A side note on selling Wikipedia
I find the claims of Wikipedia ever “selling out” to Google or whoever quite hilarious because it would fail so spectacularly. Whoever “bought” Wikipedia would almost certainly get a bum deal, because ours is not a community that goes along quietly. The only thing that would be likely to be achieved with any certainty would be the destruction of the Wikipedia community.
Comment
I see a fork more likely than a buyout. And honestly, with editorial and administrative bias becoming increasingly apparent, it is quite likely to fork. Maybe 5-10 years.
— Taran Rampersad · 14. February 2008, 04:32
Well, a buyout would undoubtedly be the start of a serious fork. And that is what would be the destruction of the current community.
Of course, it may be no bad thing, and necessary, and lead to better things in the future. But there’s no doubt it will be painful.
— pfctdayelise · 14. February 2008, 09:35
As many groups have thus far discovered, it’s very easy to make a fork, but very difficult to get a large number of people to care. Without editors and readers, any fork is doomed.
I admit I’m curious to see how Citizendium’s methods pan out, in the long run. There’s certainly a lot of buzz around Knol, but I want to see some results before I make any calls on that one, good or bad.
— Luna Santin · 15. February 2008, 13:09
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