MediaWiki Tips

…and the vultures step in…

December 12, 2005 on 5:15 pm | In Uncategorized |

Today brings news announcements of a site set up for a class action lawsuit against the WikiMedia Foundation. Here’s an excerpt stating their intentions:

There is a problem with the operation and functionality of Wikipedia. The basic problem is that none of the Trustees of Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., nor any of the volunteers who are connected with Wikipedia, consider themselves responsible and therefore accountable for the content.

They believe themselves to be above the law.

(edited) is currently gathering complaints from the entire Internet community, including individuals, corporations, partnerships, etc., who believe that they have been defamed and or who have been or are the subject of anonymous and malicious postings to the popular online encyclopedia WikiPedia.

Alternatively, if you are aware of postings on Wikipedia that are either untrue and or potentially libellous to another, please contact them and make them aware of the offending content and this website so that they may file a complaint with our group.

Our intention and the purpose of this website is multi-fold. Specifically, we seek to achieve the following:

* Expose the inherent faults and flaws of the Wikipedia online encyclopedia

* Force Wikimedia Foundation Inc., through legal action, to change its current practices that permit anyone to post content to their website, without formal attribution and without recourse back to Wikimedia Foundation and or the author of the content

* Recover substantial monetary damages, on behalf of those who have suffered as a direct result of Wikimedia’s flaw business model

* Establish a precedent that will ensure similar websites are held responsible for their content

Hmmm… Doesn’t sound like a lawyer. Doesn’t sound like an organized group. The Adsense ads immediately tell me that what this site is really looking for are links (one of those will not be coming from here) and adsense clicks.

Sounds like a vulture.

Here’s the really crappy part

Mr. Siegenthaler proved that his intentions were not to find someone to sue, but rather to bring the wrongdoing against him to the attention of the Internet community and the WikiPedia management. He found the guy who wronged him, and was kind enough not to sue.

Now, here come the vultures, to step in and see if maybe there’s a buck to be made on the side. Way to cheapen the real issue and turn it into what its discreditors claimed from the beginning: This is all just about somebody wanting to sue somebody else’s ass. The good ol’ American way, I guess.

Greed

Last week, many were wondering if defamation and editorial integrity would be the issues that caused the downfall of the grand social experiment called WikiPedia.

Today, we have to wonder if instead it will be greed. Wouldn’t that just be the perfect irony? The online encyclopedia that’s free for all to use, with no ads, supported completely by donations, brought down by greed.

That’s one grand irony I hope is saved for another book.

Update

Here’s a blog post with some interesting insights into the owners of this new site and possible ulterior motives for the “class action” site. Vultures, it seems, don’t limit themselves to Internet controversy.