[Search-l] _Forbes_ - Andrew Keen - Down With Internet Democracy

[L. Asher Corson]

Seth: you really lost me this time.  I thought the debate about whether or
not Wikipedia is accurate was settled a long time ago:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4530930.stm

Asher


On 5/6/07, Jonathan Roberts <jonathan.roberts.uk at googlemail.com> wrote:
>
> I think this same person was talking on BBC Radio 4 this morning and
> he makes me angry. Even if you dismiss wikipedia (which I think you'd
> be crazy to do!), there are clear practical examples of this model
> working: GNU/Linux and every other piece of successful free/open
> source software.
>
> Jon
>
> On 06/05/07, Seth Finkelstein <sethf at sethf.com> wrote:
> > [Disclaimer - Forwarding this article segment should not be taken as
> > unconditional endorsement. In fact, I have been critical of its author
> > in general in terms of writing going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket pandering]
> >
> >
> http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:eJkP3xZto-YJ:members.forbes.com/forbes/2007/0521/038.html
> >
> > On My Mind
> > Down With Internet Democracy  Andrew Keen 05.21.07, 12:00 AM ET
> >
> > Why you don't want anonymous volunteers powering your search engine.
> >
> > [...]
> >
> > If, like me, you believe that Wikipedia has spawned a mountain of
> > unreliable, unprofessional and often corrupt so-called knowledge, then
> > Wales' radical new search venture is of deep concern.
> >
> > According to Wales, search is "broken." It lacks "freedom,"
> > "community," "accountability" and "transparency." He argues that
> > Google can be gamed by spammers, marketers and other Internet cheats
> > who have learned to outwit the algorithms, thereby earning their
> > products or services inappropriately high rankings. So Wales' solution
> > is to staff Wikia Search with unpaid programmers who will develop
> > algorithms that can sniff out the spammers and challenge the cheats.
> >
> > What will Wikia Search be like? I fear it will resemble
> > Wikipedia. Rather than gang up against the gamers, it will compound
> > the corruption by giving search-engine editorial power to anonymous
> > volunteers. This is exactly what has damaged Wikipedia's reputation as
> > a people-powered encyclopedia. How many supposedly altruistic
> > programmers will really be in the pay of Wal-Mart (nyse: WMT - news -
> > people ) or al Qaeda or the millions of other organizations that could
> > be tempted to pay to have their products and services better positioned?
> >
> > [...]
> >
> > If you want to supplement artificial intelligence with real human
> > intelligence, you need to reward the real humans with real money in
> > exchange for their services. Because real people have real mortgages
> > to pay off and real families to feed. A genuinely people-powered
> > search service should, therefore, employ and pay a professional staff
> > to check the accuracy of its entries. Traditional media have a word
> > for these gatekeepers. They are called editors.
> >
> > --
> > Seth Finkelstein  Consulting Programmer  http://sethf.com/
> > Infothought blog - http://sethf.com/infothought/blog/
> > Interview: http://sethf.com/essays/major/greplaw-interview.php
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