User talk:Jimbo Wales

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Just telling how great you are

Hey there. I know that I shouldn't engage in general chat in Wikipedia (I like to keep discussions related to Wikipedia), but I must do this. I came here to say how fantastic it is to see that a founder of such a big organizaion/company as Wikipedia is, creates pages and edits like everyone else, when I am sure that you have alot of other things to do. I must say that I admire you very greatly.  Ilyushka88  talk  23:22, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Thank you! I wish that I could edit more. I'm often intimidated about editing, because I don't know very much about most of the things that I'm interested in. :-) --Jimbo Wales (talk) 23:28, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

I must say that I think that's the reason why most people don't edit that much ;) Being intimidated as they think that they don't know much about things they're interested in... Almost every edit is a good edit if it is constructive. WP:BB. To be honest, I have no idea why I am telling wikipedia founder to be bold heheh. My apologies.  Ilyushka88  talk  23:57, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Hi there!

Hi there Jimbo, I never expected to be able to talk to the founder of Wikipedia, but now I do! Wow. Do you ever realize how helpful Wikipedia is to the entire world? For example, everyone I know uses Wikipedia for something (myself being the only active editor). Anyway, I just have always wanted to thank you for creating the most amazing tool on the Internet. Whenever I type something in on Google, Wikipedia comes up first the majority of the time. But WP:GOOGLEHITS tells us that it is not a guideline for notability, right? Well, in this case, I think it is. Thanks again! The Arbiter^★_★^★ 01:54, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

The Arbiter has given you a fresh piece of fried chicken! Pieces of fried chicken promote WikiLove and hopefully this piece has made your day a little better. Spread the WikiLove by giving someone else a piping hot piece, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past or a good friend. Bon appetit!

Spread the tastiness of fried chicken by adding {{subst:GiveChicken}} to their talk page with a friendly message, or gobble up this chicken the giver's talk page with {{subst:MunchChicken}}!!

Indeed, Wikipedia is helpful, and it's sad that high school school teachers (including mine) widely discourage its use. Ks0stm If you reply here, please leave me a {{Talkback}} message on my talk page. 02:00, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Too true. When I was in high school, Wikipedia was strongly discouraged as an "unreliable source". Now that I have rollback rights and fight vandalism, I just can't see how misinformation would survive on Wikipedia. The Arbiter^★_★^★ 18:21, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Precisely. The teachers all forbid the using of Wikipedia as a source, and yet, all other internet sources have the same text. You can't escape Wikipedia, and that's a good thing. --15lsoucy (talk) 18:31, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

A loophole I found sometimes was to check the sources that were cited on Wikipedia, and to use those instead. Not as great as Wikipedia, but it worked. The Arbiter^★_★^★ 19:22, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Something I have done as well, but what I am saying, is due to Wikipedia known credibility, many sites are copying Wikipedia. --15lsoucy (talk) 22:30, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Exactly, which inevitably leads to WP:CIRCULAR. The world would be a better place if Wikipedia were considered a valuable and credible source of information, which it is, of course. :) The Arbiter^★_★^★ 02:19, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

• When I was at school, computer programming was learning to punch holes into reels of paper tape. I instead chose to study typing - meaning I was the only other guy in a class of 30+ - which has proven more useful in adapting to the pc enabled present ... Not sure that this helps, except as an example that education generally follows (by quite some distance) rather than leads in the exploitation of new media. LessHeard vanU (talk) 02:14, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

When (rollback) knights fall ...

Hello, my King ... Saw you pass through ANI today, where it appears I may soon lose the right to post more than 100 words with no formatting allowed—the price of extraordinary measures in service of BLP NPOV. (I.E., For this complex message, it is either now or never, hence tonight.)

No request for a touch of your all-powerful hand in this matter, but will ask of those all-knowledgeable who stand watch on your page to inform me if appealing such things is possible, or preventable, however much a bad idea that usually is.

Before I go, I will mention another good knight who says he is leaving—sufficiently abused by that tribalism which so often can unbalance human affairs.

Knights know this realm is not a system of justice, but being impaled by a travesty of it is quite unpleasant. :)

A report from the front ... and perhaps my last greater-than-100-word formatted communication. I close with half of something I composed and submitted when Signpost asked for "opinion" pieces.

Two Wikipedia [English] sonnets linked by the theme of civility (1 of 2)

{WPO.001.01} ____ PRETEND "IGNORE ALL RULES" somewhere applied. {WPO.001.02} ____ Just humor me — we know it never does. {WPO.001.03} ____ (By now a hundred people have decried {WPO.001.04} ____ the format of this piece. A thousand "Huh?"s.) {WPO.001.05} ____ Don't underline, or bold, ALL CAP, or rhyme! {WPO.001.06} ____ Don't add subtopics when the topics shift! {WPO.001.07} ____ To make talk quick-to-skim would be a crime! {WPO.001.08} ____ It's never done that way! Don't get us miffed! {WPO.001.09} ____ To not talk like we do is to DISRUPT {WPO.001.10} ____ the habits we have long adapted to! {WPO.001.11} ____ To place your words like that is to corrupt {WPO.001.12} ____ old standards of community toward new! {WPO.001.13} ____ RIGHT HERE is where CIVILITY kicks in: {WPO.001.14} ____ TO YELL at talking diff'rently's a sin.

To those honorable souls who watch this page: I hope you will indulge this gesture briefly because I have cleaned at least one bit of trash from 5,000 pages of the project. And again, if there is an answer regarding any path of appeal, however quixotic and usually to be avoided, please let me know (here, or on my talk).

(the fallen knight salutes and withdraws) Proofreader77 (talk) 04:03, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Have some dignity —Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.235.43.123 (talk) 13:22, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

No one loses dignity by showing respect, or deference earned ... or as the wise armor polisher said: if you're going to suck up, do it from the back of a white horse. :) Proofreader77 (talk) 01:53, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

PS: Since I have been acused of appealing to Jimbo (rather than what I actually did, which was be too wussy to actually ask), I will get down off the horse and kneel ... and ask the founder's extraordinary release from pissant 100-word-limit prison. Such an act of grace will spare the community endless hours of suffering from my whining about it. Dear Mr. Wales, please release me. I will never do that again. (As many sonnets in your honor as you wish.) Proofreader77 (talk) 08:35, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

What the hell happened to BLP?

I'm posting this here because I know that damn near everybody who's anybody has this page on their watchlist, and because I know that the Biography of Living Persons Policy is something close to Jimmy's heart.

Check this out: Sol Wachtler

What's wrong you say? Sol Wachtler is the guy who very famously said that a Grand Jury would indict a ham sandwich. If you can find that quote anywhere on this page, I'll email you a cookie.

Furthermore, he's apparently trying to edit his own page, and I don't blame him. Someone - perhaps multiple someones - is very obviously trying to play up his downfall. Mr. Wachtler was both a lawyer and judge, and I'm sure did his job at least well enough to create some enemies. It takes one to find their way to the internet and try to get some payback.

The poor guy is 79 frippin' years old. If anybody is left here, please help him out and get some balance.

Also, please don't tell me to do it myself. I'm actually a writer for dough now, and don't have the time or, frankly, the inclination. I'm proud of my dasy and nights here, but I look back them and realize that I somehow managed to wade into one shit-storm of editor/admin conflict after another from pretty much day one. I don't blame exactly Wikipedia for that, but after a few years of personal growth (in spite of myself), I've simply lost the taste for the drama and ego, as well as what it did to me personally.

On a more general note, I'm very sorry to say that I'm using Wikipedia less and less as even a reference in my own online writing. This saddens me greatly as both a former editorial contributor and a current financial contributor (not trying to puff myself, we're talking like 10 bucks here and there).

For example, I recently had to call bullshit on the M. Scott Peck page because I used the Wikipedia link to try to introduce someone online to his writing. As I usually do, I just trusted that Wikipedia would at the very least get the basic facts right, which I consider to be impressive for Mr. Peck. It turns out that page was (probably still is) completely jacked (to point out the Encyclopedic problems with this page would take me a loong time), and contained a totally unsourced and untrue statement about him being secretly homophobic, when in fact it's exactly the opposite.

Just writing this much makes me feel guilty and shitty because I really DON'T have the time. For friends who see this and have left messages on my discussion page, use my email. Just call me the Alice who decided to side-step the rabbit hole.

--NinaOdell | Talk 17:42, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

As a jurist, I'm sure Mr.

Do you care?

Jimbo, I recently stumbled upon Wikipedia:JIMBODOESNTCARE. Some of it seemed a little brash, particularly the 'Summary' .. do you agree with this page? -- œ^™ 13:24, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

I don't like the page at all. It seriously misstates my position. It is very good to let people know that I can't make them sysop, but the idea that I don't care is just absurd. And certainly "you're just another number" is insulting to both me and the reader. The page could be renamed to "Jimbo would love to help you, but often can't" with an explanation about why I can't make people sysops, why I generally decline to get involved directly in content disputes, etc. This would be more welcoming to the user who is trying to solve a problem, and not insulting to me personally. :-) --Jimbo Wales (talk) 20:40, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Well said! Jusdafax 20:48, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Well, that page bit the dust fast. --Sooo Kawaii!!! ^__^ (talk) 21:48, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Technology like Google Wave

Hi

I think a good idea would be to implement a technology like Google Wave. Wikipedia would be more flexible.

--Urs.Waefler (talk) 22:34, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Are you using Wave now? (I just got my invitation.) Perhaps related: did you see LiquidThreads beta in Signpost? Proofreader77 (talk) 22:49, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

How about allowing links to Wikia, for side article information?

Since you are one of the owners of Wikia, how do you feel about allowing people to link to articles there? Since the deletionists have succeeded in mass destruction of almost every character page their rampaging hordes have ever come across, as well as many episodes, weapons list, and other valid content, how about we add a link to the bottom of every Wikipedia article to a valid entry at Wikia, where the information was copied over to preserve it? People get their basic information at the Wikipedia, and if they want more detailed information, they know where they can find it at. As it is now, whenever a link to the Wikia is added, it is almost always deleted by someone. Its often the same information that was considered acceptable on Wikipedia for years, before a small group decided to change the notability guidelines, and use that as an excuse to mass destroy all that they did not like. By this simple compromise, everyone can have what they want. Dream Focus 00:16, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

I think allowing links to Wikia articles would be a fair and reasonable compromise as well. Good suggestion! Sincerely, --A Nobody^{My talk} 00:20, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

Agreed! That strategy worked pretty well for Digimon (which had the good fortune to not have anyone remove those links).--Twilight Helryx 02:51, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

Salwa Judum

This article really needs urgent intervention, because as far as I can see, none of the users editing it are adhering to a NPOV and it wouldn't surprise me if their all sockpuppets. As a result this article is completely untrustworthy. (Posted here to gain max attention) --Sooo Kawaii!!! ^__^ (talk) 12:21, 16 November 2009 (UTC)