[Search-l] Simpy Chichimichi - "Wikia Search - Not Happening"

[Seth Finkelstein]

> Jimmy Wales wrote:
> The project is going full speed ahead.  I'm sorry Seth is trolling
> about it, but you know, that's Seth's way.

	Jimmy, is this sort of very personal attack justified by
anything I've written? Inversely, is there *any* downside at all to
you from flaming me here? Do you see why I might develop a certain
skepticism?

	But it is inaccurate to claim the project is going full speed
ahead, per:

 http://lists.wikia.com/pipermail/search-l/2007-February/000224.html

 Jimmy Wales jwales at wikia.com
 Wed Feb 7 16:03:10 UTC 2007
 ^^^^^^^^^^

 "We have the test servers scheduled for install on Friday, and then I
  want to turn people loose on them to start playing around and testing."

	If I *were* trolling, I would have made a big deal of that,
mocking it. I'm only citing it now in defense of my integrity, to
prove how off-base are the accusations. To my mind, it's *OK* here if
the schedule slips, there's some resource crunch, or a partner doesn't
sign-up when planned. Nobody quit a job or moved across the country to
be a part of this project, as has happened to people who have been
burned by vaporware. 

	Any longtime programmer could heat their home by burning a
department's obsolete schedule documents. That's life.

> He's a complete skeptic of everything that I do.

	Ahem. Before the flaming, I believe a fair-minded assessment
of what I said about the project was overall favorable to you. Perhaps
too much of an environment of sycophants and yes-men makes anything
less than worshipful deference seem out of place.

	I'm actually less skeptical, in a complicated way, than search
super-expert Danny Sullivan, see http://searchengineland.com/061229-193718.php

	However, I regard you as a smart businessman (not a holy guru).
So I analyze things in terms of the common factors of business -
funding, model, executive sign-offs, partnership agreements, etc.

> My solution is simple: I just do it, and mostly ignore him when he
> is making no sense.

	I can deal with being mostly ignored - it's the other part
of the "solution" which is a problem :-(.

> I advise everyone who thinks this is going to be a hell of a lot of fun, 
> turning the entire industry upside down... to do the same.  :)
>
> I'd kick him off the list, but that's not my style.  A few critics 
> around to stir the stew can keep us on our toes as we move forward.
>
> --Jimbo

	Considering our relative power differential, this is all
*amazingly* abusive. Are you really so put-out by a few mailing-list
messages, which, in absolute terms, aren't even all that critical? It
should be *way* too early in a project lifecycle to be scapegoating
people.

-- 
Seth Finkelstein  Consulting Programmer  http://sethf.com/
Infothought blog - http://sethf.com/infothought/blog/
Interview: http://sethf.com/essays/major/greplaw-interview.php