-comment-on-the-essjay-scandal/ known that Wikia's co-founders knew] that Jordan was not academically credentialed as a Theology professor holding a PhD, as described on his Wikipedia user page. In fact, he was a 24-year-old college dropout. Regardless of this fraud, later in February, Wales appointed Essjay to Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee, the highest authority on Wikipedia short of the Wikimedia Foundation's own board of directors and staff. When the ''[http://www.WikipediaReview.com Wikipedia Review]'' engaged the ''New Yorker'' magazine to expose Essjay's fraud, Wales' first reaction [http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=%22I+don%27t+really+have+a+problem+with+it%22+Essjay&btnG=Search&hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8 was to say] he "didn't really have a problem with it".

 
{{GKAdBrite}}
 
Well after [[Wikipedia_scandals#Essjay_is_not_a_professor|the scandal]] evolved into a serious public relations threat to Wikipedia's credibility, Wales sought to deflect responsibility for the whole affair by blaming the Arbitration Committee that he himself had created: "EssJay was appointed at the request of and unanimous support of the ArbCom." - Jimmy Wales [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2007-October/083549.html 17 October 2007]. Perplexed members of the Arbitration Committee responded by saying it would be more accurate to describe their "unanimous support" as "nobody objected to Jimbo's nomination of Essjay".

==Spyware? What spyware?==
[[Image:Jimmy_Wales_bright_eyed.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Me? Support spyware?]]Jimbo must have some fond connection with a piece of hated software called BonziBUDDY, because Jimbo has no problem stepping in personally on this Wikipedia subject. Those Internet veterans among you may remember BonziBUDDY, that obnoxious purple gorilla whose friendly and helpful appearance just happened to hide a program designed to infest your computer with truckloads of adware and malware. The mainstream media was virtually unanimous in scorning BonziBUDDY on various "most hated" lists. Jimbo, however, had a curiously different opinion; in fact, he couldn't keep this opinion to himself, so he [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=BonziBUDDY&diff=168350569&oldid=168303939 personally edited Wikipedia's BonziBUDDY article] to systematically erase mention of "spyware" from the article. In fact, Jimbo also violated the Wikipedia rule against "original research" by becoming an expert paralegal for a moment: ''"In the following legal settlement, the issue was not the issue of "spyware", a term which does not appear in any of the legal documents."''

==Rachel Marsden affair==
His alleged attempts to "clean up" a Wikipedia entry for a woman with whom he had a relationship has also [http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=%22Rachel+Marsden%22+Wales&btnG=Search&hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8 generated headlines]. Wales was accused of intervening to sanitize the Wikipedia article of a news commentator with whom he was having a romantic online relationship, which was about to culminate in a sexual romp in a [[Directory:Hilton_Hotels/Doubletree/Washington_DC|Doubletree Hotel in the nation's capital]].

The Wikipedia article regarding controversial [[Directory:Canada|Canadian]] radio commentator [[Directory:Rachel Marsden|Rachel Marsden]] had been the subject of controversy on Wikipedia for some years. According to Marsden, she had asked [[Directory:Wikipedia|Wikipedia]] to delete her [[biography]]. Her concerns led her to contact Wikipedia co-founder [[Directory:Jimmy Wales|Jimmy Wales]], claiming that it was incorrect and libelous. Wales reviewed her biography and, deeming that it was not up to standard, helped to clean up the entry by quietly requesting that a closely allied administrator [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rachel_Marsden&diff=189784135&oldid=185926385 do the work], literally hours before Wales would meet Marsden in person at the hotel.

Wales announced in a statement on Wikipedia "My involvement in cases like this is completely routine, and I am proud of it."<ref name=smh/> On [[February 29]], [[2008]], the technology gossip blog [[Valleywag]] claimed that they had entered into a relationship, and published instant messaging chats that they had allegedly exchanged. On the following day Wales announced on his Wikipedia user page that he was no longer involved with Marsden. In return, Marsden, who claimed to have learned about the breakup by reading about it on the Internet, turned to [[eBay]] and put up for auction a [[t-shirt]] and sweater that she claimed to be Wales'.<ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/03/02/marsden-breakup.html
| title = Canadian pundit, Wikipedia founder in messy breakup
| author = Siri Agrell
| publisher = [[The Canadian Press]]
| date = [[2008-03-02]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-06
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080304.wlbreakup04/BNStory/lifeMain/home
| title = Ms. Marsden's cyberspace breakup: tit-for-tat-for-T-shirt
| author = Siri Agrell
| publisher = [[The Globe and Mail]]
| date = [[2008-03-04]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,334652,00.html
| title = Wikipedia Founder's Fling With Columnist Ends in Nasty Public Breakup
| publisher = [[Fox News Channel|FOXNews.com]]
| date = [[2008-03-03]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3475722.ece
| title = Fury of a woman scorned – on Wikipedia
| publisher = [[The Times]]
| date = [[2008-03-04]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref name=smh>{{cite news
| url = http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/ex-takes-her-revenge-on-mr-wiki/2008/03/04/1204402405901.html
| title = Ex takes her revenge on Mr Wikipedia
| publisher = [[The Sydney Morning Herald]]
| author = Asher Moses
| date = [[2008-03-04]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref>
<ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2008-03-04-wikipedia-wales_N.htm?csp=34
| title = Wikipedia's Wales defends breakup, expenses
| publisher = [[USA Today]]
| date = [[2008-03-05]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2004286879_btwikipedia17.html
| title = Wikipedia experiences growing pains
| author = Alana Semuels
| publisher = Seattle Times
| date = [[2008-03-17]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-17
}}</ref>

There is curiously only a brief mention of this episode in the anonymous-edit-protected Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Wales article about Jimmy Wales], even though it was the [http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=%22Rachel+Marsden%22+Wales&btnG=Search&hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8 talk of mainstream media] for the better part of March 2008. Compare, there is [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Gibson_DUI_incident an entire article] about Mel Gibson's DUI incident; an article which any anonymous IP address can edit and malign. Not so, Jimmy Wales' article. He merits special protective editorial favors, it would appear.

In filing for divorce from Jimmy, his second wife Christine A. Wales is being represented by attorney [http://zacurgrahm.com/Firm%20Info/Lawyers/2444756.aspx Sean A. Costis]. Mr. Wales is represented by [http://thackerlawgroup.com/profiles.htm#john John Thacker].

==Misspending Foundation funds==
[[Image:Jimbo_in_Vogue.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Jimbo playing dress-up]]In March 2008, Wales was accused by former Wikimedia Foundation employee Danny Wool of subsidizing personal expenditures with foundation funds. These included rebuffed attempts to have reimbursed a $1200 dinner for four, a $650 wine tab, and even a visit to a Moscow massage parlor that Wales submitted ''twice'' for payback from the Foundation. Wool also stated that Wales had his Wikimedia credit card taken away in part because of his spending habits, though Wales denied this claim.<ref>[http://smh.com.au/news/biztech/wikipedia-head-accused-of-expenses-rort/2008/03/05/1204402516874.html Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales accused of expenses rort], Asher Moses, March 5, 2008, ''[[Sydney Morning Herald]]''</ref> Foundation Chair Florence Devouard and former foundation interim Executive Director Brad Patrick denied any wrongdoing by Wales or the foundation, saying that Wales accounted for every expense and that for items he did not have receipts for, he paid out of his own pocket.<ref>[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/05/BUVFVDM3H.DTL San Francisco Chronicle]</ref> Executive Director Sue Gardner would later defend Wales on CNET video, saying, "Jimmy has never done anything wrong."<ref>[http://news.cnet.com/1606-2-6233396.html CNET video of an extremely uncomfortable Sue Gardner]</ref>

If these facts are not enough to convince you that money makes its way through the back door to Wales' wallet, then perhaps a look [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049340.html at the front door] is in order. The Wikimedia Foundation announced in January 2009 that it was to begin paying rent to Jimmy Wales' company, Wikia, Inc., on a monthly basis. They would use the tax-advantaged funds granted by the Ruth and Frank Stanton Fund. Did Wikia offer the lowest-priced rent solution to the Wikimedia Foundation? Not at all! After a [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049345.html frantic] back-and-forth [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049354.html attempt] by different [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049360.html agents] of the Wikimedia Foundation to [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049411.html explain] how this [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049389.html level] of [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049391.html self-dealing] was [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049393.html allowed to happen], Wikia's CEO Gil Penchina finally revealed (a year later, January 4, 2010) in a personal e-mail:

<blockquote>''They <nowiki>[the Wikimedia Foundation]</nowiki> approached us and asked if they could rent space on a temporary basis.. and I think it ended up being 4-6 months give or take. I thought about giving it to them for free and I wasn't sure which was worse... getting accused of bribing a non-profit for giving it away, or getting accused of stealing for a non-profit for charging... so we ended up asking them to get competitng (sic) quotes from other landlords so that THEY could feel comfortable with the decision.''</blockquote>

First there is a request to rent space from a hand-picked bidder, and only ''then'' a suggestion to get competing bids from other landlords? It sounds like someone at the Wikimedia Foundation wanted to make sure that Jimmy Wales' for-profit company had the inside track on that bid, worth many thousands of dollars.

==Jeffrey Merkey favors-for-payment allegations==
[[Image:Jimmy Wales on Washington Post interview.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Napping on the job.]]Later in March 2008, it was alleged by [[Jeff V. Merkey|Jeffrey Vernon Merkey]] that Wales had edited Merkey's entry in Wikipedia to make it more "favourable" in return for donations to the Wikimedia Foundation. In May 2006 Wales had erased Merkey's article "because of the unpleasantness of it" and stated "we are nearing a resolution of this longstanding conflict," referring to a dispute between the Wikipedia community and Merkey over the content of the biography. Wales called the allegation that the Wikimedia Foundation had received donations in exchange for this "nonsense."<ref>[http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/cashforkindness-scandal-rattles-wikipedia/2008/03/11/1205125911471.html Cash for kindness]</ref> <ref name="bbcpaidediting">{{citeweb|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7291382.stm|title=Wiki boss 'edited for donation'|accessdate=2008-03-12}}</ref> Nonetheless, Merkey made a very clear and very deliberate statement to the Associated Press that attested: <blockquote>''Wales agreed that in exchange for a substantial donation and other financial support of the Wikimedia Foundation projects, Wales would use his influence to make Merkey's article adhere to Wikipedia's stated policies with regard to internet libel "as a courtesty" and place Merkey under his "special protection" as an editor.''<ref>[http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2008-March/039545.html [Foundation-l] Statement to the Associated Press], Jeffrey Merkey, March 9, 2008.</ref></blockquote>

A few news sources that reported the story [http://pages.citebite.com/w1n0s3r6h3bmk provided the link to the article's history to show Jimbo edited the article], except if one is to hit "edit history" he will see nothing. The page was deleted from Wikipedia in May 2010. Still [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&page=Jeff+V.+Merkey the page's log from October 2006 "(investigating new edits for possible violations of WP:NOR, WP:RS, and WP:BIO [edit=autoconfirmed:move=autoconfirmed)"] shows that Jimbo Wales protected the page just as Merkey said he did. The page reminded protected for almost two years. It is very unusual for an article of little importance. Also unusual is [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Jimbo_Wales/Archive_30#Question_about_Merkey this exchange]: Jimbo was asked about the article:
<blockquote>I have no clue whether or not I'm stepping into a landmine here...

I'm a brand new admin and in trying to clean up pages that have been "semi" protected, I ran across Jeff V. Merkey. From what I can tell, there seem to have been several bouts of COI, BLP, harassment, etc around the article. But most if not all of that seems to have happened last year (late 2006), so I was wondering if the page should still be protected, or if it can be unprotected. Since you protected it back in Oct. 2006, I bring it to you to decide :) -- SatyrTN (talk | contribs) 02:01, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
</blockquote> Jimbo responded:<blockquote>I would recommend keeping it semi-protected for now. It could be unprotected at some point in the future.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 21:58, 10 December 2007 (UTC)</blockquote>

==Tolerance of plagiarism==
The original version of any wiki-formatted article about the Arch Coal company was authored in September 2006 by [[Directory:Gregory J. Kohs|Gregory Kohs]] and released under the terms of the GFDL on this website, [[Directory:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz.com]]. It was then scraped by an independent editor into Wikipedia. In October 2006, erroneously thinking that the article was paid for by Arch Coal, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales acted to delete the article from Wikipedia, but the Wikipedia community determined that Wales' action had been unjustified. The article was revised, largely by "User:JzG" (Guy Chapman), who would [http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=15321 later claim] that he wrote his version of the article ''ab initio'', "from the ground up". However, in January 2008, Kohs demonstrated to Chapman that the article as modified by User:JzG actually plagiarized many aspects of the original. Faced with that evidence, Chapman elected to cover up his misdeed by [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&page=Arch_Coal deleting the original edits] on the Wikipedia site, thus making the provenance of the article appear to have come from Chapman, and not from MyWikiBiz. When Jimmy Wales was notified about this violation of professional ethics and proper GFDL attribution of the edit history, Wales '''very reluctantly''' restored the original edit history, with the childish edit summary, "''might as well restore all of it I suppose''".

===Additional comment===
When in December 2008, Kohs [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arch_Coal&diff=255480884&oldid=255154863 sought to improve] the article about Arch Coal on Wikipedia, his improvements were [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arch_Coal&diff=next&oldid=255480884 reverted back] by a mindless administrator from Belgium. This underscores the true system of editorial control on Wikipedia -- it matters not the '''content''' of one's edits, but rather '''who''' authors the content. (Which, of course, directly contradicts Wikipedia's supposed credo that "anyone can edit".)

===Jimbo (finally) sees the light===
After about 26 months, Wales did ultimately [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk%3AArch_Coal&diff=258731121&oldid=224255965 apologize in a round-about way] for his mistakes in handling this situation. Bravo! <nowiki><golf clap></nowiki>

==Jimbo plagiarizes photography==
When delivering an important presentation in Spain in 2010, Jimmy Wales [http://www.mywikibiz.com/File:Jimbo_stealing_CC_content.jpg featured an image] that he (or his speech writer) had altered, mislabeled into the wrong decade, then presented as a "Wikia" product. He did not properly attribute the image to the original photographer, thus violating the CC-by-SA 2.0 Generic license by which the photo was released.

 
<div style="overflow:auto;height:1px;">
[[Keyword:=Jimmy Wales]]
[[Keyword:=Jimbo Wales]]
[[Keyword:=Jimmy Donal Wales]]
[[Keyword:=criticism]]
[[Keyword:=fraud]]
[[Keyword:=controversy]]
[[Keyword:=scandal]]
[[Keyword:=critique]]
</div>
{{GKAnt}}

==Openserving==
In December 2006, Jimmy Wales launched a spin-off from Wikia called [http://openserving.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page Openserving]. Wales was attempting to copy another business model that had been floated by [[Centiare|Centiare.com]] (which is currently regenerated at [[Directory:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz]]), and by Helium.com, where the unpaid labor who create new content would have the opportunity to earn advertising revenue as a reward for their authorship. Although Wales claimed that "thousands" of interested queries were made of Openserving, the project never got a single new forum off the ground. It was a failure.

Wikia.com is perhaps Wales' most successful project financially, although it has been speculated that it won't be able to turn a regular profit, as meager ad revenues can't possibly support the staffing needs.

==Spanking Art Wikia==
[[Image:Spanking Art Wikia ad for March of Dimes.jpg|left|thumb|230px|Centextual ads supported spanking]]Jimmy Wales' privately-held Wikia company as recently as January 2008 hosted online a web menagerie of freely-licensed images of innocent children juxtaposed with depraved images of children being mercilessly spanked until purple, along with photos of various sexual-enhancement toys. A critic of the site led an urgent campaign that challenged this '''[http://web.archive.org/web/20071214201347rn_1/spankingart.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page Spanking Art Wikia]''' wiki. Wales became quite ruffled under the collar, irritated that the agitator had not "made a complaint through the proper channels". Imagine, sexually-charged images of deviant abuse against children, and the man hosting it on his company's servers was more upset that the complaints against his site weren't filed properly.

==Wikia Search==
Jimbo's venture into the search engine market was much-ballyhooed by the tech media, but after only an 18-month effort, Wales pulled the plug on the failure that was Wikia Search. Evidence was clear early on that it would [http://andrewkeen.typepad.com/the_great_seduction/2008/10/the.html not be a success]. But even as late as March 2009, Wales [http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/22475.asp deceived reporter Susan Kuchinskas] with the assurance, "''I have my team focused on the front end, working on the user experience, and making sure we have all the wiki-like tools people need to work on the site. We're just cranking away.''" Merely days later, Wales would face reality, fire the people he'd employed to try to make this pig fly, and shut down the site.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Additional reading==
*[[Top 10 Reasons Not to Donate to Wikipedia]]
*[[The Six Rotten Pillars of Wikipedia‎]]
*[http://moriyosi.livejournal.com/28156.html Moriyosi on LiveJournal] - The Problem With Wikipedia, Part 1
*[http://www.wikitruth.info/index.php?title=Jimbo_Wales Wikitruth] - Jimbo Wales

[[Category:Wikipedia]]

Criticism of Jimmy Wales

2011-09-06T00:03:37Z

LyubaPol: /* Jeffrey Merkey favors-for-payment allegations */

[[Image:Jimbo_sleepy.jpg|right|thumb|214px|The man, the legend, Jimmy Wales]][[Wikipedia]] co-founder '''Jimmy "Jimbo" Wales has often been criticized''' for his sometimes authoritarian, sometimes unaccountable, and sometimes inept style in his direction of the online encyclopedia community and for his mismanagement of the [[Directory:Wikimedia Foundation|Wikimedia Foundation]] that is responsible for running it.

As a [[Directory:The New York Times|New York Times]] writer commented in a column once:
:''"As long as he is involved with Wikipedia, however, Mr. Wales will continue to be a guiding light for its many contributors — as well as a lightning rod for its critics."'' <ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/17/technology/17wikipedia.html?_r=1&bl&ex=1205899200&en=e0949ec94f152e85&ei=5087%0A&oref=slogin "Open-Source Troubles in Wiki World"], Noam Cohen, March 17, 2008.</ref>

As a [http://toolserver.org/~soxred93/pcount/index.php?name=Everyking&lang=en&wiki=wikipedia Wikipedia administrator] with over 125,000 edits on the project has said:
:''It is a sad, sad statement on the Wikipedia community that it has never gotten rid of Jimbo Wales. It's remarkable to me that now, in 2010, Jimbo is still around, while the project itself is stagnating quite badly. I thought at one time that such a vibrant project with so much potential would surely jettison Jimbo -- who is so obviously a useless and unprincipled opportunist -- in relatively short order, once it matured to a certain point. Instead I'm starting to wonder if the project will sink and Jimbo will still be sitting there when it does.'' <ref>[http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=30616&view=findpost&p=250652 User:Everyking], August 31, 2010.</ref>

==Not a pornographer?==
[[Image:Captain_Jimbo.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Seems an odd way to market a "web portal"]]Jimbo Wales made repeated edits to his own biography on Wikipedia. One particularly hard bone of contention was [[Directory:Bomis|Bomis]], Jimbo's thriving Internet venture prior to Wikipedia. Bomis, a search portal, also included a healthy dose of "adult content", which Jimbo previously downplayed as ''glamour photography'' -- though as [[Directory:The New Yorker|The New Yorker]] notes, "glamour photography" is ''"not the most precise way to describe lesbian strip-poker threesomes."'' Nonetheless, Jimbo has been steadfast in his efforts to [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jimmy_Wales&diff=26702273&oldid=26658959 remove any suggestion that the beacon of free culture was at one time an unapologetic pornography peddler].

=="Sole Founder" controversy with Larry Sanger==
While the Wikipedia project consistently released statements to the press in its earliest years describing Larry Sanger as the "co-founder" of the encyclopedia, Jimmy Wales later took it upon himself to reframe the description of Sanger as an "employee" of Wales'. Wales has stated that he appreciates Sanger's contributions, but he seems unwilling to accept Sanger as a pioneer of Wikipedia's construction.

Dr. Sanger has [http://www.larrysanger.org/roleinwp.html taken the time] to elaborate on the factual evidence that supports his identification as "co-founder" of Wikipedia. Jimmy Wales has done very little such work to compile evidence that he is the "sole founder".<ref>[http://www.larrysanger.org/roleinwp.html My role in Wikipedia (links)], Dr. Larry Sanger, 2007, ''LarrySanger.org''.</ref>

More recently, Sanger has called out Wales via an "open letter",<ref>[http://blog.citizendium.org/2009/04/08/an-open-letter-to-jimmy-wales-copy/ An open letter to Jimmy Wales], Dr. Larry Sanger, 2009, ''Citizendium.org''.</ref> where the displeased creator of the Wikipedia name and architecture accuses Wales of "lies and distortions", being "transparently self-serving", and issuing "particularly outrageous" claims.

Clearly, the facts remain:

*Larry Sanger came to Wales in January 2001, asking him to install wiki software to feed the Nupedia encyclopedia project.
*Sanger named this new feeder project "Wikipedia".
*Sanger issued the first invitation for the public to come help build Wikipedia.
*Sanger, not Wales, crafted most of the key guidelines and policies that still govern Wikipedia today.

==Flip-flopping on paid editing of Wikipedia==
In August 2006, Wales [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2006-August/051897.html crafted a compromise] with a paid-editing firm to create and serve GFDL content on their own website about paying entities not currently featured in Wikipedia. Other unpaid, independent editors could determine whether the material was worth scraping into Wikipedia.

However, just a couple of months later in October 2006, Wales would renege on this agreement and, in fact, chastised anyone in the public relations industry as "[http://blog.bitepr.com/2006/08/jimmy_wales_on_.html deeply unethical]" if they attempt to create or influence GFDL content of an encyclopedic nature. Of course, the GFDL specifically bars licensees from restricting content to either commercial or non-commercial parties, so Wales really had no clue here.

==Essjay scandal==
[[Image:Jimmy Wales shilling wristwatches.jpg|left|thumb|170px|Want to buy a watch?]]In January 2007, Wales hired Ryan Jordan (pseudonymously known as "Essjay" on Wikipedia) to work at Wikia, Inc. At that time, it is [http://blog.citizendium.org/2007/03/05/one-last-brief-comment-on-the-essjay-scandal/ known that Wikia's co-founders knew] that Jordan was not academically credentialed as a Theology professor holding a PhD, as described on his Wikipedia user page. In fact, he was a 24-year-old college dropout. Regardless of this fraud, later in February, Wales appointed Essjay to Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee, the highest authority on Wikipedia short of the Wikimedia Foundation's own board of directors and staff. When the ''[http://www.WikipediaReview.com Wikipedia Review]'' engaged the ''New Yorker'' magazine to expose Essjay's fraud, Wales' first reaction [http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=%22I+don%27t+really+have+a+problem+with+it%22+Essjay&btnG=Search&hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8 was to say] he "didn't really have a problem with it".

 
{{GKAdBrite}}
 
Well after [[Wikipedia_scandals#Essjay_is_not_a_professor|the scandal]] evolved into a serious public relations threat to Wikipedia's credibility, Wales sought to deflect responsibility for the whole affair by blaming the Arbitration Committee that he himself had created: "EssJay was appointed at the request of and unanimous support of the ArbCom." - Jimmy Wales [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2007-October/083549.html 17 October 2007]. Perplexed members of the Arbitration Committee responded by saying it would be more accurate to describe their "unanimous support" as "nobody objected to Jimbo's nomination of Essjay".

==Spyware? What spyware?==
[[Image:Jimmy_Wales_bright_eyed.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Me? Support spyware?]]Jimbo must have some fond connection with a piece of hated software called BonziBUDDY, because Jimbo has no problem stepping in personally on this Wikipedia subject. Those Internet veterans among you may remember BonziBUDDY, that obnoxious purple gorilla whose friendly and helpful appearance just happened to hide a program designed to infest your computer with truckloads of adware and malware. The mainstream media was virtually unanimous in scorning BonziBUDDY on various "most hated" lists. Jimbo, however, had a curiously different opinion; in fact, he couldn't keep this opinion to himself, so he [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=BonziBUDDY&diff=168350569&oldid=168303939 personally edited Wikipedia's BonziBUDDY article] to systematically erase mention of "spyware" from the article. In fact, Jimbo also violated the Wikipedia rule against "original research" by becoming an expert paralegal for a moment: ''"In the following legal settlement, the issue was not the issue of "spyware", a term which does not appear in any of the legal documents."''

==Rachel Marsden affair==
His alleged attempts to "clean up" a Wikipedia entry for a woman with whom he had a relationship has also [http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=%22Rachel+Marsden%22+Wales&btnG=Search&hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8 generated headlines]. Wales was accused of intervening to sanitize the Wikipedia article of a news commentator with whom he was having a romantic online relationship, which was about to culminate in a sexual romp in a [[Directory:Hilton_Hotels/Doubletree/Washington_DC|Doubletree Hotel in the nation's capital]].

The Wikipedia article regarding controversial [[Directory:Canada|Canadian]] radio commentator [[Directory:Rachel Marsden|Rachel Marsden]] had been the subject of controversy on Wikipedia for some years. According to Marsden, she had asked [[Directory:Wikipedia|Wikipedia]] to delete her [[biography]]. Her concerns led her to contact Wikipedia co-founder [[Directory:Jimmy Wales|Jimmy Wales]], claiming that it was incorrect and libelous. Wales reviewed her biography and, deeming that it was not up to standard, helped to clean up the entry by quietly requesting that a closely allied administrator [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rachel_Marsden&diff=189784135&oldid=185926385 do the work], literally hours before Wales would meet Marsden in person at the hotel.

Wales announced in a statement on Wikipedia "My involvement in cases like this is completely routine, and I am proud of it."<ref name=smh/> On [[February 29]], [[2008]], the technology gossip blog [[Valleywag]] claimed that they had entered into a relationship, and published instant messaging chats that they had allegedly exchanged. On the following day Wales announced on his Wikipedia user page that he was no longer involved with Marsden. In return, Marsden, who claimed to have learned about the breakup by reading about it on the Internet, turned to [[eBay]] and put up for auction a [[t-shirt]] and sweater that she claimed to be Wales'.<ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/03/02/marsden-breakup.html
| title = Canadian pundit, Wikipedia founder in messy breakup
| author = Siri Agrell
| publisher = [[The Canadian Press]]
| date = [[2008-03-02]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-06
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080304.wlbreakup04/BNStory/lifeMain/home
| title = Ms. Marsden's cyberspace breakup: tit-for-tat-for-T-shirt
| author = Siri Agrell
| publisher = [[The Globe and Mail]]
| date = [[2008-03-04]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,334652,00.html
| title = Wikipedia Founder's Fling With Columnist Ends in Nasty Public Breakup
| publisher = [[Fox News Channel|FOXNews.com]]
| date = [[2008-03-03]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3475722.ece
| title = Fury of a woman scorned – on Wikipedia
| publisher = [[The Times]]
| date = [[2008-03-04]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref name=smh>{{cite news
| url = http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/ex-takes-her-revenge-on-mr-wiki/2008/03/04/1204402405901.html
| title = Ex takes her revenge on Mr Wikipedia
| publisher = [[The Sydney Morning Herald]]
| author = Asher Moses
| date = [[2008-03-04]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref>
<ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2008-03-04-wikipedia-wales_N.htm?csp=34
| title = Wikipedia's Wales defends breakup, expenses
| publisher = [[USA Today]]
| date = [[2008-03-05]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2004286879_btwikipedia17.html
| title = Wikipedia experiences growing pains
| author = Alana Semuels
| publisher = Seattle Times
| date = [[2008-03-17]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-17
}}</ref>

There is curiously only a brief mention of this episode in the anonymous-edit-protected Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Wales article about Jimmy Wales], even though it was the [http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=%22Rachel+Marsden%22+Wales&btnG=Search&hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8 talk of mainstream media] for the better part of March 2008. Compare, there is [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Gibson_DUI_incident an entire article] about Mel Gibson's DUI incident; an article which any anonymous IP address can edit and malign. Not so, Jimmy Wales' article. He merits special protective editorial favors, it would appear.

In filing for divorce from Jimmy, his second wife Christine A. Wales is being represented by attorney [http://zacurgrahm.com/Firm%20Info/Lawyers/2444756.aspx Sean A. Costis]. Mr. Wales is represented by [http://thackerlawgroup.com/profiles.htm#john John Thacker].

==Misspending Foundation funds==
[[Image:Jimbo_in_Vogue.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Jimbo playing dress-up]]In March 2008, Wales was accused by former Wikimedia Foundation employee Danny Wool of subsidizing personal expenditures with foundation funds. These included rebuffed attempts to have reimbursed a $1200 dinner for four, a $650 wine tab, and even a visit to a Moscow massage parlor that Wales submitted ''twice'' for payback from the Foundation. Wool also stated that Wales had his Wikimedia credit card taken away in part because of his spending habits, though Wales denied this claim.<ref>[http://smh.com.au/news/biztech/wikipedia-head-accused-of-expenses-rort/2008/03/05/1204402516874.html Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales accused of expenses rort], Asher Moses, March 5, 2008, ''[[Sydney Morning Herald]]''</ref> Foundation Chair Florence Devouard and former foundation interim Executive Director Brad Patrick denied any wrongdoing by Wales or the foundation, saying that Wales accounted for every expense and that for items he did not have receipts for, he paid out of his own pocket.<ref>[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/05/BUVFVDM3H.DTL San Francisco Chronicle]</ref> Executive Director Sue Gardner would later defend Wales on CNET video, saying, "Jimmy has never done anything wrong."<ref>[http://news.cnet.com/1606-2-6233396.html CNET video of an extremely uncomfortable Sue Gardner]</ref>

If these facts are not enough to convince you that money makes its way through the back door to Wales' wallet, then perhaps a look [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049340.html at the front door] is in order. The Wikimedia Foundation announced in January 2009 that it was to begin paying rent to Jimmy Wales' company, Wikia, Inc., on a monthly basis. They would use the tax-advantaged funds granted by the Ruth and Frank Stanton Fund. Did Wikia offer the lowest-priced rent solution to the Wikimedia Foundation? Not at all! After a [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049345.html frantic] back-and-forth [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049354.html attempt] by different [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049360.html agents] of the Wikimedia Foundation to [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049411.html explain] how this [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049389.html level] of [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049391.html self-dealing] was [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049393.html allowed to happen], Wikia's CEO Gil Penchina finally revealed (a year later, January 4, 2010) in a personal e-mail:

<blockquote>''They <nowiki>[the Wikimedia Foundation]</nowiki> approached us and asked if they could rent space on a temporary basis.. and I think it ended up being 4-6 months give or take. I thought about giving it to them for free and I wasn't sure which was worse... getting accused of bribing a non-profit for giving it away, or getting accused of stealing for a non-profit for charging... so we ended up asking them to get competitng (sic) quotes from other landlords so that THEY could feel comfortable with the decision.''</blockquote>

First there is a request to rent space from a hand-picked bidder, and only ''then'' a suggestion to get competing bids from other landlords? It sounds like someone at the Wikimedia Foundation wanted to make sure that Jimmy Wales' for-profit company had the inside track on that bid, worth many thousands of dollars.

==Jeffrey Merkey favors-for-payment allegations==
[[Image:Jimmy Wales on Washington Post interview.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Napping on the job.]]Later in March 2008, it was alleged by [[Jeff V. Merkey|Jeffrey Vernon Merkey]] that Wales had edited Merkey's entry in Wikipedia to make it more "favourable" in return for donations to the Wikimedia Foundation. In May 2006 Wales had erased Merkey's article "because of the unpleasantness of it" and stated "we are nearing a resolution of this longstanding conflict," referring to a dispute between the Wikipedia community and Merkey over the content of the biography. Wales called the allegation that the Wikimedia Foundation had received donations in exchange for this "nonsense."<ref>[http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/cashforkindness-scandal-rattles-wikipedia/2008/03/11/1205125911471.html Cash for kindness]</ref> <ref name="bbcpaidediting">{{citeweb|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7291382.stm|title=Wiki boss 'edited for donation'|accessdate=2008-03-12}}</ref> Nonetheless, Merkey made a very clear and very deliberate statement to the Associated Press that attested: <blockquote>''Wales agreed that in exchange for a substantial donation and other financial support of the Wikimedia Foundation projects, Wales would use his influence to make Merkey's article adhere to Wikipedia's stated policies with regard to internet libel "as a courtesty" and place Merkey under his "special protection" as an editor.''<ref>[http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2008-March/039545.html [Foundation-l] Statement to the Associated Press], Jeffrey Merkey, March 9, 2008.</ref></blockquote>

A few news sources that reported the story [http://pages.citebite.com/w1n0s3r6h3bmk provided the link to the article's history to show Jimbo edited the article], except if one is to hit "edit history" he will see nothing. The page was deleted from Wikipedia in May 2010. Still [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&page=Jeff+V.+Merkey the page's log from October 2006 "(investigating new edits for possible violations of WP:NOR, WP:RS, and WP:BIO [edit=autoconfirmed:move=autoconfirmed)"] shows that Jimbo Wales protected the page just as Merkey said he did. The page reminded protected for almost two years. It is very unusual for an article of little importance.

==Tolerance of plagiarism==
The original version of any wiki-formatted article about the Arch Coal company was authored in September 2006 by [[Directory:Gregory J. Kohs|Gregory Kohs]] and released under the terms of the GFDL on this website, [[Directory:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz.com]]. It was then scraped by an independent editor into Wikipedia. In October 2006, erroneously thinking that the article was paid for by Arch Coal, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales acted to delete the article from Wikipedia, but the Wikipedia community determined that Wales' action had been unjustified. The article was revised, largely by "User:JzG" (Guy Chapman), who would [http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=15321 later claim] that he wrote his version of the article ''ab initio'', "from the ground up". However, in January 2008, Kohs demonstrated to Chapman that the article as modified by User:JzG actually plagiarized many aspects of the original. Faced with that evidence, Chapman elected to cover up his misdeed by [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&page=Arch_Coal deleting the original edits] on the Wikipedia site, thus making the provenance of the article appear to have come from Chapman, and not from MyWikiBiz. When Jimmy Wales was notified about this violation of professional ethics and proper GFDL attribution of the edit history, Wales '''very reluctantly''' restored the original edit history, with the childish edit summary, "''might as well restore all of it I suppose''".

===Additional comment===
When in December 2008, Kohs [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arch_Coal&diff=255480884&oldid=255154863 sought to improve] the article about Arch Coal on Wikipedia, his improvements were [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arch_Coal&diff=next&oldid=255480884 reverted back] by a mindless administrator from Belgium. This underscores the true system of editorial control on Wikipedia -- it matters not the '''content''' of one's edits, but rather '''who''' authors the content. (Which, of course, directly contradicts Wikipedia's supposed credo that "anyone can edit".)

===Jimbo (finally) sees the light===
After about 26 months, Wales did ultimately [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk%3AArch_Coal&diff=258731121&oldid=224255965 apologize in a round-about way] for his mistakes in handling this situation. Bravo! <nowiki><golf clap></nowiki>

==Jimbo plagiarizes photography==
When delivering an important presentation in Spain in 2010, Jimmy Wales [http://www.mywikibiz.com/File:Jimbo_stealing_CC_content.jpg featured an image] that he (or his speech writer) had altered, mislabeled into the wrong decade, then presented as a "Wikia" product. He did not properly attribute the image to the original photographer, thus violating the CC-by-SA 2.0 Generic license by which the photo was released.

 
<div style="overflow:auto;height:1px;">
[[Keyword:=Jimmy Wales]]
[[Keyword:=Jimbo Wales]]
[[Keyword:=Jimmy Donal Wales]]
[[Keyword:=criticism]]
[[Keyword:=fraud]]
[[Keyword:=controversy]]
[[Keyword:=scandal]]
[[Keyword:=critique]]
</div>
{{GKAnt}}

==Openserving==
In December 2006, Jimmy Wales launched a spin-off from Wikia called [http://openserving.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page Openserving]. Wales was attempting to copy another business model that had been floated by [[Centiare|Centiare.com]] (which is currently regenerated at [[Directory:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz]]), and by Helium.com, where the unpaid labor who create new content would have the opportunity to earn advertising revenue as a reward for their authorship. Although Wales claimed that "thousands" of interested queries were made of Openserving, the project never got a single new forum off the ground. It was a failure.

Wikia.com is perhaps Wales' most successful project financially, although it has been speculated that it won't be able to turn a regular profit, as meager ad revenues can't possibly support the staffing needs.

==Spanking Art Wikia==
[[Image:Spanking Art Wikia ad for March of Dimes.jpg|left|thumb|230px|Centextual ads supported spanking]]Jimmy Wales' privately-held Wikia company as recently as January 2008 hosted online a web menagerie of freely-licensed images of innocent children juxtaposed with depraved images of children being mercilessly spanked until purple, along with photos of various sexual-enhancement toys. A critic of the site led an urgent campaign that challenged this '''[http://web.archive.org/web/20071214201347rn_1/spankingart.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page Spanking Art Wikia]''' wiki. Wales became quite ruffled under the collar, irritated that the agitator had not "made a complaint through the proper channels". Imagine, sexually-charged images of deviant abuse against children, and the man hosting it on his company's servers was more upset that the complaints against his site weren't filed properly.

==Wikia Search==
Jimbo's venture into the search engine market was much-ballyhooed by the tech media, but after only an 18-month effort, Wales pulled the plug on the failure that was Wikia Search. Evidence was clear early on that it would [http://andrewkeen.typepad.com/the_great_seduction/2008/10/the.html not be a success]. But even as late as March 2009, Wales [http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/22475.asp deceived reporter Susan Kuchinskas] with the assurance, "''I have my team focused on the front end, working on the user experience, and making sure we have all the wiki-like tools people need to work on the site. We're just cranking away.''" Merely days later, Wales would face reality, fire the people he'd employed to try to make this pig fly, and shut down the site.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Additional reading==
*[[Top 10 Reasons Not to Donate to Wikipedia]]
*[[The Six Rotten Pillars of Wikipedia‎]]
*[http://moriyosi.livejournal.com/28156.html Moriyosi on LiveJournal] - The Problem With Wikipedia, Part 1
*[http://www.wikitruth.info/index.php?title=Jimbo_Wales Wikitruth] - Jimbo Wales

[[Category:Wikipedia]]

Criticism of Jimmy Wales

2011-09-06T00:00:36Z

LyubaPol: /* Jeffrey Merkey favors-for-payment allegations */

[[Image:Jimbo_sleepy.jpg|right|thumb|214px|The man, the legend, Jimmy Wales]][[Wikipedia]] co-founder '''Jimmy "Jimbo" Wales has often been criticized''' for his sometimes authoritarian, sometimes unaccountable, and sometimes inept style in his direction of the online encyclopedia community and for his mismanagement of the [[Directory:Wikimedia Foundation|Wikimedia Foundation]] that is responsible for running it.

As a [[Directory:The New York Times|New York Times]] writer commented in a column once:
:''"As long as he is involved with Wikipedia, however, Mr. Wales will continue to be a guiding light for its many contributors — as well as a lightning rod for its critics."'' <ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/17/technology/17wikipedia.html?_r=1&bl&ex=1205899200&en=e0949ec94f152e85&ei=5087%0A&oref=slogin "Open-Source Troubles in Wiki World"], Noam Cohen, March 17, 2008.</ref>

As a [http://toolserver.org/~soxred93/pcount/index.php?name=Everyking&lang=en&wiki=wikipedia Wikipedia administrator] with over 125,000 edits on the project has said:
:''It is a sad, sad statement on the Wikipedia community that it has never gotten rid of Jimbo Wales. It's remarkable to me that now, in 2010, Jimbo is still around, while the project itself is stagnating quite badly. I thought at one time that such a vibrant project with so much potential would surely jettison Jimbo -- who is so obviously a useless and unprincipled opportunist -- in relatively short order, once it matured to a certain point. Instead I'm starting to wonder if the project will sink and Jimbo will still be sitting there when it does.'' <ref>[http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=30616&view=findpost&p=250652 User:Everyking], August 31, 2010.</ref>

==Not a pornographer?==
[[Image:Captain_Jimbo.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Seems an odd way to market a "web portal"]]Jimbo Wales made repeated edits to his own biography on Wikipedia. One particularly hard bone of contention was [[Directory:Bomis|Bomis]], Jimbo's thriving Internet venture prior to Wikipedia. Bomis, a search portal, also included a healthy dose of "adult content", which Jimbo previously downplayed as ''glamour photography'' -- though as [[Directory:The New Yorker|The New Yorker]] notes, "glamour photography" is ''"not the most precise way to describe lesbian strip-poker threesomes."'' Nonetheless, Jimbo has been steadfast in his efforts to [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jimmy_Wales&diff=26702273&oldid=26658959 remove any suggestion that the beacon of free culture was at one time an unapologetic pornography peddler].

=="Sole Founder" controversy with Larry Sanger==
While the Wikipedia project consistently released statements to the press in its earliest years describing Larry Sanger as the "co-founder" of the encyclopedia, Jimmy Wales later took it upon himself to reframe the description of Sanger as an "employee" of Wales'. Wales has stated that he appreciates Sanger's contributions, but he seems unwilling to accept Sanger as a pioneer of Wikipedia's construction.

Dr. Sanger has [http://www.larrysanger.org/roleinwp.html taken the time] to elaborate on the factual evidence that supports his identification as "co-founder" of Wikipedia. Jimmy Wales has done very little such work to compile evidence that he is the "sole founder".<ref>[http://www.larrysanger.org/roleinwp.html My role in Wikipedia (links)], Dr. Larry Sanger, 2007, ''LarrySanger.org''.</ref>

More recently, Sanger has called out Wales via an "open letter",<ref>[http://blog.citizendium.org/2009/04/08/an-open-letter-to-jimmy-wales-copy/ An open letter to Jimmy Wales], Dr. Larry Sanger, 2009, ''Citizendium.org''.</ref> where the displeased creator of the Wikipedia name and architecture accuses Wales of "lies and distortions", being "transparently self-serving", and issuing "particularly outrageous" claims.

Clearly, the facts remain:

*Larry Sanger came to Wales in January 2001, asking him to install wiki software to feed the Nupedia encyclopedia project.
*Sanger named this new feeder project "Wikipedia".
*Sanger issued the first invitation for the public to come help build Wikipedia.
*Sanger, not Wales, crafted most of the key guidelines and policies that still govern Wikipedia today.

==Flip-flopping on paid editing of Wikipedia==
In August 2006, Wales [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2006-August/051897.html crafted a compromise] with a paid-editing firm to create and serve GFDL content on their own website about paying entities not currently featured in Wikipedia. Other unpaid, independent editors could determine whether the material was worth scraping into Wikipedia.

However, just a couple of months later in October 2006, Wales would renege on this agreement and, in fact, chastised anyone in the public relations industry as "[http://blog.bitepr.com/2006/08/jimmy_wales_on_.html deeply unethical]" if they attempt to create or influence GFDL content of an encyclopedic nature. Of course, the GFDL specifically bars licensees from restricting content to either commercial or non-commercial parties, so Wales really had no clue here.

==Essjay scandal==
[[Image:Jimmy Wales shilling wristwatches.jpg|left|thumb|170px|Want to buy a watch?]]In January 2007, Wales hired Ryan Jordan (pseudonymously known as "Essjay" on Wikipedia) to work at Wikia, Inc. At that time, it is [http://blog.citizendium.org/2007/03/05/one-last-brief-comment-on-the-essjay-scandal/ known that Wikia's co-founders knew] that Jordan was not academically credentialed as a Theology professor holding a PhD, as described on his Wikipedia user page. In fact, he was a 24-year-old college dropout. Regardless of this fraud, later in February, Wales appointed Essjay to Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee, the highest authority on Wikipedia short of the Wikimedia Foundation's own board of directors and staff. When the ''[http://www.WikipediaReview.com Wikipedia Review]'' engaged the ''New Yorker'' magazine to expose Essjay's fraud, Wales' first reaction [http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=%22I+don%27t+really+have+a+problem+with+it%22+Essjay&btnG=Search&hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8 was to say] he "didn't really have a problem with it".

 
{{GKAdBrite}}
 
Well after [[Wikipedia_scandals#Essjay_is_not_a_professor|the scandal]] evolved into a serious public relations threat to Wikipedia's credibility, Wales sought to deflect responsibility for the whole affair by blaming the Arbitration Committee that he himself had created: "EssJay was appointed at the request of and unanimous support of the ArbCom." - Jimmy Wales [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2007-October/083549.html 17 October 2007]. Perplexed members of the Arbitration Committee responded by saying it would be more accurate to describe their "unanimous support" as "nobody objected to Jimbo's nomination of Essjay".

==Spyware? What spyware?==
[[Image:Jimmy_Wales_bright_eyed.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Me? Support spyware?]]Jimbo must have some fond connection with a piece of hated software called BonziBUDDY, because Jimbo has no problem stepping in personally on this Wikipedia subject. Those Internet veterans among you may remember BonziBUDDY, that obnoxious purple gorilla whose friendly and helpful appearance just happened to hide a program designed to infest your computer with truckloads of adware and malware. The mainstream media was virtually unanimous in scorning BonziBUDDY on various "most hated" lists. Jimbo, however, had a curiously different opinion; in fact, he couldn't keep this opinion to himself, so he [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=BonziBUDDY&diff=168350569&oldid=168303939 personally edited Wikipedia's BonziBUDDY article] to systematically erase mention of "spyware" from the article. In fact, Jimbo also violated the Wikipedia rule against "original research" by becoming an expert paralegal for a moment: ''"In the following legal settlement, the issue was not the issue of "spyware", a term which does not appear in any of the legal documents."''

==Rachel Marsden affair==
His alleged attempts to "clean up" a Wikipedia entry for a woman with whom he had a relationship has also [http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=%22Rachel+Marsden%22+Wales&btnG=Search&hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8 generated headlines]. Wales was accused of intervening to sanitize the Wikipedia article of a news commentator with whom he was having a romantic online relationship, which was about to culminate in a sexual romp in a [[Directory:Hilton_Hotels/Doubletree/Washington_DC|Doubletree Hotel in the nation's capital]].

The Wikipedia article regarding controversial [[Directory:Canada|Canadian]] radio commentator [[Directory:Rachel Marsden|Rachel Marsden]] had been the subject of controversy on Wikipedia for some years. According to Marsden, she had asked [[Directory:Wikipedia|Wikipedia]] to delete her [[biography]]. Her concerns led her to contact Wikipedia co-founder [[Directory:Jimmy Wales|Jimmy Wales]], claiming that it was incorrect and libelous. Wales reviewed her biography and, deeming that it was not up to standard, helped to clean up the entry by quietly requesting that a closely allied administrator [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rachel_Marsden&diff=189784135&oldid=185926385 do the work], literally hours before Wales would meet Marsden in person at the hotel.

Wales announced in a statement on Wikipedia "My involvement in cases like this is completely routine, and I am proud of it."<ref name=smh/> On [[February 29]], [[2008]], the technology gossip blog [[Valleywag]] claimed that they had entered into a relationship, and published instant messaging chats that they had allegedly exchanged. On the following day Wales announced on his Wikipedia user page that he was no longer involved with Marsden. In return, Marsden, who claimed to have learned about the breakup by reading about it on the Internet, turned to [[eBay]] and put up for auction a [[t-shirt]] and sweater that she claimed to be Wales'.<ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/03/02/marsden-breakup.html
| title = Canadian pundit, Wikipedia founder in messy breakup
| author = Siri Agrell
| publisher = [[The Canadian Press]]
| date = [[2008-03-02]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-06
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080304.wlbreakup04/BNStory/lifeMain/home
| title = Ms. Marsden's cyberspace breakup: tit-for-tat-for-T-shirt
| author = Siri Agrell
| publisher = [[The Globe and Mail]]
| date = [[2008-03-04]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,334652,00.html
| title = Wikipedia Founder's Fling With Columnist Ends in Nasty Public Breakup
| publisher = [[Fox News Channel|FOXNews.com]]
| date = [[2008-03-03]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3475722.ece
| title = Fury of a woman scorned – on Wikipedia
| publisher = [[The Times]]
| date = [[2008-03-04]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref name=smh>{{cite news
| url = http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/ex-takes-her-revenge-on-mr-wiki/2008/03/04/1204402405901.html
| title = Ex takes her revenge on Mr Wikipedia
| publisher = [[The Sydney Morning Herald]]
| author = Asher Moses
| date = [[2008-03-04]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref>
<ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2008-03-04-wikipedia-wales_N.htm?csp=34
| title = Wikipedia's Wales defends breakup, expenses
| publisher = [[USA Today]]
| date = [[2008-03-05]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2004286879_btwikipedia17.html
| title = Wikipedia experiences growing pains
| author = Alana Semuels
| publisher = Seattle Times
| date = [[2008-03-17]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-17
}}</ref>

There is curiously only a brief mention of this episode in the anonymous-edit-protected Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Wales article about Jimmy Wales], even though it was the [http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=%22Rachel+Marsden%22+Wales&btnG=Search&hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8 talk of mainstream media] for the better part of March 2008. Compare, there is [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Gibson_DUI_incident an entire article] about Mel Gibson's DUI incident; an article which any anonymous IP address can edit and malign. Not so, Jimmy Wales' article. He merits special protective editorial favors, it would appear.

In filing for divorce from Jimmy, his second wife Christine A. Wales is being represented by attorney [http://zacurgrahm.com/Firm%20Info/Lawyers/2444756.aspx Sean A. Costis]. Mr. Wales is represented by [http://thackerlawgroup.com/profiles.htm#john John Thacker].

==Misspending Foundation funds==
[[Image:Jimbo_in_Vogue.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Jimbo playing dress-up]]In March 2008, Wales was accused by former Wikimedia Foundation employee Danny Wool of subsidizing personal expenditures with foundation funds. These included rebuffed attempts to have reimbursed a $1200 dinner for four, a $650 wine tab, and even a visit to a Moscow massage parlor that Wales submitted ''twice'' for payback from the Foundation. Wool also stated that Wales had his Wikimedia credit card taken away in part because of his spending habits, though Wales denied this claim.<ref>[http://smh.com.au/news/biztech/wikipedia-head-accused-of-expenses-rort/2008/03/05/1204402516874.html Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales accused of expenses rort], Asher Moses, March 5, 2008, ''[[Sydney Morning Herald]]''</ref> Foundation Chair Florence Devouard and former foundation interim Executive Director Brad Patrick denied any wrongdoing by Wales or the foundation, saying that Wales accounted for every expense and that for items he did not have receipts for, he paid out of his own pocket.<ref>[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/05/BUVFVDM3H.DTL San Francisco Chronicle]</ref> Executive Director Sue Gardner would later defend Wales on CNET video, saying, "Jimmy has never done anything wrong."<ref>[http://news.cnet.com/1606-2-6233396.html CNET video of an extremely uncomfortable Sue Gardner]</ref>

If these facts are not enough to convince you that money makes its way through the back door to Wales' wallet, then perhaps a look [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049340.html at the front door] is in order. The Wikimedia Foundation announced in January 2009 that it was to begin paying rent to Jimmy Wales' company, Wikia, Inc., on a monthly basis. They would use the tax-advantaged funds granted by the Ruth and Frank Stanton Fund. Did Wikia offer the lowest-priced rent solution to the Wikimedia Foundation? Not at all! After a [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049345.html frantic] back-and-forth [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049354.html attempt] by different [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049360.html agents] of the Wikimedia Foundation to [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049411.html explain] how this [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049389.html level] of [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049391.html self-dealing] was [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049393.html allowed to happen], Wikia's CEO Gil Penchina finally revealed (a year later, January 4, 2010) in a personal e-mail:

<blockquote>''They <nowiki>[the Wikimedia Foundation]</nowiki> approached us and asked if they could rent space on a temporary basis.. and I think it ended up being 4-6 months give or take. I thought about giving it to them for free and I wasn't sure which was worse... getting accused of bribing a non-profit for giving it away, or getting accused of stealing for a non-profit for charging... so we ended up asking them to get competitng (sic) quotes from other landlords so that THEY could feel comfortable with the decision.''</blockquote>

First there is a request to rent space from a hand-picked bidder, and only ''then'' a suggestion to get competing bids from other landlords? It sounds like someone at the Wikimedia Foundation wanted to make sure that Jimmy Wales' for-profit company had the inside track on that bid, worth many thousands of dollars.

==Jeffrey Merkey favors-for-payment allegations==
[[Image:Jimmy Wales on Washington Post interview.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Napping on the job.]]Later in March 2008, it was alleged by [[Jeff V. Merkey|Jeffrey Vernon Merkey]] that Wales had edited Merkey's entry in Wikipedia to make it more "favourable" in return for donations to the Wikimedia Foundation. In May 2006 Wales had erased Merkey's article "because of the unpleasantness of it" and stated "we are nearing a resolution of this longstanding conflict," referring to a dispute between the Wikipedia community and Merkey over the content of the biography. Wales called the allegation that the Wikimedia Foundation had received donations in exchange for this "nonsense."<ref>[http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/cashforkindness-scandal-rattles-wikipedia/2008/03/11/1205125911471.html Cash for kindness]</ref> <ref name="bbcpaidediting">{{citeweb|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7291382.stm|title=Wiki boss 'edited for donation'|accessdate=2008-03-12}}</ref> Nonetheless, Merkey made a very clear and very deliberate statement to the Associated Press that attested: <blockquote>''Wales agreed that in exchange for a substantial donation and other financial support of the Wikimedia Foundation projects, Wales would use his influence to make Merkey's article adhere to Wikipedia's stated policies with regard to internet libel "as a courtesty" and place Merkey under his "special protection" as an editor.''<ref>[http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2008-March/039545.html [Foundation-l] Statement to the Associated Press], Jeffrey Merkey, March 9, 2008.</ref></blockquote>

A few news sources that reported the story [http://pages.citebite.com/w1n0s3r6h3bmk provided the link to the article's history to show Jimbo edited the article], except if one is to hit "edit history" he will see nothing. The page was deleted from Wikipedia in May 2010. Still [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&page=Jeff+V.+Merkey the page's log from October 2006 "(investigating new edits for possible violations of WP:NOR, WP:RS, and WP:BIO [edit=autoconfirmed:move=autoconfirmed)"] shows that Jimbo Wales protected the page just as Merkey said he did.

==Tolerance of plagiarism==
The original version of any wiki-formatted article about the Arch Coal company was authored in September 2006 by [[Directory:Gregory J. Kohs|Gregory Kohs]] and released under the terms of the GFDL on this website, [[Directory:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz.com]]. It was then scraped by an independent editor into Wikipedia. In October 2006, erroneously thinking that the article was paid for by Arch Coal, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales acted to delete the article from Wikipedia, but the Wikipedia community determined that Wales' action had been unjustified. The article was revised, largely by "User:JzG" (Guy Chapman), who would [http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=15321 later claim] that he wrote his version of the article ''ab initio'', "from the ground up". However, in January 2008, Kohs demonstrated to Chapman that the article as modified by User:JzG actually plagiarized many aspects of the original. Faced with that evidence, Chapman elected to cover up his misdeed by [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&page=Arch_Coal deleting the original edits] on the Wikipedia site, thus making the provenance of the article appear to have come from Chapman, and not from MyWikiBiz. When Jimmy Wales was notified about this violation of professional ethics and proper GFDL attribution of the edit history, Wales '''very reluctantly''' restored the original edit history, with the childish edit summary, "''might as well restore all of it I suppose''".

===Additional comment===
When in December 2008, Kohs [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arch_Coal&diff=255480884&oldid=255154863 sought to improve] the article about Arch Coal on Wikipedia, his improvements were [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arch_Coal&diff=next&oldid=255480884 reverted back] by a mindless administrator from Belgium. This underscores the true system of editorial control on Wikipedia -- it matters not the '''content''' of one's edits, but rather '''who''' authors the content. (Which, of course, directly contradicts Wikipedia's supposed credo that "anyone can edit".)

===Jimbo (finally) sees the light===
After about 26 months, Wales did ultimately [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk%3AArch_Coal&diff=258731121&oldid=224255965 apologize in a round-about way] for his mistakes in handling this situation. Bravo! <nowiki><golf clap></nowiki>

==Jimbo plagiarizes photography==
When delivering an important presentation in Spain in 2010, Jimmy Wales [http://www.mywikibiz.com/File:Jimbo_stealing_CC_content.jpg featured an image] that he (or his speech writer) had altered, mislabeled into the wrong decade, then presented as a "Wikia" product. He did not properly attribute the image to the original photographer, thus violating the CC-by-SA 2.0 Generic license by which the photo was released.

 
<div style="overflow:auto;height:1px;">
[[Keyword:=Jimmy Wales]]
[[Keyword:=Jimbo Wales]]
[[Keyword:=Jimmy Donal Wales]]
[[Keyword:=criticism]]
[[Keyword:=fraud]]
[[Keyword:=controversy]]
[[Keyword:=scandal]]
[[Keyword:=critique]]
</div>
{{GKAnt}}

==Openserving==
In December 2006, Jimmy Wales launched a spin-off from Wikia called [http://openserving.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page Openserving]. Wales was attempting to copy another business model that had been floated by [[Centiare|Centiare.com]] (which is currently regenerated at [[Directory:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz]]), and by Helium.com, where the unpaid labor who create new content would have the opportunity to earn advertising revenue as a reward for their authorship. Although Wales claimed that "thousands" of interested queries were made of Openserving, the project never got a single new forum off the ground. It was a failure.

Wikia.com is perhaps Wales' most successful project financially, although it has been speculated that it won't be able to turn a regular profit, as meager ad revenues can't possibly support the staffing needs.

==Spanking Art Wikia==
[[Image:Spanking Art Wikia ad for March of Dimes.jpg|left|thumb|230px|Centextual ads supported spanking]]Jimmy Wales' privately-held Wikia company as recently as January 2008 hosted online a web menagerie of freely-licensed images of innocent children juxtaposed with depraved images of children being mercilessly spanked until purple, along with photos of various sexual-enhancement toys. A critic of the site led an urgent campaign that challenged this '''[http://web.archive.org/web/20071214201347rn_1/spankingart.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page Spanking Art Wikia]''' wiki. Wales became quite ruffled under the collar, irritated that the agitator had not "made a complaint through the proper channels". Imagine, sexually-charged images of deviant abuse against children, and the man hosting it on his company's servers was more upset that the complaints against his site weren't filed properly.

==Wikia Search==
Jimbo's venture into the search engine market was much-ballyhooed by the tech media, but after only an 18-month effort, Wales pulled the plug on the failure that was Wikia Search. Evidence was clear early on that it would [http://andrewkeen.typepad.com/the_great_seduction/2008/10/the.html not be a success]. But even as late as March 2009, Wales [http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/22475.asp deceived reporter Susan Kuchinskas] with the assurance, "''I have my team focused on the front end, working on the user experience, and making sure we have all the wiki-like tools people need to work on the site. We're just cranking away.''" Merely days later, Wales would face reality, fire the people he'd employed to try to make this pig fly, and shut down the site.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Additional reading==
*[[Top 10 Reasons Not to Donate to Wikipedia]]
*[[The Six Rotten Pillars of Wikipedia‎]]
*[http://moriyosi.livejournal.com/28156.html Moriyosi on LiveJournal] - The Problem With Wikipedia, Part 1
*[http://www.wikitruth.info/index.php?title=Jimbo_Wales Wikitruth] - Jimbo Wales

[[Category:Wikipedia]]

File:Gwen Gale with heads of contributors she blocked.jpg

2011-09-05T16:34:31Z

LyubaPol:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Gwen_Gale Gwen Gale] with heads of absolutely innocent contributors she blocked

File:Gwen Gale with heads of contributors she blocked.jpg

2011-09-05T15:16:35Z

LyubaPol: uploaded a new version of "File:Gwen Gale with heads of contributors she blocked.jpg": change

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Gwen_Gale Gwen Gale] with heads of contributors she blocked

Wikipedia scandals

2011-09-04T23:23:04Z

LyubaPol: /* Heidi Wyss editing as Gwen Gale */

'''Wikipedia scandals''' are the all-too-frequent ethical lapses that pervade [[Wikipedia]]. This page will attempt to document some of those that are worth saving for history, since otherwise they will likely be whitewashed out of Wikipedia culture.

==Essjay is not a professor==
A wave of problems began with a decision by Wikipedia co-founder [[Directory:Jimmy Wales|Jimmy Wales]], when he hired a 24-year-old college dropout named [http://www.wikipedia-watch.org/gifs/wmessjay.png Ryan Jordan] to work at Wales' for-profit corporation Wikia, Inc. The hiring decision was made, even though Wales apparently knew Jordan had been passing himself off to the Wikipedia community (and to ''The New Yorker'' magazine's Pulitzer Prize winning [[Interviewed By:=Stacy Schiff]]) as a tenured professor [http://www.wikipedia-watch.org/gifs/essjay5.png holding multiple advanced degrees].

Further aggravating the issue, Jordan (whose Wikipedia screen name was "Essjay") was soon appointed by Wales to the highest volunteer adjudicating body within Wikipedia -- the Arbitration Committee.

[[Image:Wikipedia_scandals.jpg|right|thumb|275px|Wikimedia Foundation donations are dropping substantially]]When ''The New Yorker'' outted Ryan Jordan's academic fraud, their editors contacted Jimmy Wales for comment. Wales was quoted with the now infamous, "I regard it as a pseudonym and I don’t really have a problem with it." This set off a firestorm of criticism, both within Wikipedia and external to the world's largest encyclopedia community. Especially damaging seemed to be the numerous administrative cover-ups that attempted to hide the historical wiki record of Essjay's actions and the community debates that followed.

===The financial consequences===
The Essjay incident appeared to have an adverse impact on daily financial donations to the [[Directory:Wikimedia Foundation|Wikimedia Foundation]]. The downward slide closely mirrored a number of ethically questionable decisions by key administrators of [[Directory:Wikipedia|Wikipedia]].

The Wikimedia Foundation enjoyed a total of $3,477 in donations on February 23rd, the day Essjay was elevated to ArbCom status. Contrast this with a total of only $739 made on March 18th, less than one month later. This represented a 79% drop in daily contributions!

==Wikia / Wikimedia finances==
''Discussions took place on Wikipedia about the relationship between Wikia, Inc. and the leadership of the Wikimedia Foundation board of trustees. As you can see, these discussions were mostly rebuffed by hard-headed loyalists who couldn't imagine any wrongdoing.''

I heard that the person who is in charge of the Wikimedia Foundation's finances is the very same person who is in charge of the for-profit Wikia, Inc.'s finances. Is that true? --[[User:Dude Manchap|Dude Manchap]] 03:56, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
:Good question. [[User:Durova|Durova]]''[[User talk:Durova|Charge!]]'' 20:35, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
::So what if it is? I certainly trust them to do a good job if they are, and I'm sure that the board (who is in charge of the person) knows about this considering the owners of Wikia are previous board members. (...and the Board isn't stupid). '''[[User:Cbrown1023|Cbrown1023]]''' '''[[User talk:Cbrown1023|talk]]''' 23:01, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
:::That's fine if you personally trust them, Cbrown1023, but you may want to look at the [http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1023.pdf IRS form 1023] (no joke -- it's the same form number as the number found in your User name -- coincidence or irony?), especially what's said about Line 5a: '''A "conflict of interest" arises when a person in a position of authority over an organization, such as a director, officer, or manager, may benefit personally from a decision he or she could make.''' Note also Appendix A, starting at Page 25, which outlines a sample Conflict of Interest policy that a non-profit organization might adopt. Do you think that, as Appendix A suggests, either Jimmy Wales or Michael E. Davis have ever left the room during a Wikimedia Foundation board meeting, so that the other board members could discuss whether a conflict of interest was present for those two, who just happen to be former business partners and are currently vested in Wikia, which benefits from many, many favorable associations within Wikipedia? Jimmy Wales tried to hire a Wikipedia Arbitration Committee member onto Wikia. Wikia has many thousands of outbound links from Wikipedia, which point to pages monetized by Google AdSense ads. I guess, Cbrown1023, the question is not whether the Board "knows about this", but rather, why are they allowing such a gross appearance of conflict of interest to continue unabated? --[[User:Dude Manchap|Dude Manchap]] 03:27, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
::::If you feel that the Wikimedia Foundation is doing something wrong, by all means file a complaint with them. Otherwise, please take this discussion elsewhere. This noticeboard isn't for solving legal problems. - [[User:Jehochman|Jehochman]] [[User_talk:Jehochman|Talk]] 03:43, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
:::::This is not currently a legal problem. Nobody said it was. It is a Conflict of Interest problem. Another administrator has called it a "Good question", so why should it be swept under the rug and be "Resolved" by a non-administrator? --[[User:Dude Manchap|Dude Manchap]] 14:23, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
Hi again Dude. A few clarifications: you posted to ask whether there's a conflict of interest but haven't supplied much information. Normally requests to this board cite specific activity and evidence. And normally there's an onsite edit history to reference. If this person actually has registered and edits in a way that reflects a conflict of interest, this noticeboard might be able to accomplish something. If the conflict of interest relationship doesn't extend to actual editing activity then I have no direct power and only a little influence. Yet as the founder of [[:Category:Eguor admins]] I'm particularly open to this type of request. Sure, why not investigate a Wikipedia/Wikia COI? Burden of evidence rests squarely on your shoulders. Go for it if it's particularly important to you. Just expect to shoulder most of the work yourself. I'll check it out, see if there's anything I can do about it, and possibly ask for broader input. That's as fair as I can be. [[User:Durova|Durova]]''[[User talk:Durova|Charge!]]'' 15:19, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
:Well, this is a wiki, so the burden of evidence isn't just on me -- it's on the other users who will hopefully see this thread and have enough "wikisleuthing" in their blood to check it out some more. I appreciate your support of it staying in the open, rather than being hastily "resolved", which really would have reflected poorly on the Foundation. For starters, people may wish to look at these discussions about the Wikia/Wikipedia conflict of interest:
::*[http://www.joeszilagyi.com/2007/04/30/wikipedia-unethical-conflict-of-interest Joe Szilagyi blog]
::*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikia#Financial_conflict_of_interest.3F Wikia article discussion in Wikipedia]
::*[http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/04/28/wikipedia-special-treatment-for-wikia-and-other-wikis/ TechCrunch article by Nik Cubrilovic, including many illuminating comments]
::*[http://www.state.il.us/court/Opinions/AppellateCourt/2006/1stDistrict/March/Html/1041110.htm Court case against Michael E. Davis, Treasurer of both Wikimedia Foundation and Wikia, Inc.] This one is important, as it shows that Davis has not paid $817,830 that he was judged to owe the plaintiff. We are simultaneously being asked to "trust" that Davis will do a good job with the books at both Wikimedia and Wikia, Inc..—The preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment was added by [[User:Dude Manchap|Dude Manchap]] ([[User talk:Dude Manchap|talk]] • [[Special:Contributions/Dude Manchap|contribs]]){{#if:16:00, August 20, 2007 (UTC)| 16:00, August 20, 2007 (UTC)}}. 
::*[http://www.ihatewikipedia.com/uploads/Wikimedia_IRS_Form_990_2006_YE_063006.pdf Wikimedia Form 990 (Line 80) indicates there is a financial "relationship" with Wikia, Inc.]—The preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment was added by [[User:Dude Manchap|Dude Manchap]] ([[User talk:Dude Manchap|talk]] • [[Special:Contributions/Dude Manchap|contribs]]){{#if:16:00, August 20, 2007 (UTC)| 16:00, August 20, 2007 (UTC)}}. 
::*[http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/htdig/wikien-l/2007-January/059882.html Angela Beesley moved rejected Wikipedia articles to co-opt them for Wikia's benefit] —The preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment was added by [[User:Dude Manchap|Dude Manchap]] ([[User talk:Dude Manchap|talk]] • [[Special:Contributions/Dude Manchap|contribs]]){{#if:17:07, August 20, 2007 (UTC)| 17:07, August 20, 2007 (UTC)}}. 
:Again, I look forward to whether anyone else will step up and investigate this further. --[[User:Dude Manchap|Dude Manchap]] 15:48, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
::(stepping over issues of whether this is the right page to talk about the subject)...indeed, board members and accountants both have [[fiduciary]] duties to act in the best interest of their organizations. By various laws and governance principles they have to recuse themselves or avoid involvement when there is a conflict. Even a perceived conflict can be corrosive to governance and is sometimes prohibited because people lose faith. Someone who is on the board of Wikimedia or does its finances and also has a financial stake in Wikia should be very careful about taking positions here on things that benefit Wikia by directing traffic there, banning things from Wikipedia so as to distinguish it from a commercial site, making Wikipedia less attractive to constituents than Wikia. Actions that seem to raise a conflict include banning commercial links, advertisements, fair use media, conflict-of-interest editors, etc., from Wikipedia so that people go to Wikia for that.[[User:Wikidemo|Wikidemo]] 16:05, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
(outdent) Looking over those five links, two of them are specifically legal issues outside my expertise. I have no qualification to evaluate them. Joe Szlilagyi's blog is hardly a reliable source and another on-wikipedia thread was started by someone who's expended his credibility also. The techcrunch.com article holds water, in my opinion. What exactly are you seeking? If the basic complaint regards financial relationships at that level, then the most I could do would be to ask the WMF board to review this matter, and possibly to ask someone to institute nofollow to outgoing links to Wikia. My sysop tools would be useless to address this. Or is more forthcoming? [[User:Durova|Durova]]''[[User talk:Durova|Charge!]]'' 17:06, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
:This is a wiki -- there's no telling if there is "more forthcoming" or not. Another example might be the Essjay situation. Essjay was nominated by Jimmy Wales to the Arbitration Committee -- the highest level of dispute resolution below the Board itself. Only a month earlier (I may be wrong about the timeline), Wales had also hired Essjay to work for Wikia, Inc. This took place this year, well after the issue of "Conflict of Interest" has been made so noticeable on Wikipedia, thanks in part (ironically) to Wales' discussions of editing by conflicted parties. Was it appropriate for Wales to nominate one of his Wikia employees to a position on the Arbitration Committee? I believe that question was obscured by the whole firestorm over Essjay's fabricated credentials. Yes, I think the Board of Directors should look at this entire matter; but do you realize that it should be while Wales and Davis and Beesley (and any other Wikia parties I may have missed) are not present in the room? The other factor that I think is important here is that this discussion remain open for some time. Already two non-admin users have attempted to hide it from plain view, with the reason being it belongs somewhere else. This seems very weak, being that this is a Conflict of Interest Noticeboard, and this is a conflict of interest issue. --[[User:Dude Manchap|Dude Manchap]] 17:15, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

:How does this question have anything to do with the purpose of this page? [[User:Corvus cornix|Corvus cornix]] 17:15, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

==Heidi Wyss editing as ''Gwen Gale''==
[[File:Gwen Gale with heads of contributors she blocked.jpg| [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Gwen_Gale Gwen Gale] with heads of contributors she blocked|thumb|350px]]
Heidi Wyss is a Swiss administrator of Wikipedia. Under the user name ''Gwen Gale'', she has handed out numerous account blocks ([http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&offset=20081201000000&limit=500&type=block&user=Gwen+Gale&month=11&year=2008 more than 500] in October and November of 2008) to other users who supposedly violated Wikipedia's rules. However, she herself broke a cardinal rule of Wikipedia -- don't self-publish autobiographical puff pieces in the encyclopedia. The article she wrote looked something like this:

===Heidi Wyss (article for deletion)===
'''Heidi Wyss''' (born 1975, [[Geneva]]) is a [[Swiss]] author.

Wyss was educated in Geneva and in the [[United Kingdom]]. She has worked as an [[histology|histologist]] and technical writer. Her first [[novel]] ''[[Gormglaith (novel)|Gormglaith]]'', published in 2007, has been described as a "Radical lesbian separatist cult hit set in a plausible future with a witchy bent",<ref>The Secret Society of Lesbian Propellerheads, ''[http://www.ssolp.org/index.php SSOLP home page]'', accessed February 1, 2008</ref> "...like a female ''[[Finnegans Wake]]''..." along with "touches of [[JRR Tolkien|Tolkien]]" and reminiscent "...in some ways of the very intricate work of [[Patricia Kennealy-Morrison]]'s Keltiad novels."<ref>Swann, Morgaine, ''[http://www.womenwriters.net/winter05/Gormglaith1.htm Gormglaith by Heidi Wyss]'', womenwriters.net, accessed February 1, 2008</ref>

'''References'''
{{reflist}}

'''External links'''
*[http://skepchick.org/blog/?p=636 Wyss interviewed at Skepchick.org]

<nowiki>[[Category:Swiss feminists]]</nowiki>
<nowiki>[[Category:Swiss science fiction writers]]</nowiki>
<nowiki>[[Category:1975 births]]</nowiki>
<nowiki>[[Category:Living people]]</nowiki>

===Gormglaith (article for deletion)===

''As if the autobiography were not enough, administrator Gwen Gale went on to write a self-promotional advertisement on Wikipedia about her rather non-noteworthy novel, '''Gormglaith''':'' 

'''''Gormglaith''''' (2007) by [[Heidi Wyss]] is a hard science fiction novel set in a radical feminist separatist world of the future.

'''Plot introduction'''
The tale follows its protagonist Gormglaith as she copes with the outcome of her own rashness throughout five life-shifting days and nights.

'''Reception'''
Morgaine Swann in her review on womenwriters.net said "I'm sure there are Druids and Wiccans who'll devour it whole... LOTR fans who'll sleep out for tickets to the movie and Witchy young women enamored of fantasy books on all things Keltic... for my part, I had trouble getting into it. It isn't just a book -- it's a project. From the first page, it was incomprehensible and there was nothing there to draw me in, or make me care enough to dig in. A little seduction, or at least introduction, would go a long way. It felt like a female [[Finnegan's Wake]], with all that implies, good and bad. It had touches of [[J. R. R. Tolkien|Tolkien]] and reminded me in some ways of the very intricate work of [[Patricia Kennealy-Morrison|Patricia Kennealy-Morrison's]] [[The Keltiad|Keltiad]] novels. If that appeals to you, I recommend this book."<ref name="urlGormglaith">{{cite web |url=http://www.womenwriters.net/winter05/Gormglaith1.htm |title=Gormglaith |author= Morgaine Swann|authorlink= |coauthors= |date= 2004-12-01|format= |work= |publisher= |pages= |language= |archiveurl= http://www.webcitation.org/5bfJe9kFD|archivedate= 2008-10-18|quote= |accessdate=2008-10-18}}</ref> Karen Campbell in her review on Quiet Mountain Essays said "We meet Gormglaith Hafgan Halsen (Celtic for "dark blue-green lake, storm in summer changing course") in a pastoral late summer setting under elm trees, mid-conversation with her friend Findabair. Their rolling banter deftly pulls us into the story, and a state of extreme culture shock. This is wonderfully written and fun English dialog, but not quite any sort the reader has encountered before... Gormglaith's radical setting, vocabulary and deceptively linear structure will present a challenging and rewarding read for some, but it'll be a difficult, uneven slog for others. This may depend more on individual temperament and interest in the story than on reading skills. As feminist literature it's unceasingly assertive, positive and controversial. As hard science fiction it offers a deeply structured, often entertaining story, at turns inspiring and disturbing, in a unique contribution to the genre."<ref name="urlQuiet Mountain Essays; Gormglaith Book Review by Karen Campbell">{{cite web |url=http://www.quietmountainessays.org/Gormglaith.html |title=Quiet Mountain Essays; "Gormglaith" Book Review by Karen Campbell |author= Karen Campbell|authorlink= |coauthors= |date= 2004|format= |work= |publisher= |pages= |language= |archiveurl= http://www.webcitation.org/5bfJs3ZS8|archivedate= 2008-10-18|quote= |accessdate=2008-10-18}}</ref>

'''Notes'''
{{reflist}}

'''External links'''
*[http://skepchick.org/blog/?p=636 Wyss interviewed about ''Gormglaith'' at Skepchick.org]
*[http://www.literateweb.com/wyss.htm Gormglaith] online at Literateweb.

<nowiki>[[Category:2007 novels]]</nowiki>
<nowiki>[[Category:Science fiction novels]]</nowiki>
<nowiki>[[Category:Utopian novels]]</nowiki>
<nowiki>[[Category:Feminist science fiction]]</nowiki>

===Consequences===
As usual on Wikipedia, even the most conflicted volunteers think that they are better than others to lead the project, and ''Gwen Gale'' had even put herself up for election to the Arbitration Committee, Wikipedia's highest ruling authority below the Wikimedia Foundation board of trustees and staff. Once her conflicted edits were exposed, though, she withdrew herself from consideration for ArbCom.

The lesson here, of course, is not so much that what Heidi Wyss had done was so terribly wrong, but rather that Wikipedia is corrupt from the very top down. Thus, we should not be surprised as observers when these conflicts of interest are exposed; indeed, we should be surprised that such conflicts are not revealed more often... because what gets publicized is only the tip of the iceberg.

In January of 2010 [[:user:Willowtree|Willowtree]](probably [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Gwen_Gale Gwen Gale]) [http://mywikibiz.com/index.php?title=Wikipedia_scandals&diff=prev&oldid=106377 tried to remove the information about herself from this article] just as she [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3AArbitration_Committee_Elections_December_2008%2FCandidate_statements%2FGwen_Gale%2FQuestions_for_the_candidate&diff=254715552&oldid=254671400 did] many times on English wikipedia, but this time it did not work out, and she [http://mywikibiz.com/index.php?title=Wikipedia_scandals&diff=106400&oldid=106377 was reverted]. It is not the only appearance of Gwen Gale on mywikibiz. [http://mywikibiz.com/Special:Contributions/81.62.148.165 In 2007 she wrote an article about her novel]. According to [http://img362.imageshack.us/img362/6083/92979875oe7.jpg this screenshot] this IP#81.62.148.165 was used by Heidi Wyss (Gwen Gale) to edit an article about her novel on wikipedia as well.

==Tolerance of plagiarism==
The original version of any wiki-formatted article about the Arch Coal company was authored in September 2006 by [[Directory:Gregory J. Kohs|Gregory Kohs]] and released under the terms of the GFDL on this website, [[Directory:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz.com]]. It was then scraped by an independent editor into Wikipedia. In October 2006, erroneously thinking that the article was paid for by Arch Coal, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales acted to delete the article from Wikipedia, but the Wikipedia community determined that Wales' action had been unjustified. The article was revised, largely by "User:JzG" (Guy Chapman). However, in January 2008, Kohs demonstrated to Chapman that the article as modified by User:JzG actually plagiarized many aspects of the original. Faced with that evidence, Chapman elected to cover up his misdeed by [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&page=Arch_Coal deleting the original edits] on the Wikipedia site, thus making the provenance of the article appear to have come from Chapman, and not from MyWikiBiz. When Jimmy Wales was notified about this violation of professional ethics and proper GFDL attribution of the edit history, Wales '''very reluctantly''' restored the original edit history, with the childish edit summary, "''might as well restore all of it I suppose''".

When later asked to comment on this affair, Jimmy Wales instead relied on one of his loyal followers to [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Jimbo_Wales&diff=255481782&oldid=255480598 erase the uncomfortable question] and to [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&type=block&page=User%3AEast_Bradford block the editor] who asked it.

===Additional comment===
When in December 2008, Kohs [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arch_Coal&diff=255480884&oldid=255154863 sought to improve] the article about Arch Coal on Wikipedia, his improvements were [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arch_Coal&diff=next&oldid=255480884 reverted back] by a mindless administrator from Belgium. This underscores the true system of editorial control on Wikipedia -- it matters not the '''content''' of one's edits, but rather '''who''' authors the content. (Which, of course, directly contradicts Wikipedia's supposed credo that "anyone can edit".)

==Rachel Marsden affair==
Wales allegedly made attempts to "clean up" a Wikipedia entry for a woman with whom he had a relationship, and it generated headlines.

The Wikipedia article regarding controversial [[Directory:Canada|Canadian]] radio commentator [[Rachel Marsden]] has been the subject of controversy on Wikipedia from some years. According to Ms. Marsden, whom Wales has admitted to dating, she had asked [[Wikipedia]] to delete her [[biography]]. Her concerns led her to contact Wikipedia co-founder [[Jimmy Wales]] in 2006, claiming that it was wrong and libelous. According to her, he reviewed her biography and, deeming that it was not up to standard, helped to clean up the entry. However, the article was mainly revised as the result of an extensive review by Wikipedia's arbitration committee.<ref>I did much of the work on this case, and probably played the major role in providing guidelines for revising the article. Jimmy Wales played little, if any, role in editing the article or requesting its revision. Guidelines for editing were based on Wikipedia's Biographies of living person's policy, <nowiki>[[w:Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons]]. [[User:Fred Bauder|Fred]] [[User talk:Fred Bauder|Talk]]</nowiki> 22:44, 17 March 2008 (EDT) </ref>

Wales announced in a statement on Wikipedia "My involvement in cases like this is completely routine, and I am proud of it."<ref name=smh/> On [[February 29]], [[2008]], the technology gossip blog [[Valleywag]] claimed that they had entered into a relationship, and published instant messaging chats that they had allegedly exchanged. On the following day Wales announced on his Wikipedia user page that he was no longer involved with her. In return, Marsden, who claimed to have learned about the breakup by reading about it on the Internet, turned to [[eBay]] and put up for auction a [[t-shirt]] and sweater that she claimed to be Wales'.<ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/03/02/marsden-breakup.html
| title = Canadian pundit, Wikipedia founder in messy breakup
| author = Siri Agrell
| publisher = [[The Canadian Press]]
| date = [[2008-03-02]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-06
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080304.wlbreakup04/BNStory/lifeMain/home
| title = Ms. Marsden's cyberspace breakup: tit-for-tat-for-T-shirt
| author = Siri Agrell
| publisher = [[The Globe and Mail]]
| date = [[2008-03-04]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,334652,00.html
| title = Wikipedia Founder's Fling With Columnist Ends in Nasty Public Breakup
| publisher = [[Fox News Channel|FOXNews.com]]
| date = [[2008-03-03]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3475722.ece
| title = Fury of a woman scorned – on Wikipedia
| publisher = [[The Times]]
| date = [[2008-03-04]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref name=smh>{{cite news
| url = http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/ex-takes-her-revenge-on-mr-wiki/2008/03/04/1204402405901.html
| title = Ex takes her revenge on Mr Wikipedia
| publisher = [[The Sydney Morning Herald]]
| author = Asher Moses
| date = [[2008-03-04]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref>
<ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2008-03-04-wikipedia-wales_N.htm?csp=34
| title = Wikipedia's Wales defends breakup, expenses
| publisher = [[USA Today]]
| date = [[2008-03-05]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2004286879_btwikipedia17.html
| title = Wikipedia experiences growing pains
| author = Alana Semuels
| publisher = Seattle Times
| date = [[2008-03-17]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-17
}}</ref>

A typical editor of Wikipedia is not allowed to document this incident within the Wikipedia article about Jimmy Wales.

==Scorpions "Virgin Killer" album cover==
In December 2008, the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) added to its "potentially illegal" list the Wikipedia image of the original album cover of The Scorpions' fourth release, ''Virgin Killer''. The image depicted a young girl posed naked with only her vulva covered by the appearance of cracked glass. Many found the picture offensive. Internet service providers in the [[Directory:United Kingdom|UK]] followed suit with the IWF and blocked the image and page from users' browsing, and channeling those requests through a very limited set of IP addresses.

Regardless of your opinions about whether this image constitutes child pornography, or whether the IWF engaged in "censorship" of art, one thing was clearly missed by the mainstream media in this affair:

:''If Wikipedia did not suffer from an intractable vandalism problem, this one-page block on a 22-yr old album cover might never have been noticed. It was only noticed because the proxy IP was blocked on the Wikipedia side of the connection.''
:''The fact of the matter is, Wikipedia admins blithely block thousands of IPs, sometimes in wholesale range-blocks that affect major metropolitan areas.'' - [http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=21516&view=findpost&p=146163 Barry Kort], 12/09/2008.

That is, the Wikipedia apparatus practices wide-scale editorial censorship, without due process, on an hourly basis; yet few seem concerned about this even within an encyclopedia that purportedly ''anyone can edit''. Yet, there is much wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth when an image that portrays a young girl, told by a photographer to strip down naked and pose for the camera, all in the name of marketing a rock band's album, is censored.

===Put images to the test===
[[Image:St_Pete_billboard.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Would you contribute $25 to see this billboard in real life? ''(Click picture only if you're a not-easily-offended adult)'']] Many Wikipedia zealots possess a feverish reflex urge to shout "Wikipedia is not censored" and will defend vehemently not only the ''right'' but the '''''need''''' to publish on Wikimedia servers prurient content that is neither properly sourced nor even encyclopedic in nature. One Wikipedian pauses to note:

:''...I really do worry that any media organisation actually putting the effort in to scratch beneath the surface of the Wiki machine may find some things that will be harder to defend than an album cover from 1976.'' - [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Jimbo_Wales&diff=next&oldid=256870274 "George the Dragon"], 12/09/2008.

Wouldn't it be interesting to put the Wikipedia standard to the test, say, in an environment of "community standards" like St. Petersburg, [[Directory:Florida|Florida]]? How fun would it be to start a grassroots fundraising campaign to pay for a "free speech"-testing, GFDL billboard such as this one? Comment on [[Talk:Wikipedia_scandals|this talk page]].

==David Boothroyd, sockpuppet admin==
[[Directory:David Boothroyd|David Boothroyd]] created controversy in 2009 when it was discovered that he edited [[Wikipedia]] under the user names '''Dbiv''', '''Fys''', and '''Sam Blacketer''' and eventually became part of the site's policy-enforcing Arbitration Committee. After earning Administrator status with one account, then being de-sysopped for inappropriate use of the admin tools, Boothroyd regained Administrator status with the "Sam Blacketer" sockpuppet account. A [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] member, after being sleuthed out by [[Directory:Wikipedia Review|Wikipedia Review]] contributor, "Tarantino", Boothroyd outted himself for having used [[sockpuppet|sockpuppets]] in the course of obtaining his position and for having edited the article of [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] leader [[David Cameron]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/05/26/wikipedia_westminster_councillor/|title=Sockpuppeting British politico resigns from Wikisupremecourt|last=Metz|first=Cade|date=26 May 2009|publisher=[[The Register]]|accessdate=2009-05-27}}</ref>

==External links==
<references/>
[http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=18620 Milton Roe's 18 Promises about Editing Wikipedia] - A Wikipedia Dissenter's Credo

 
[[Keyword:=Wikipedia]], [[Keyword:=Scandal]]
[[Category:Wikipedia]]

File:Gwen Gale with heads of contributors she blocked.jpg

2011-09-04T23:19:09Z

LyubaPol: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Gwen_Gale Gwen Gale] with heads of contributors she blocked

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Gwen_Gale Gwen Gale] with heads of contributors she blocked

Wikipedia scandals

2011-09-04T17:12:21Z

LyubaPol: /* Consequences */ plus information

'''Wikipedia scandals''' are the all-too-frequent ethical lapses that pervade [[Wikipedia]]. This page will attempt to document some of those that are worth saving for history, since otherwise they will likely be whitewashed out of Wikipedia culture.

==Essjay is not a professor==
A wave of problems began with a decision by Wikipedia co-founder [[Directory:Jimmy Wales|Jimmy Wales]], when he hired a 24-year-old college dropout named [http://www.wikipedia-watch.org/gifs/wmessjay.png Ryan Jordan] to work at Wales' for-profit corporation Wikia, Inc. The hiring decision was made, even though Wales apparently knew Jordan had been passing himself off to the Wikipedia community (and to ''The New Yorker'' magazine's Pulitzer Prize winning [[Interviewed By:=Stacy Schiff]]) as a tenured professor [http://www.wikipedia-watch.org/gifs/essjay5.png holding multiple advanced degrees].

Further aggravating the issue, Jordan (whose Wikipedia screen name was "Essjay") was soon appointed by Wales to the highest volunteer adjudicating body within Wikipedia -- the Arbitration Committee.

[[Image:Wikipedia_scandals.jpg|right|thumb|275px|Wikimedia Foundation donations are dropping substantially]]When ''The New Yorker'' outted Ryan Jordan's academic fraud, their editors contacted Jimmy Wales for comment. Wales was quoted with the now infamous, "I regard it as a pseudonym and I don’t really have a problem with it." This set off a firestorm of criticism, both within Wikipedia and external to the world's largest encyclopedia community. Especially damaging seemed to be the numerous administrative cover-ups that attempted to hide the historical wiki record of Essjay's actions and the community debates that followed.

===The financial consequences===
The Essjay incident appeared to have an adverse impact on daily financial donations to the [[Directory:Wikimedia Foundation|Wikimedia Foundation]]. The downward slide closely mirrored a number of ethically questionable decisions by key administrators of [[Directory:Wikipedia|Wikipedia]].

The Wikimedia Foundation enjoyed a total of $3,477 in donations on February 23rd, the day Essjay was elevated to ArbCom status. Contrast this with a total of only $739 made on March 18th, less than one month later. This represented a 79% drop in daily contributions!

==Wikia / Wikimedia finances==
''Discussions took place on Wikipedia about the relationship between Wikia, Inc. and the leadership of the Wikimedia Foundation board of trustees. As you can see, these discussions were mostly rebuffed by hard-headed loyalists who couldn't imagine any wrongdoing.''

I heard that the person who is in charge of the Wikimedia Foundation's finances is the very same person who is in charge of the for-profit Wikia, Inc.'s finances. Is that true? --[[User:Dude Manchap|Dude Manchap]] 03:56, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
:Good question. [[User:Durova|Durova]]''[[User talk:Durova|Charge!]]'' 20:35, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
::So what if it is? I certainly trust them to do a good job if they are, and I'm sure that the board (who is in charge of the person) knows about this considering the owners of Wikia are previous board members. (...and the Board isn't stupid). '''[[User:Cbrown1023|Cbrown1023]]''' '''[[User talk:Cbrown1023|talk]]''' 23:01, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
:::That's fine if you personally trust them, Cbrown1023, but you may want to look at the [http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1023.pdf IRS form 1023] (no joke -- it's the same form number as the number found in your User name -- coincidence or irony?), especially what's said about Line 5a: '''A "conflict of interest" arises when a person in a position of authority over an organization, such as a director, officer, or manager, may benefit personally from a decision he or she could make.''' Note also Appendix A, starting at Page 25, which outlines a sample Conflict of Interest policy that a non-profit organization might adopt. Do you think that, as Appendix A suggests, either Jimmy Wales or Michael E. Davis have ever left the room during a Wikimedia Foundation board meeting, so that the other board members could discuss whether a conflict of interest was present for those two, who just happen to be former business partners and are currently vested in Wikia, which benefits from many, many favorable associations within Wikipedia? Jimmy Wales tried to hire a Wikipedia Arbitration Committee member onto Wikia. Wikia has many thousands of outbound links from Wikipedia, which point to pages monetized by Google AdSense ads. I guess, Cbrown1023, the question is not whether the Board "knows about this", but rather, why are they allowing such a gross appearance of conflict of interest to continue unabated? --[[User:Dude Manchap|Dude Manchap]] 03:27, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
::::If you feel that the Wikimedia Foundation is doing something wrong, by all means file a complaint with them. Otherwise, please take this discussion elsewhere. This noticeboard isn't for solving legal problems. - [[User:Jehochman|Jehochman]] [[User_talk:Jehochman|Talk]] 03:43, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
:::::This is not currently a legal problem. Nobody said it was. It is a Conflict of Interest problem. Another administrator has called it a "Good question", so why should it be swept under the rug and be "Resolved" by a non-administrator? --[[User:Dude Manchap|Dude Manchap]] 14:23, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
Hi again Dude. A few clarifications: you posted to ask whether there's a conflict of interest but haven't supplied much information. Normally requests to this board cite specific activity and evidence. And normally there's an onsite edit history to reference. If this person actually has registered and edits in a way that reflects a conflict of interest, this noticeboard might be able to accomplish something. If the conflict of interest relationship doesn't extend to actual editing activity then I have no direct power and only a little influence. Yet as the founder of [[:Category:Eguor admins]] I'm particularly open to this type of request. Sure, why not investigate a Wikipedia/Wikia COI? Burden of evidence rests squarely on your shoulders. Go for it if it's particularly important to you. Just expect to shoulder most of the work yourself. I'll check it out, see if there's anything I can do about it, and possibly ask for broader input. That's as fair as I can be. [[User:Durova|Durova]]''[[User talk:Durova|Charge!]]'' 15:19, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
:Well, this is a wiki, so the burden of evidence isn't just on me -- it's on the other users who will hopefully see this thread and have enough "wikisleuthing" in their blood to check it out some more. I appreciate your support of it staying in the open, rather than being hastily "resolved", which really would have reflected poorly on the Foundation. For starters, people may wish to look at these discussions about the Wikia/Wikipedia conflict of interest:
::*[http://www.joeszilagyi.com/2007/04/30/wikipedia-unethical-conflict-of-interest Joe Szilagyi blog]
::*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikia#Financial_conflict_of_interest.3F Wikia article discussion in Wikipedia]
::*[http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/04/28/wikipedia-special-treatment-for-wikia-and-other-wikis/ TechCrunch article by Nik Cubrilovic, including many illuminating comments]
::*[http://www.state.il.us/court/Opinions/AppellateCourt/2006/1stDistrict/March/Html/1041110.htm Court case against Michael E. Davis, Treasurer of both Wikimedia Foundation and Wikia, Inc.] This one is important, as it shows that Davis has not paid $817,830 that he was judged to owe the plaintiff. We are simultaneously being asked to "trust" that Davis will do a good job with the books at both Wikimedia and Wikia, Inc..—The preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment was added by [[User:Dude Manchap|Dude Manchap]] ([[User talk:Dude Manchap|talk]] • [[Special:Contributions/Dude Manchap|contribs]]){{#if:16:00, August 20, 2007 (UTC)| 16:00, August 20, 2007 (UTC)}}. 
::*[http://www.ihatewikipedia.com/uploads/Wikimedia_IRS_Form_990_2006_YE_063006.pdf Wikimedia Form 990 (Line 80) indicates there is a financial "relationship" with Wikia, Inc.]—The preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment was added by [[User:Dude Manchap|Dude Manchap]] ([[User talk:Dude Manchap|talk]] • [[Special:Contributions/Dude Manchap|contribs]]){{#if:16:00, August 20, 2007 (UTC)| 16:00, August 20, 2007 (UTC)}}. 
::*[http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/htdig/wikien-l/2007-January/059882.html Angela Beesley moved rejected Wikipedia articles to co-opt them for Wikia's benefit] —The preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment was added by [[User:Dude Manchap|Dude Manchap]] ([[User talk:Dude Manchap|talk]] • [[Special:Contributions/Dude Manchap|contribs]]){{#if:17:07, August 20, 2007 (UTC)| 17:07, August 20, 2007 (UTC)}}. 
:Again, I look forward to whether anyone else will step up and investigate this further. --[[User:Dude Manchap|Dude Manchap]] 15:48, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
::(stepping over issues of whether this is the right page to talk about the subject)...indeed, board members and accountants both have [[fiduciary]] duties to act in the best interest of their organizations. By various laws and governance principles they have to recuse themselves or avoid involvement when there is a conflict. Even a perceived conflict can be corrosive to governance and is sometimes prohibited because people lose faith. Someone who is on the board of Wikimedia or does its finances and also has a financial stake in Wikia should be very careful about taking positions here on things that benefit Wikia by directing traffic there, banning things from Wikipedia so as to distinguish it from a commercial site, making Wikipedia less attractive to constituents than Wikia. Actions that seem to raise a conflict include banning commercial links, advertisements, fair use media, conflict-of-interest editors, etc., from Wikipedia so that people go to Wikia for that.[[User:Wikidemo|Wikidemo]] 16:05, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
(outdent) Looking over those five links, two of them are specifically legal issues outside my expertise. I have no qualification to evaluate them. Joe Szlilagyi's blog is hardly a reliable source and another on-wikipedia thread was started by someone who's expended his credibility also. The techcrunch.com article holds water, in my opinion. What exactly are you seeking? If the basic complaint regards financial relationships at that level, then the most I could do would be to ask the WMF board to review this matter, and possibly to ask someone to institute nofollow to outgoing links to Wikia. My sysop tools would be useless to address this. Or is more forthcoming? [[User:Durova|Durova]]''[[User talk:Durova|Charge!]]'' 17:06, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
:This is a wiki -- there's no telling if there is "more forthcoming" or not. Another example might be the Essjay situation. Essjay was nominated by Jimmy Wales to the Arbitration Committee -- the highest level of dispute resolution below the Board itself. Only a month earlier (I may be wrong about the timeline), Wales had also hired Essjay to work for Wikia, Inc. This took place this year, well after the issue of "Conflict of Interest" has been made so noticeable on Wikipedia, thanks in part (ironically) to Wales' discussions of editing by conflicted parties. Was it appropriate for Wales to nominate one of his Wikia employees to a position on the Arbitration Committee? I believe that question was obscured by the whole firestorm over Essjay's fabricated credentials. Yes, I think the Board of Directors should look at this entire matter; but do you realize that it should be while Wales and Davis and Beesley (and any other Wikia parties I may have missed) are not present in the room? The other factor that I think is important here is that this discussion remain open for some time. Already two non-admin users have attempted to hide it from plain view, with the reason being it belongs somewhere else. This seems very weak, being that this is a Conflict of Interest Noticeboard, and this is a conflict of interest issue. --[[User:Dude Manchap|Dude Manchap]] 17:15, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

:How does this question have anything to do with the purpose of this page? [[User:Corvus cornix|Corvus cornix]] 17:15, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

==Heidi Wyss editing as ''Gwen Gale''==
Heidi Wyss is a Swiss administrator of Wikipedia. Under the user name ''Gwen Gale'', she has handed out numerous account blocks ([http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&offset=20081201000000&limit=500&type=block&user=Gwen+Gale&month=11&year=2008 more than 500] in October and November of 2008) to other users who supposedly violated Wikipedia's rules. However, she herself broke a cardinal rule of Wikipedia -- don't self-publish autobiographical puff pieces in the encyclopedia. The article she wrote looked something like this:

===Heidi Wyss (article for deletion)===
'''Heidi Wyss''' (born 1975, [[Geneva]]) is a [[Swiss]] author.

Wyss was educated in Geneva and in the [[United Kingdom]]. She has worked as an [[histology|histologist]] and technical writer. Her first [[novel]] ''[[Gormglaith (novel)|Gormglaith]]'', published in 2007, has been described as a "Radical lesbian separatist cult hit set in a plausible future with a witchy bent",<ref>The Secret Society of Lesbian Propellerheads, ''[http://www.ssolp.org/index.php SSOLP home page]'', accessed February 1, 2008</ref> "...like a female ''[[Finnegans Wake]]''..." along with "touches of [[JRR Tolkien|Tolkien]]" and reminiscent "...in some ways of the very intricate work of [[Patricia Kennealy-Morrison]]'s Keltiad novels."<ref>Swann, Morgaine, ''[http://www.womenwriters.net/winter05/Gormglaith1.htm Gormglaith by Heidi Wyss]'', womenwriters.net, accessed February 1, 2008</ref>

'''References'''
{{reflist}}

'''External links'''
*[http://skepchick.org/blog/?p=636 Wyss interviewed at Skepchick.org]

<nowiki>[[Category:Swiss feminists]]</nowiki>
<nowiki>[[Category:Swiss science fiction writers]]</nowiki>
<nowiki>[[Category:1975 births]]</nowiki>
<nowiki>[[Category:Living people]]</nowiki>

===Gormglaith (article for deletion)===

''As if the autobiography were not enough, administrator Gwen Gale went on to write a self-promotional advertisement on Wikipedia about her rather non-noteworthy novel, '''Gormglaith''':'' 

'''''Gormglaith''''' (2007) by [[Heidi Wyss]] is a hard science fiction novel set in a radical feminist separatist world of the future.

'''Plot introduction'''
The tale follows its protagonist Gormglaith as she copes with the outcome of her own rashness throughout five life-shifting days and nights.

'''Reception'''
Morgaine Swann in her review on womenwriters.net said "I'm sure there are Druids and Wiccans who'll devour it whole... LOTR fans who'll sleep out for tickets to the movie and Witchy young women enamored of fantasy books on all things Keltic... for my part, I had trouble getting into it. It isn't just a book -- it's a project. From the first page, it was incomprehensible and there was nothing there to draw me in, or make me care enough to dig in. A little seduction, or at least introduction, would go a long way. It felt like a female [[Finnegan's Wake]], with all that implies, good and bad. It had touches of [[J. R. R. Tolkien|Tolkien]] and reminded me in some ways of the very intricate work of [[Patricia Kennealy-Morrison|Patricia Kennealy-Morrison's]] [[The Keltiad|Keltiad]] novels. If that appeals to you, I recommend this book."<ref name="urlGormglaith">{{cite web |url=http://www.womenwriters.net/winter05/Gormglaith1.htm |title=Gormglaith |author= Morgaine Swann|authorlink= |coauthors= |date= 2004-12-01|format= |work= |publisher= |pages= |language= |archiveurl= http://www.webcitation.org/5bfJe9kFD|archivedate= 2008-10-18|quote= |accessdate=2008-10-18}}</ref> Karen Campbell in her review on Quiet Mountain Essays said "We meet Gormglaith Hafgan Halsen (Celtic for "dark blue-green lake, storm in summer changing course") in a pastoral late summer setting under elm trees, mid-conversation with her friend Findabair. Their rolling banter deftly pulls us into the story, and a state of extreme culture shock. This is wonderfully written and fun English dialog, but not quite any sort the reader has encountered before... Gormglaith's radical setting, vocabulary and deceptively linear structure will present a challenging and rewarding read for some, but it'll be a difficult, uneven slog for others. This may depend more on individual temperament and interest in the story than on reading skills. As feminist literature it's unceasingly assertive, positive and controversial. As hard science fiction it offers a deeply structured, often entertaining story, at turns inspiring and disturbing, in a unique contribution to the genre."<ref name="urlQuiet Mountain Essays; Gormglaith Book Review by Karen Campbell">{{cite web |url=http://www.quietmountainessays.org/Gormglaith.html |title=Quiet Mountain Essays; "Gormglaith" Book Review by Karen Campbell |author= Karen Campbell|authorlink= |coauthors= |date= 2004|format= |work= |publisher= |pages= |language= |archiveurl= http://www.webcitation.org/5bfJs3ZS8|archivedate= 2008-10-18|quote= |accessdate=2008-10-18}}</ref>

'''Notes'''
{{reflist}}

'''External links'''
*[http://skepchick.org/blog/?p=636 Wyss interviewed about ''Gormglaith'' at Skepchick.org]
*[http://www.literateweb.com/wyss.htm Gormglaith] online at Literateweb.

<nowiki>[[Category:2007 novels]]</nowiki>
<nowiki>[[Category:Science fiction novels]]</nowiki>
<nowiki>[[Category:Utopian novels]]</nowiki>
<nowiki>[[Category:Feminist science fiction]]</nowiki>

===Consequences===
As usual on Wikipedia, even the most conflicted volunteers think that they are better than others to lead the project, and ''Gwen Gale'' had even put herself up for election to the Arbitration Committee, Wikipedia's highest ruling authority below the Wikimedia Foundation board of trustees and staff. Once her conflicted edits were exposed, though, she withdrew herself from consideration for ArbCom.

The lesson here, of course, is not so much that what Heidi Wyss had done was so terribly wrong, but rather that Wikipedia is corrupt from the very top down. Thus, we should not be surprised as observers when these conflicts of interest are exposed; indeed, we should be surprised that such conflicts are not revealed more often... because what gets publicized is only the tip of the iceberg.

In January of 2010 [[:user:Willowtree|Willowtree]](probably [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Gwen_Gale Gwen Gale]) [http://mywikibiz.com/index.php?title=Wikipedia_scandals&diff=prev&oldid=106377 tried to remove the information about herself from this article] just as she [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3AArbitration_Committee_Elections_December_2008%2FCandidate_statements%2FGwen_Gale%2FQuestions_for_the_candidate&diff=254715552&oldid=254671400 did] many times on English wikipedia, but this time it did not work out, and she [http://mywikibiz.com/index.php?title=Wikipedia_scandals&diff=106400&oldid=106377 was reverted]. It is not the only appearance of Gwen Gale on mywikibiz. [http://mywikibiz.com/Special:Contributions/81.62.148.165 In 2007 she wrote an article about her novel]. According to [http://img362.imageshack.us/img362/6083/92979875oe7.jpg this screenshot] this IP#81.62.148.165 was used by Heidi Wyss (Gwen Gale) to edit an article about her novel on wikipedia as well.

==Tolerance of plagiarism==
The original version of any wiki-formatted article about the Arch Coal company was authored in September 2006 by [[Directory:Gregory J. Kohs|Gregory Kohs]] and released under the terms of the GFDL on this website, [[Directory:MyWikiBiz|MyWikiBiz.com]]. It was then scraped by an independent editor into Wikipedia. In October 2006, erroneously thinking that the article was paid for by Arch Coal, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales acted to delete the article from Wikipedia, but the Wikipedia community determined that Wales' action had been unjustified. The article was revised, largely by "User:JzG" (Guy Chapman). However, in January 2008, Kohs demonstrated to Chapman that the article as modified by User:JzG actually plagiarized many aspects of the original. Faced with that evidence, Chapman elected to cover up his misdeed by [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&page=Arch_Coal deleting the original edits] on the Wikipedia site, thus making the provenance of the article appear to have come from Chapman, and not from MyWikiBiz. When Jimmy Wales was notified about this violation of professional ethics and proper GFDL attribution of the edit history, Wales '''very reluctantly''' restored the original edit history, with the childish edit summary, "''might as well restore all of it I suppose''".

When later asked to comment on this affair, Jimmy Wales instead relied on one of his loyal followers to [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Jimbo_Wales&diff=255481782&oldid=255480598 erase the uncomfortable question] and to [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&type=block&page=User%3AEast_Bradford block the editor] who asked it.

===Additional comment===
When in December 2008, Kohs [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arch_Coal&diff=255480884&oldid=255154863 sought to improve] the article about Arch Coal on Wikipedia, his improvements were [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arch_Coal&diff=next&oldid=255480884 reverted back] by a mindless administrator from Belgium. This underscores the true system of editorial control on Wikipedia -- it matters not the '''content''' of one's edits, but rather '''who''' authors the content. (Which, of course, directly contradicts Wikipedia's supposed credo that "anyone can edit".)

==Rachel Marsden affair==
Wales allegedly made attempts to "clean up" a Wikipedia entry for a woman with whom he had a relationship, and it generated headlines.

The Wikipedia article regarding controversial [[Directory:Canada|Canadian]] radio commentator [[Rachel Marsden]] has been the subject of controversy on Wikipedia from some years. According to Ms. Marsden, whom Wales has admitted to dating, she had asked [[Wikipedia]] to delete her [[biography]]. Her concerns led her to contact Wikipedia co-founder [[Jimmy Wales]] in 2006, claiming that it was wrong and libelous. According to her, he reviewed her biography and, deeming that it was not up to standard, helped to clean up the entry. However, the article was mainly revised as the result of an extensive review by Wikipedia's arbitration committee.<ref>I did much of the work on this case, and probably played the major role in providing guidelines for revising the article. Jimmy Wales played little, if any, role in editing the article or requesting its revision. Guidelines for editing were based on Wikipedia's Biographies of living person's policy, <nowiki>[[w:Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons]]. [[User:Fred Bauder|Fred]] [[User talk:Fred Bauder|Talk]]</nowiki> 22:44, 17 March 2008 (EDT) </ref>

Wales announced in a statement on Wikipedia "My involvement in cases like this is completely routine, and I am proud of it."<ref name=smh/> On [[February 29]], [[2008]], the technology gossip blog [[Valleywag]] claimed that they had entered into a relationship, and published instant messaging chats that they had allegedly exchanged. On the following day Wales announced on his Wikipedia user page that he was no longer involved with her. In return, Marsden, who claimed to have learned about the breakup by reading about it on the Internet, turned to [[eBay]] and put up for auction a [[t-shirt]] and sweater that she claimed to be Wales'.<ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/03/02/marsden-breakup.html
| title = Canadian pundit, Wikipedia founder in messy breakup
| author = Siri Agrell
| publisher = [[The Canadian Press]]
| date = [[2008-03-02]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-06
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080304.wlbreakup04/BNStory/lifeMain/home
| title = Ms. Marsden's cyberspace breakup: tit-for-tat-for-T-shirt
| author = Siri Agrell
| publisher = [[The Globe and Mail]]
| date = [[2008-03-04]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,334652,00.html
| title = Wikipedia Founder's Fling With Columnist Ends in Nasty Public Breakup
| publisher = [[Fox News Channel|FOXNews.com]]
| date = [[2008-03-03]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3475722.ece
| title = Fury of a woman scorned – on Wikipedia
| publisher = [[The Times]]
| date = [[2008-03-04]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref name=smh>{{cite news
| url = http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/ex-takes-her-revenge-on-mr-wiki/2008/03/04/1204402405901.html
| title = Ex takes her revenge on Mr Wikipedia
| publisher = [[The Sydney Morning Herald]]
| author = Asher Moses
| date = [[2008-03-04]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref>
<ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2008-03-04-wikipedia-wales_N.htm?csp=34
| title = Wikipedia's Wales defends breakup, expenses
| publisher = [[USA Today]]
| date = [[2008-03-05]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-05
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2004286879_btwikipedia17.html
| title = Wikipedia experiences growing pains
| author = Alana Semuels
| publisher = Seattle Times
| date = [[2008-03-17]]
| accessdate = 2008-03-17
}}</ref>

A typical editor of Wikipedia is not allowed to document this incident within the Wikipedia article about Jimmy Wales.

==Scorpions "Virgin Killer" album cover==
In December 2008, the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) added to its "potentially illegal" list the Wikipedia image of the original album cover of The Scorpions' fourth release, ''Virgin Killer''. The image depicted a young girl posed naked with only her vulva covered by the appearance of cracked glass. Many found the picture offensive. Internet service providers in the [[Directory:United Kingdom|UK]] followed suit with the IWF and blocked the image and page from users' browsing, and channeling those requests through a very limited set of IP addresses.

Regardless of your opinions about whether this image constitutes child pornography, or whether the IWF engaged in "censorship" of art, one thing was clearly missed by the mainstream media in this affair:

:''If Wikipedia did not suffer from an intractable vandalism problem, this one-page block on a 22-yr old album cover might never have been noticed. It was only noticed because the proxy IP was blocked on the Wikipedia side of the connection.''
:''The fact of the matter is, Wikipedia admins blithely block thousands of IPs, sometimes in wholesale range-blocks that affect major metropolitan areas.'' - [http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=21516&view=findpost&p=146163 Barry Kort], 12/09/2008.

That is, the Wikipedia apparatus practices wide-scale editorial censorship, without due process, on an hourly basis; yet few seem concerned about this even within an encyclopedia that purportedly ''anyone can edit''. Yet, there is much wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth when an image that portrays a young girl, told by a photographer to strip down naked and pose for the camera, all in the name of marketing a rock band's album, is censored.

===Put images to the test===
[[Image:St_Pete_billboard.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Would you contribute $25 to see this billboard in real life? ''(Click picture only if you're a not-easily-offended adult)'']] Many Wikipedia zealots possess a feverish reflex urge to shout "Wikipedia is not censored" and will defend vehemently not only the ''right'' but the '''''need''''' to publish on Wikimedia servers prurient content that is neither properly sourced nor even encyclopedic in nature. One Wikipedian pauses to note:

:''...I really do worry that any media organisation actually putting the effort in to scratch beneath the surface of the Wiki machine may find some things that will be harder to defend than an album cover from 1976.'' - [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Jimbo_Wales&diff=next&oldid=256870274 "George the Dragon"], 12/09/2008.

Wouldn't it be interesting to put the Wikipedia standard to the test, say, in an environment of "community standards" like St. Petersburg, [[Directory:Florida|Florida]]? How fun would it be to start a grassroots fundraising campaign to pay for a "free speech"-testing, GFDL billboard such as this one? Comment on [[Talk:Wikipedia_scandals|this talk page]].

==David Boothroyd, sockpuppet admin==
[[Directory:David Boothroyd|David Boothroyd]] created controversy in 2009 when it was discovered that he edited [[Wikipedia]] under the user names '''Dbiv''', '''Fys''', and '''Sam Blacketer''' and eventually became part of the site's policy-enforcing Arbitration Committee. After earning Administrator status with one account, then being de-sysopped for inappropriate use of the admin tools, Boothroyd regained Administrator status with the "Sam Blacketer" sockpuppet account. A [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] member, after being sleuthed out by [[Directory:Wikipedia Review|Wikipedia Review]] contributor, "Tarantino", Boothroyd outted himself for having used [[sockpuppet|sockpuppets]] in the course of obtaining his position and for having edited the article of [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] leader [[David Cameron]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/05/26/wikipedia_westminster_councillor/|title=Sockpuppeting British politico resigns from Wikisupremecourt|last=Metz|first=Cade|date=26 May 2009|publisher=[[The Register]]|accessdate=2009-05-27}}</ref>

==External links==
<references/>
[http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=18620 Milton Roe's 18 Promises about Editing Wikipedia] - A Wikipedia Dissenter's Credo

 
[[Keyword:=Wikipedia]], [[Keyword:=Scandal]]
[[Category:Wikipedia]]