I’ve always had my criticisms of Wikipedia, but compared to the people attacking it, it’s the Library of Alexandria - ThreadSky

radiofreetom.bsky.social • 65 days ago

I’ve always had my criticisms of Wikipedia, but compared to the people attacking it, it’s the Library of Alexandria

Wikipedia is amazing—a truly great achievement—and we must protect it, especially from the powerful anti-truth forces that seek its degradation.

Comments

oldohman.bsky.social•65 days ago

More reliable than AI

ricyrick87.bsky.social•65 days ago

I don't think AI was ever reliable 😅

kitttenn.bsky.social•65 days ago

Wait... So I wasn't supposed to add those rocks to my diet??

ellico2020bis.bsky.social•65 days ago

I remember, in grad school (I was in my 40's, most were in 30's, some in 50's), professor actually had to tell people that WIkipedia was not a source. I don't believe our team ever cited them, I would've had a problem with that.

clarissasr.bsky.social•65 days ago

Musk likely can’t repeat his Twitter stunt with Wikipedia. Its vast knowledge base and resilience make it harder to buy and dismantle with a hate-filled, divisive algorithm pushing disinformation and chaos.
🇺🇸💪🏼📢⚖️🫶🏼🇺🇸

clarissasr.bsky.social•65 days ago

novalight.bsky.social•64 days ago

True & an incredibly sad commentary on our society.

hughman3.bsky.social•65 days ago

I give to wikipedia every year

Love the revenue model and wish more orgs followed it

Would absolutely throw 20 bucks at @bsky.app every year or so to support the cause of a safe social media space

oakmarie.bsky.social•65 days ago

Imperfect maybe but it’s the best reference we’ve got on the internet. I donate every year.

barbpoipu.bsky.social•65 days ago

Agree. Contribute each fundraising drive

It is a starting point for our own research. At least it HAS sources 😱

lynp77.bsky.social•65 days ago

It’s a valuable independent community asset. Who said perfect? There’s not many of them around & take an enormous amount of energy & goodwill to set up & maintain. Wiki is the kind of org Musk & Murdoch hate cos they don’t understand their motivations, can’t control them + so destroy if they can.

mprclntrlst.bsky.social•65 days ago

Great institutions have built-in mechanisms for error self-correction.

exspectator1.bsky.social•65 days ago

Well we know what happened to the Library of Alexandria right?

tomowens67.bsky.social•65 days ago

I've always loved it as a quick reference. Normally, it's fairly on target. I just wouldn't quote from it without some other sources to back it up.

cosmicloper.bsky.social•65 days ago

There is a concerted effort— from Stanford University’s misinformation research group, News Guard Co, and Wikipedia, they’re all under attack from MAGA!

justodude.bsky.social•65 days ago

I used to get lost in Wikipedia for hours😵‍💫 it’s a good first start when you find a new concept. The problem is that people don’t even look for an encyclopedic level of understanding and care more about fictional narratives that make their life fun instead of informs them

studiotan.bsky.social•64 days ago

javiertf.bsky.social•65 days ago

Yup, was never a big fan (although I did makes some contributions on math articles), but I just gave the $10. That President Musk is upset with it is a good enough reason for me to contribute.

mzterry.bsky.social•65 days ago

I only use Wikipedia to look for info on celebrities I see in old TV shows or movies because who cares if it's 100% accurate. Otherwise, I try to find additional sources for information.

scrivener45.bsky.social•60 days ago

Yup. It has the Gazans defeating Israel. lol.

rachemeff.bsky.social•64 days ago

Agreed. Exactly.

momcjl.bsky.social•64 days ago

Great comparison 😊

eternaleyeroll.bsky.social•65 days ago

How long until they call for pulling its funding?

kaysertommasi.bsky.social•65 days ago

From private donation?

eternaleyeroll.bsky.social•65 days ago

I’m referring to the Library of Alexandria.

bayeralex.bsky.social•65 days ago

I’m a monthly supporter.
Leon can burn in hell

ybor312.bsky.social•65 days ago

When Musk tells you not to do something, you know what to do.

robertmmiller.bsky.social•65 days ago

Elon Musk hates Wikipedia since it plainly cites the truth: "his views have made him a polarizing figure. He has been criticized for making unscientific and misleading statements on COVID-19, antisemitic and transphobic comments. Since he bought Twitter, there has been an increase in hate speech."

nissimss.bsky.social•65 days ago

On Twitter: Neo-Nazis, incels, MAGA, foreign bots, crypto scammers, porn advertisers, Elongelicals, false merchants, foreign chaos agents, automated feeds, propagandists, misogynists, racists, shitposters, farright influencers, edgelords, guerilla marketers, 4channers, Gamergaters, Muskpaid journals

alpine-joy.bsky.social•65 days ago

🎅🏼 What were / are your criticisms?

I remember LONG ago, when it was first invented, it was a bit squiffy & unreliable, but for the last two decades it has only gotten more robust, it seems to me.

One of the true & good triumphs of the digital age, 🎄‼️

nobuenoatall.bsky.social•64 days ago

Yep. Doubling my donation today.

romeovoid.bsky.social•65 days ago

That is the fault of the Left, we are never happy with anything but *perfect*. We destroy ourselves in the process, we are our own worst enemy. Wiki is amazing.

jeb232.bsky.social•65 days ago

There is nothing else like it.

r3fugiado.bsky.social•65 days ago

@radiofreetom.bsky.social please talk to @molly.wiki I had the same opinion until I started listening to Molly's work.

uofagrad97.bsky.social•65 days ago

Musk hates it because he can’t buy it and destroy it.

northsidemick.bsky.social•65 days ago

Just sent in a well-deserved donation, and a poke in the eye to Musk.

cyberman3000.bsky.social•65 days ago

Fortunately, I doubt many people who listen to Elon Musk were already donating to it.

nancyruth.bsky.social•65 days ago

Just gave $15.00 to wikipedia.

thepsyoflife.bsky.social•65 days ago

Wikipedia has gotten A LOT better over the years. And, amazing from a crowd sourced beginning. As a teacher, I've gone from never use Wikipedia, to use it as a place to find sources, to use it along with other verifying references.

alpine-joy.bsky.social•65 days ago

🎅🏼 EXACTLY what I’ve said & feel. Exactly, 😉!

I’ve been a sustaining supporter for years, I think @ $5 per month.

andrewdaley.bsky.social•64 days ago

People like Trump, and Musk want so badly to rewrite history so that they look like hero’s instead of the zeros they really are. It’s hard to rewrite history when there is constant correcting going on by an army of fact checkers from all over the world. The biggest enemy of darkness is illumination.

twitterexodus.org•64 days ago

Cast a vote against President Musk by joining the Twitter Exodus at https://TwitterExodus.org #twitterexodus

bklynmichael42.bsky.social•65 days ago

No Fair Remembering Things™️

lindainlight.bsky.social•65 days ago

Every time they ask for donations I donate.
Because I use it a lot and I grew up with a set of encyclopedias with black and white pictures.

miffyann94.bsky.social•65 days ago

AOC has a library?

*kidding

chiefgray.bsky.social•65 days ago

You captured my sentiments perfectly.

adamgny.bsky.social•64 days ago

Criticizing Wikipedia is what my teachers would do in the early 00s so that we didn’t just use it as a single source for our research project and cause it was a joke back then in there eyes, these days it’s one of the more reliable sources of fact out there. Certainly
More credible than the media

righteoushazard.bsky.social•65 days ago

The Wikipedia Math Portal editors and authors are top notch area experts. I am almost always blown away by the coverage. It cannot replace well written books and good lectures, but definitely can replace the uninspired ones. It honestly is a marvelous resource for students and professionals

dangrously.bsky.social•65 days ago

The entire mainstream media has been enshittified by people like Murdoch and Musk.

I mean, it was always the handmaiden of the ultrarich, but now the ultrarich are richer, and there's no profit in selling the facts. There's profit in lying. Convincingly and comprehensively.

crary.bsky.social•65 days ago

100% this. It certainly has problems, and needs to be used with caution, but is absolutely invaluable. In some ways it's the only part of the original internet promise that has more or less panned out.

hombrelibre.bsky.social•65 days ago

"Alexia, who were you named after?"

kitttenn.bsky.social•65 days ago

Yeah it's undergone studies comparing it to encyclopedias and come out on par. Mistakes get corrected quickly etc. It's such a valuable tool

cabbageridge.bsky.social•65 days ago

Didn’t Bill Ackmans wife get caught plagiarizing material from Wikopedia? If it’s good enough for Bills wife should be good enough for Elon

vchip.bsky.social•65 days ago

I donate every year during their annual year-end campaign. I use the service often and I like good things.

nicholasgrossman.bsky.social•65 days ago

It’s not perfect—what is?—but it’s fact-based, informative, sourced, subject to expert corrections, and widely accessible.

The people attacking it are the opposite of those things, except for the widely accessible part.

duerpress.com•65 days ago

And Wikipedia isn't selling anything--not products, and not partisanship.

dropthet.bsky.social•65 days ago

The Wikimedia foundation has numerous extremely well-paid executives. Exactly 100% of their product is maintained by people that ostensibly are not paid to do so (even though many of them are just employed by someone else to edit Wikipedia)

spsnomad.bsky.social•65 days ago

I legitimately appreciate the experts in their fields who put in the time to edit, curate and expand it, just to make sure people get things right. It has to be a thankless job a lot of the time.

robmillerr.bsky.social•65 days ago

And of course there's a Wikipedia article relevant to this discussion:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliability_of_Wikipedia

davidreiss.bsky.social•65 days ago

Essentially, one could make the claim that Wikipedia, in fact, has to rank above the library of Alexandria in many ways. Never before in human history has knowledge so widely and readily been available to as many people. And pretty sure it’s more factual, than the library in Alexandria could ever be

davidreiss.bsky.social•65 days ago

It sure has its weaknesses, mind you, but democracy itself has. And that’s essentially it: a hub for democracy knowledge creation and democratic access to the wealth of knowledge humanity has created. And I’d say, that’s a value in and of itself. And it’s always a good place to start a research.

bobsyouruncle.bsky.social•65 days ago

It’s definitely the best place to start and it’s a treasure.
This talk is the same talk of the ccp.
It’s completely anti-democratic

redshifting8.bsky.social•65 days ago

Prove it wrong.

guachi.bsky.social•65 days ago

With search engines turning into piles of steaming garbage, Wikipedia can still give useful information quickly

laurajtreetalker.bsky.social•65 days ago

I love them. Support them at least once a year. The really good thing about them is that they ask contributors to cite their sources, and will say so if there is no source listed.

woof100.bsky.social•65 days ago

sheldonrampton.bsky.social•65 days ago

I read "The Death of Expertise." I thought your criticisms of WIkipedia were among the weaker parts of your book. Of course Wikipedia isn't perfect, but it's pretty, pretty, pretty good.

bklynmichael42.bsky.social•65 days ago

rsspbxx.bsky.social•65 days ago

💯

oldspace.bsky.social•65 days ago

I always thought it was a great resource and that the criticisms were short sighted and self serving.

the4one7.bsky.social•65 days ago

You? Criticize something? No way! I don't believe it.😄

nathanieljtking.bsky.social•64 days ago

Every day ending in Y

fuglydogs.bsky.social•65 days ago

Got that right

davidreiss.bsky.social•65 days ago

Well, I’d make the argument, Wikipedia is way bigger and more important than the library of Alexandria could ever have been..

https://bsky.app/profile/davidreiss.bsky.social/post/3le63wbva7c2v

ard71.bsky.social•65 days ago

Hate to take the simplistic approach but it seems more true than not that anything attacked by Musk probably needs to be protected!

leopardonparade.bsky.social•65 days ago

Is it just me, or did Wikipedia tighten up its editing ability so not just anyone can edit it? I feel like stuff is relatively trustworthy there now compared to the past.

duxinbelltown.bsky.social•65 days ago

I used to default to Google and turned to Wikipedia only as necessary. Nowadays Google results are so overwhelmed with AI summaries, advertisements, and links to content farms, that more and more I'm simply going straight to Wikipedia.