RE: [xml-dev] Recent allegations about me

["Len Bullard" <cbullard@hiwaay.net>]

The sorry bit is the follow on.  Even the comedians are picking up on it and
starting to make fun of Wikipedia.   Wikipedia was a snippet of a topic on
the Colbert Report on the Comedy Channel in the States this week.  It also
turned up via a syndicated article in the local newspaper here.

At the very least, it is starting a public discussion both humorous and
serious about the editing approach of the 'wisdom of crowds', the 'experts'
and the positive feedback sinks that occur on the web as a result of search
tensors.  Now that everyone is aware of the gaming that can take place,
perhaps we'll finally be able to talk about 'rules of the game' and who gets
to set them.  Jimmy Wales will be facing some difficult decisions or more
competition.  A Randolph grad may not understand that (inside joke in
Huntsville). 

Not so strangely, as with other standards efforts, market forces will come
into play and then I think we'll see some honest discussion of what
constitutes expertise beyond self-selection, and what methods are expected
in terms of citation, research and testing.   That these vary by topic is
obvious, but some parts such as citation research should be common.  We all
have a bad habit of assigning originality based on first encounter with an
idea, and that has screwed up the web and possibly wikipedia worse than
anything Microsoft can do because we accept it as scholarship when in fact
it is begging for the authority of the self-selected.

Sorry you are the guinea for this, Rick, but it comes with being the first
penguin to get the gig.  I'd be surprised if anyone who is a long standing
member of this list holds you in less than the highest regard for your
expertise on these topics.

len

From: Rick Jelliffe [mailto:rjelliffe@allette.com.au] 
 
There have been a lot of incorrect press stories featuring me this last
week.

Finally the truth is coming out. Please see the article "Microsoft didn't
'bribe' standards expert" at
http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/10717

The Wikipedia UK media officer this week also described the offer as
'innocent' in a comment on my blog.

Thanks to everyone who wrote to me with support. (I'm only responding to
comments on my blog not elsewhere, in general: there are too many places
and too much wrong-headedness.)

Cheers
Rick Jelliffe

_______________________________________________________________________

XML-DEV is a publicly archived, unmoderated list hosted by OASIS
to support XML implementation and development. To minimize
spam in the archives, you must subscribe before posting.

[Un]Subscribe/change address: http://www.oasis-open.org/mlmanage/
Or unsubscribe: xml-dev-unsubscribe@lists.xml.org
subscribe: xml-dev-subscribe@lists.xml.org
List archive: http://lists.xml.org/archives/xml-dev/
List Guidelines: http://www.oasis-open.org/maillists/guidelines.php