Disqus - Latest Comments for David Gerard

Re: Should PR agencies be allowed to edit Wikipedia?

David Gerard — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 11:52:00 -0000

The reason why can be seen by the public and media reaction to the results from the WikiScanner: they're bloody outraged.

PR people can reason amongst themselves that it's "just another form of media" or that they've worked out something that slips through Wikipedia guidelines on writing about oneself or conflict of interest - but when the rubber hits the road, the public hit the roof.

Re: Betting Against Google’s Answer to Wikipedia

David Gerard — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 05:46:44 -0000

One noticeable thing about the mockup graphic is the prominent Creative Commons CC-by 3.0 logo. This caught our eye at Wikipedia. The point of Wikipedia is not in fact to run a hideously popular (and expensive) website, but to create a body of freely-reusable educational content. So IF, I say IF, Google require Knols to be under a proper free-content licence, then that'll be a big win for everyone.

(And if they don't, they'll just be another about.com or Yahoo Answers. Or Google Answers - remember Google Answers? I bet Google does.)

Re: Google Chrome

David Gerard — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:30:27 -0000

"We are so, so happy with Google Chrome," mumbled Mozilla CEO John Lilly through gritted teeth. "That most of our income is from Google has no bearing on me making this statement." - http://notnews.today.com/?p=57

Re: http://www.rev2.org/2007/05/31/jason-calacanis-human-powered-search-mahalo-launches/

David Gerard — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 19:09:42 -0000

A hacked-up MediaWiki 1.9. Extension selection gives a lot of clues.

Re: i don't live here

David Gerard — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 17:28:44 -0000

I'm sure it's completely safe and there's nothing to worry about! http://notnews.today.com/2008/08/23/intel-demon...

Re: A thumbs-down for breast self-exams

David Gerard — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 08:56:19 -0000

I blame the media myself. For cause and cure. http://notnews.today.com/?p=7

Re: Is Google going after Wikipedia?

David Gerard — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 03:37:58 -0000

Speaking as a Wikipedia editor - we're not actually all about running a hugely expensive website with no ads, and calling Wikipedia "reliant" on Google is a complete misunderstanding of why we do this. It's about creating a resource for the future which anyone can take and reuse freely, not just making a cool website today.

It looks like they're bending over backwards not to make this actually freely reusable content. Which, y'know, they could easily do (all editors agree to release their work under GFDL or CC-by-sa or something). So that immediately makes it less interesting to Wikipedia in terms of what we're actually doing. This immediately places Knol with about.com and Scholarpedia. I wonder precisely what rights over other people's work they're going to try to claim.

If the quality of the work is good, we'd probably use it for references, like we do about.com.

Re: Is Google going after Wikipedia?

David Gerard — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 05:10:27 -0000

Looks like I was dead wrong about their licence - the PNG example (http://www.google.com/images/blogs/knol_lg.png) shows a CC-by-3.0 tag.

As far as I'm concerned that's a BIG WIN for Wikipedia and what we do - making free content *normal and expected*. If they require contributions to be under a proper free content licence, then I'm a BIG FAN of this endeavour. Same reason Citizendium succeeding would be a big win for what we do - it's not competition, it's expanding the pool of unencumbered knowledge.

Re: Wikipedia meet Google

David Gerard — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 03:39:32 -0000

Speaking as a Wikipedia editor - we're not actually all about running a hugely expensive website with no ads. It's about creating a resource for the future which anyone can take and reuse freely, not just making a cool website today.

It looks like they're bending over backwards not to make this actually freely reusable content. Which, y'know, they could easily do (all editors agree to release their work under GFDL or CC-by-sa or something). So that immediately makes it less interesting to Wikipedia in terms of what we're actually doing. This immediately places Knol with about.com and Scholarpedia. I wonder precisely what rights over other people's work they're going to try to claim.

If the quality of the work is good, we'd probably use it for references, like we do about.com.

Re: Wikipedia meet Google

David Gerard — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 05:09:22 -0000

Speaking as a Wikipedia editor and Wikimedia Foundation volunteer - The PNG example (http://www.google.com/images/blogs/knol_lg.png) shows a CC-by-3.0 tag. As far as I'm concerned that's a BIG WIN for Wikipedia and what we do - making free content *normal and expected*. If they require contributions to be under a proper free content licence, then I'm a BIG FAN of this endeavour. Same reason Citizendium succeeding would be a big win for what we do - it's not competition, it's expanding the pool of unencumbered knowledge.

Re: Wired says we're evil. My response? Guilty as charged, your honor.

David Gerard — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 07:36:01 -0000

I have the picture from Apple's declaration to the SEC that they were adopting Evil™ as official corporate policy.

Re: Newspaper Licensing Agency to regulate web hyperlinks - Press Gazette

David Gerard — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 12:20:08 -0000

These batsh*t insane idiots tried billing Wikipedia for the use of newspaper links on the site. Seriously!

I do press for Wikipedia in the UK. I have not spoken to ONE journalist in the past four years who does not use Wikipedia as their handy universal backgrounder.

We do it for everyone to use and reuse, but it's more than a little odious to turn around and try to bill us!

Failing that, I expect large donations to the Wikimedia Foundation from media organisations next fundraiser, as compensation for all the work we save journalists. Just ask Maurice Jarre ;-)

Re: http://aesis.tumblr.com/post/47022114

David Gerard — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 17:03:51 -0000

I'm sure it's completely safe and there's nothing to worry about! http://notnews.today.com/2008/08/23/intel-demon...

Re: Google Chrome

David Gerard — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:38:45 -0000

Re: Google’s Knol, a challenge to Wikipedia?

David Gerard — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 05:30:55 -0000

Re: What is the deal…with Seinfeld as a pitchman for Microsoft?

David Gerard — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:06:02 -0000

http://notnews.today.com/2008/08/21/30/

Re: Intel brings wireless power closer to the mainstream, Nikola Tesla would be proud

David Gerard — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 14:51:30 -0000

I'm sure wireless power is totally harmless, nothing to worry about! http://notnews.today.com/2008/08/23/intel-demon...

Re: Roundup: Facebook movie casting, Yahoo shuts down Mash, and more

David Gerard — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 13:29:47 -0000

I've made the poster for the Facebook movie.

Re: Microsoft slashes Xbox 360 prices

David Gerard — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 08:12:31 -0000

Microsoft Japan is already actually paying people to take the machines, with little success."We hope more people will be able to enjoy Xbox 360," said marketing marketer Takashi Sensui, "and we can stop enjoying quite so many of them. We also have this fine pile of HD-DVD drives ... Wait! Come back!" http://notnews.today.com/?p=63

Re: Xbox 360 defects: an inside history of Microsoft’s video game console woes

David Gerard — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 07:24:02 -0000

I've come up with a new logo for them: http://tinyurl.com/67xggh

Re: The first Microsoft Seinfeld ad

David Gerard — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:48:30 -0000

I toldja ... they shoulda got a real comedian! http://tinyurl.com/5c3r6y

Re: Facebook redesign coming to all users in a week — I’m getting mixed signals about it

David Gerard — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:49:34 -0000

I can't wait for the next redesign, in aid of Facebook: The Awful, Awful Movie. http://tinyurl.com/56n59e

Re: DECE vs. Apple: An upcoming digital content war?

David Gerard — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 07:21:21 -0000

Yep. Airtight DRM is physically, mathematically impossible. But the content industry's lust for *complete control* is so overwhelming they go out begging for people to sell them snake oil. More thoughts here: http://rocknerd.co.uk/2008/09/13/step-right-up/

Re: Microsoft fires game test contractor who talked to VentureBeat

David Gerard — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 08:09:34 -0000

Yeah, firing the people who know what's wrong will definitely repair Microsoft's reputation and not make jokes like the image in this article - http://tinyurl.com/6mvcxn - immediately funny.

Way to go Microsoft! We are enjoying your slow, majestic sinking and look forward to the final capsize.

Re: Microsoft fires game test contractor who talked to VentureBeat

David Gerard — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:07:48 -0000

Yeah, that'll definitely save their reputation and stop jokes like this being instantly comprehensible: http://notnews.today.com/2008/09/04/microsoft-d...

Re: Windows 7: Vista gets a sequel

David Gerard — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 07:24:04 -0000

Tentative names included Windows Blackcomb, Windows Vienna, WindOS X, Windex, Windows Steak and Bl*wj*bs Edition!!! (which proved in beta testing to be Tofu and Long Querulous Discussion About Where Our Relationship Is Going Edition) and Windows 2007^W2008^W2009^W2010.

Blog rant: http://tinyurl.com/3l8pws

Re: Windows 7: It’s the one that’s 3-ish after 4.10.2222

David Gerard — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 07:29:07 -0000

Re: Eurovision, Wikipedia and Privacy

David Gerard — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 08:47:29 -0000

The trouble with removing this information is that it's the copyright attribution for the contribution.

Re: Google Chrome — short thoughts

David Gerard — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:13:11 -0000

Re: Justo

David Gerard — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 17:13:07 -0000

I'm sure it's completely safe and there's nothing to worry about! http://notnews.today.com/2008/08/23/intel-demon...

Re: 3 Reasons the Jerry Seinfeld Microsoft Ads Will Be a HUGE Success | Wise Startup Blog

David Gerard — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:50:31 -0000

What's the message? "Vista is hard, let's go shopping!"

I toldja, they shoulda gone with a tried and tested comedic genius. http://tinyurl.com/5c3r6y

Re: http://blog.anthonycarboni.com/post/46960510

David Gerard — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 17:17:22 -0000

I'm sure it's completely safe and there's nothing to worry about! http://notnews.today.com/2008/08/23/intel-demon...

Re: Official: Bigfoot find was a hoax

David Gerard — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:48:03 -0000

But the Bigfoot guys are such trustworthy fellows! I’m sure they just put a rubber suit out by mistake. Will the real Bigfoot be revealed?

Re: Bigfoot Duo’s New Discovery: A Lawsuit Against Them

David Gerard — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:34:17 -0000

But those guys came across so trustworthy!

Re: Shoe Circus: The first Bill Gates-Jerry Seinfeld Windows ad

David Gerard — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:35:39 -0000

What's the message? "Vista is hard, let's go shopping!"

I toldja, they shoulda gone with a tried and tested comedic genius. http://tinyurl.com/5c3r6y

Re: Sony Ericsson introduces PlayNow plus, promises unlimited music downloads

David Gerard — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 20:01:54 -0000

Yes, this subscription service will work, unlike every other subscription service ever. And it'll be completely unlimited and DRM-free! Except for the limitations and, er, the DRM. I wrote a rant about it: http://tinyurl.com/4m2tjt

Re: Surprise your users

David Gerard — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 18:07:08 -0000

"We are so, so happy with Google Chrome," mumbled Mozilla CEO John Lilly through gritted teeth. "That most of our income is from Google has no bearing on me making this statement." http://notnews.today.com/?p=57

Re: Facebook the movie: the cast

David Gerard — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 12:24:11 -0000

I've done the poster.

Re: Google Announces Chrome Open Source Browser

David Gerard — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:01:28 -0000

Re: Grievance Theater - Steve Jobs obituary published by Bloomberg

David Gerard — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 15:21:25 -0000

"They don't call it the Jesus Phone for nothing."

Re: Sony Ericsson

David Gerard — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 20:19:20 -0000

Re: The McCain Plagiarism Scandal

David Gerard — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:02:52 -0000

McCain and Wikipedia has vast comedy potential. (Feel free to propagate the picture.)

Re: Now I’m Using Google Chrome Internet Browser

David Gerard — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 18:10:32 -0000

Re: HollisterFreelance.com | Researcher: Bigfoot just a rubber gorilla suit

David Gerard — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:11:35 -0000

But they're such trustworthy fellows! I'm sure they just put a rubber suit out by mistake. Will the real Bigfoot be revealed?

Re: Pirates prefer Windows XP over Vista, says Microsoft

David Gerard — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 13:48:44 -0000

This is really quite breathtakingly tasteless given the recent news coverage of, oh look, *actual robbery and murder at sea off the coast of Somalia*. Yes, copying that floppy is *exactly* like that. Offensive idiots.

My blog rant: http://tinyurl.com/5rt66

Re: Pirates prefer Windows XP over Vista, says Microsoft

David Gerard — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:21:49 -0000

Whoops, blog rant link FAIL! Try: http://tinyurl.com/5rt664

Re: Microsoft exults at success in pulverizing piracy

David Gerard — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 08:57:21 -0000

"Global Anti-Piracy Day" is rather tasteless and offensive of Microsoft, given the actual robbery and murder at sea currently in the news off the coast of Somalia. Copying that floppy is hardly comparable. Offensive idiots.

My blog rant: http://tinyurl.com/5rt664

Re: Really?™ -- Presented by Patrick Berry

David Gerard — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 08:09:26 -0000

"It’s the way business is done these days," Mr Ulrich said. "And there’s the novelty of anyone wanting to listen to a new Metallica album."

Re: Microsoft Officially Launches Seinfeld/Gates Ad Campaign

David Gerard — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:31:33 -0000

What's the message? "Vista is hard, let's go shopping!"

I toldja, they shoulda gone with a tried and tested comedic genius. http://tinyurl.com/5c3r6y

Re: Structurelessness, feminism and open: what open advocates can learn from second wave feminists

David Gerard — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:59:16 -0000

I find myself posting a link to "The Tyranny of Structurelessness" to Wikipedia mailing lists roughly once every six months.

See also Clay Shirky's "A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy": http://www.shirky.com/writings/group_enemy.html - he marked Wikipedia as a group that had evaded this ... he just came in too early.

Re: In Another Life, When we are Both Cats on Paxil

David Gerard — Fri, 08 Jul 2005 06:52:09 -0000

Xenu is just the start of it. Check the following.

Re: Aaron Sorkin, Scott Rudin Working on Facebook Movie?

David Gerard — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 13:54:57 -0000

I've made the poster for the Facebook movie.

Re: The Colorado Independent » Does it really matter if McCain uses Wikipedia?

David Gerard — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:54:12 -0000

McCain and Wikipedia has vast comedy potential. (I couldn't resist the picture.)

Re: Poll: Obama leads by 10 points in Minnesota, but Pawlenty could be swing factor

David Gerard — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:01:57 -0000

But it's sooo close! The media will tell you!

Re: McCain Advisers Don’t Deny Scaling Back in Wisconsin and New Hampshire

David Gerard — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 12:25:11 -0000

MAN ON FIVE, Cook County, Monday -- The McCain campaign is looking at an Electoral College strategy heading into the final two weeks that has virtually no room for error.

"Democrat voting fraud is famous since Tammany Hall," says Republican strategist Karl Rove. "So we'll win without votes."

Voting machines have been remotely reset and the counts adjusted. "Diebold have come to the party big time." Touch screen machines for West Virginia early voting offer voters "McCAIN" or "REPLY HAZY, TRY AGAIN LATER."

The rolls will be thoroughly checked for voter fraud. "If the typeface or font size is different on their driver's licence, Social Security or the voter roll, that's obvious blatant fraud. A typical Liberal knife to the heart of democracy."

The party will check for dead voters as well. "We're making the safe assumption that all registered Democrats are dead. If they're not, we'll correct that." Governor Palin has long dealt with Democrat moose in Alaska. "You betcha!"

All residents of properties whose mortgages were underwritten by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac will be assumed to have voted Republican. "We own the houses, of course we own the votes. It's nonsense to say otherwise."

Finally, under USA-PATRIOT, Obama supporters will be deemed associates of associates of terrorists. The offence will carry a penalty of one day's imprisonment: November 4th.

Mr Rove is confident in the future of our democracy. "One man, one vote. That man being me."

Source: http://tinyurl.com/5cc3ve

Re: Waiting for Google Chrome…(is a painful thing)

David Gerard — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 20:23:30 -0000

"We are so, so happy with Google Chrome," mumbled Mozilla CEO John Lilly through gritted teeth. "That most of our income is from Google has no bearing on this statement." - http://notnews.today.com/?p=57

Re: Google Chrome

David Gerard — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:07:55 -0000

Re: Microsoft’s Response to Apple’s Commercials

David Gerard — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 09:19:04 -0000

Well, yeah. There's much better choices ...

Re: Political Irony › Late Night Humor

David Gerard — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 07:03:03 -0000

John McCain and Wikipedia is more innocent, I think (speaking as a Wikipedia editor) - obviously he said to a speechwriter "I want something on Georgia, say this and this" and the guy went "sure thing" and ahh got a bit lazy. Comedy potential, though.

Re: Simon Goudie » Maintenance Mode

David Gerard — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 10:02:22 -0000

Putin was showing the effete Westerners the power of Russian manliness. http://notnews.today.com/?p=55

Palin, now ... she'll be a serious challenger. Killing a moose and eating its still-beating heart? No Russian man would dare cross a mother of five.

Obama, of course, would smile a dazzling smile and the tiger would stop in its tracks and slink off slightly ashamed.

Re: A rumor we hope is true

David Gerard — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 19:08:43 -0000

Personally I run the Windows version of Picasa on Linux with Wine, not the Linux version ;-) Everything works.

Re: Broadband for EVERYbody

David Gerard — Sun, 31 May 2009 12:33:53 -0000

Don't be so quick to exclude those in caves. Those living in cars or under bridges can't do without Internet either: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124363359881267...

Re: Eurovision, Wikipedia and Privacy

David Gerard — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 08:47:29 -0000

The trouble with removing this information is that it's the copyright attribution for the contribution.

Re: 2008/03/22/music-wikipedia-search/

David Gerard — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 04:16:36 -0000

Another thing you can do: submit a decent photo under a free content license. (CC-by-sa preferred, full license policy here. This involves relinquishing control of the photo, but relinquishing control of the text sure worked for Wikipedia itself.)

Re: 2008/07/15/social-media-doomed/

David Gerard — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:11:27 -0000

The essential fallacy in this post and the post it's responding to is the notion that Wikipedia is a democracy, or an experiment in online governance. It's not, except inadvertently. It's a project to write an encyclopedia. Everything else is a means to that end. If it means kicking off a POV-pushing nutter like thousands of others, even if this one happens to have his own bully pulpit, too bad for him. And so it goes.

Re: 2008/09/04/metallica-ok-with-piracy/

David Gerard — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 12:23:20 -0000

"It's the way business is done these days," Mr Ulrich said. "And there's the novelty of anyone wanting to listen to a new Metallica album." http://tinyurl.com/5vn4r4

Re: 2008/10/16/uk-privacy-law/

David Gerard — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 10:01:48 -0000

I have the answer: They can use DRM on it! It's worked perfectly to protect music and software, there's no way it won't work for every detail of your personal life. What could possibly go wrong?

Blog rant: http://notnews.today.com/?p=152

Re: 2008/10/27/twitter-terror/

David Gerard — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 12:46:30 -0000

God forbid they discover pen and paper. http://notnews.today.com/2008/10/26/us-army-rt-...

Re: Google Chrome and My Initial Thoughts

David Gerard — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:55:04 -0000

Re: Restore Grub in Ubuntu after installing Windows

David Gerard — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 15:08:19 -0000

I tried this just now and got:
"/dev/hda does not have any corresponding BIOS drive."

Any ideas?

Re: Restore Grub in Ubuntu after installing Windows

David Gerard — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 15:40:09 -0000

I just got it working with

sudo grub
root (hd0,4)
setup (hd0)

- and am writing this from Ubuntu, after verifying XP still boots :-)

(the disk is /dev/hda5)

Re: Why Wikipedia asks for donation, when they can give donations?

David Gerard — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 02:59:59 -0000

While a lot of contributors have no objection to ads (I don't, for instance), a remarkable percentage do. To the point where, if ads went up on Wikipedia, a lot of the people who write it would just get up and *leave*. So for the moment the ad option is off the table.

Re: Why Wikipedia asks for donation, when they can give donations?

David Gerard — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 08:44:27 -0000

When it was suggested in 2003, almost the entire Spanish Wikipedia community just got up and *left*, to form Enciclopedia Libre. It took years to recover from the schism. So WMF is understandably shy about the idea!

There's other considerations like conflict of interest with advertising on an editable site, how it looks to readers (a site that popular that doesn't have ads is very reassuring to the readers) and so on.

So for the moment I think the idea is off the table, unless it becomes critical to survival. So far it hasn't been. Cross fingers.

Re: Should Colleges and Schools Block WikiPedia

David Gerard — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 18:32:11 -0000

A college not just telling you not to use it as a reference (which we agree with, by the way - it's a starting point, not a source) but actually *blocking* it? Who is this?

Re: Steve Jobs Obituary in Bloomberg - WHAT ??!

David Gerard — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 15:08:52 -0000

"They don't call it the Jesus Phone for nothing."

Re: Putting photos into public domain

David Gerard — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 10:09:44 -0000

Robert - thanks so much for releasing these photos!

On the Wikimedia Commons, public domain shots of people do (or should, in any case) include a note that although the *copyright* is free, personality rights, etc. may well not be.

Even public domain pics should have source, etc. on the photo page where known, because it's relevant and useful information.

Pictures *generally* don't get credited in the caption right there on a Wikipedia article the picture is used in, but may do if the photographer is particularly noteworthy or relevant - it's decided case by case as an editorial decision like any other article content. So your name may show up in captions :-)

Re: Microsoft’s Online Advertising Revenue Drops 16%, Time to Give Up?

David Gerard — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 11:07:47 -0000

The thing is that Google AdSense is the owner of online ad publishing, and while paying best also upsets a lot of people.

So there's room for Microsoft (Microsoft!) to behave like an upstart and *outcompete them*.

I'm not sure what the holdup is. Are they waiting to make it only run on Windows or something?

David Gerard's last blog post..Sound copyright extended into perpetuity

Re: Sony Ericsson Gets Real With Play Now Plus

David Gerard — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 16:59:23 -0000

The usual rubbish. "Pay, er, PlayNow Plus is completely unlimited, covers all major labels, no DRM, get all you want any time you like! This is the biggest deal in mobile music ever! Of course, it'll only play for the duration of the contract, all songs then disappearing. Well, just a little DRM. Honest." Perhaps subscriptions will make big bucks this time, since they didn't every other time.

Re: Steve Jobs Dies? Apple not sitting well with Investors

David Gerard — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:37:19 -0000

"They don't call it the Jesus Phone for nothing."

Re: Google Takes on Wikipedia with Knol

David Gerard — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 05:29:38 -0000

The PNG example (http://www.google.com/images/blogs/knol_lg.png) shows a CC-by-3.0 tag. As far as I'm concerned as a Wikipedian, that's a BIG WIN for Wikipedia and what we do - making free content *normal and expected*. If they require contributions to be under a proper free content licence, then I'm a BIG FAN of this endeavour. I've already suggested on foundation-l that if Google commits to a proper free content licence for all Knol content, that WMF should publicly encourage the move.

Same reason Citizendium succeeding would be a big win for what we do - it's not competition, it's expanding the pool of unencumbered knowledge.

If they allow multiple competing articles on a given subject, I'm not so sure that's a win for the reader. There's a Wikipedia fork called Wikinfo.org (run by Fred Bauder, a highly respected Wikipedian who's been on the site since it was called wikipedia.com) which also does this and has almost no traction. I think the Neutral Point Of View policy - as difficult as it is in practice - is our most important innovation, far more so than letting anyone edit the site. People don't come to an encyclopedia for ten articles, they come for one that provides an overview of the ten. That's what an encyclopedia is for - the ten-second or sixty-second or five-minute quick backgrounder. (I'm speaking here in terms of ideals of encyclopedia writing, and am painfully aware of how often we fail to reach it, but that is the compass we work to.)

Re: Windows 7 at PDC: Live blog

David Gerard — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 03:26:00 -0000

I am so excited about $NEXT_VERSION of Windows. It will go beyond just solving all of the problems with $CURRENT_VERSION, it will be an entirely new paradigm. Forget about security problems, those are all fixed in $NEXT_VERSION. And they’re finally ridding themselves of $ANCIENT_LEGACY_STUFF.

Also, there'll be $DATABASE_FILESYSTEM. It'll be awesome!

I wonder how $NEXT_VERSION will compare to $NEXT_NEXT_VERSION.

I've read the exact same article in the computer press about every new version of Windows since 1994. It'd be nice if there were a new one. My blog rant: http://tinyurl.com/6bc6gu

Re: Microsoft layoff buzz intensifies

David Gerard — Mon, 04 May 2009 06:23:00 -0000

Perhaps they could get a Government bailout: http://is.gd/wEco

Re: Windows 7's new backgrounds

David Gerard — Tue, 05 May 2009 01:54:00 -0000

Windows 7 is just an attempt to suck up to latte sippers and other such Democrat voters. Like Hummer like Chrysler, like Edsel, Vista is a truly great brand name that shows the might of full-sized American industrial production. Say No To Seven - SAVE VISTA! http://is.gd/wTLF

Re: Appeal seeks to save Vista case

David Gerard — Sun, 10 May 2009 08:43:00 -0000

we need to SAVE VISTA itself. Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=83481756967

Re: Microsoft hires Seinfeld to improve Vista perceptions

David Gerard — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 12:26:14 -0000

There are much more obvious choices of comedian for Microsoft to use!

Re: New Microsoft Ads Are Hilarious And Creates A Buzz

David Gerard — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:34:12 -0000

He just didn't want to do the next ad in the series:
"Vista's slow, it's fat, my software doesn't work, I can't get drivers, the User Access Control's a pain in the ass and my network grinds to a crawl when I play an mp3! What do you call that?"
"... The Aristocrats!"

Read David Gerard's latest blog post....Microsoft fires Jerry Seinfeld>>>

Re: Mike Halsey joins Windows7News.com

David Gerard — Sun, 10 May 2009 15:46:02 -0000

Hi! Please, if you can, publicise our SAVE VISTA Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=83481756967 Thanks!

Re: Microsoft: First Seinfeld and Gates Ad Just an “Icebreaker”

David Gerard — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:34:35 -0000

What's the message? "Vista is hard, let's go shopping!"

I toldja, they shoulda gone with a tried and tested comedic genius. http://tinyurl.com/5c3r6y

Re: Wikipedia links to Mozilla with nofollow tags

David Gerard — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:28:28 -0000

Because we care much more about discouraging spammers than we do about giving "link juice" to third parties (marketers who aren't spammers, honest) to get them in good with a fourth party, Google. We actively don't care about your pagerank.

There's a mission statement at the top of http://wikimediafoundation.org/ . If you can come up with an obvious and convincing argument why switching off nofollow will cause more benefit to the mission than the spam it discourages, go for it.

Re: Google Chrome : Shipped with Flash

David Gerard — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:37:14 -0000

Re: Download Google Chrome

David Gerard — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:05:04 -0000

Re: Google Chrome Is Live

David Gerard — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:52:00 -0000

Re: Download Google Chrome

David Gerard — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:05:04 -0000

Re: Google Chrome Is Live

David Gerard — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:52:00 -0000

Re: All-You-Can-Eat Mobile Music: A Market Waiting To Explode?

David Gerard — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 23:30:18 -0000

It's the usual major-label rubbish. No subscription service has ever made it big, despite their wishful thinking. The main difference this time is that they call it "DRM-free" when this is a direct lie. Blog rant: http://tinyurl.com/4m2tjt

Re: All-You-Can-Eat Mobile Music: A Market Waiting To Explode?

David Gerard — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 23:29:21 -0000

It's the usual major-label rubbish. No subscription service has ever made it big,d despite their wishful thinking. The main difference this time is that they call it "DRM-free" when this is a direct lie. Blog rant: http://tinyurl.com/4m2tjt

Re: Dreams of Harmony, Again: Media Companies Working on Digital Media Ecosystem

David Gerard — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 11:17:23 -0000

Airtight DRM is physically, mathematically impossible. But the content industry's lust for *complete control* is so overwhelming they go out begging for people to sell them snake oil. More thoughts here: http://rocknerd.co.uk/2008/09/13/step-right-up/

Re: Sony Ericsson Launching Unlimited Music Service Play Now Plus

David Gerard — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:01:32 -0000

Re: Phorm Says ISP Trialists Not Looking To Defect

David Gerard — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:21:15 -0000

The key fact about Phorm is that every member of the general public who knows about Phorm despises it. Wikipedia opted out because doing so was in the interest of our readers (who all us volunteers do all this for), but also because publicity is what will finally kill off this odious parasite.

Re: Blu-Ray Barely Making A Dent In Video Sales Slump

David Gerard — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:19:15 -0000

I'll tell you the reason - Blu-Ray is in fact lovely and excellent value ... IF your telly is the size of a wall. Otherwise, it's pretty much pointless. Our largest screen is a 22" Cinema Display with fantastic resolution - really, you can only tell SD from HD video on it if you're really, really looking for it. And most of what actually gets played on it is low-resolution iPlayer.

Blu-Ray is a fantastic and marvellous solution to a problem that very few people have or care about.

Re: Google's New Chrome Browser Is Great

David Gerard — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:56:53 -0000

Re: KDE 4.1 in the press

David Gerard — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 12:01:08 -0000

http://reddragdiva.livejournal.com/484521.html - includes tips for a happy setup on Kubuntu 8.04

Re: Deliberately crashing Google Chrome

David Gerard — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:23:27 -0000

Re: More on the Advertising Age Story

David Gerard — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:29:53 -0000

The NYT still puts too much content behind a login wall. That's called "we don't want it in Google."

This is like the whining from Britannica that their objectively horrible web page wasn't ranking higher than Wikipedia. Google is an index of web pages, and their site was awful.

Also, remember that Wikipedia hasn't lifted a finger to get Google rank. We just write a site full of information presented as best as possible. And what do you know, it works. Good, that.

Re: What Do You Think of the New AP SEO Strategy?

David Gerard — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:52:09 -0000

The key to Wikipedia's success is that it gets on with writing an encyclopedia, and doing things that write a good encyclopedia.

Attention paid to trying to top Google ranks across the volunteer contributor base: somewhere around negligible.

If you focus on giving people really good web pages they want to go to, you'll get the Google rank Wikipedia has. If you make "SEO" your goal, rather than actually being, you know, good, you'll get what you deserve.