10.31.06

Advertising and Wikipedia

Posted in community, free knowledge, wikia, wikipedia at 10:16 am by jwales

I advise the world to relax a notch or two. :-) We are not considering advertising on Wikipedia.

Visit World Wikia (travel), Campaigns Wikia (reforming politics), and Star Wars Wikia, a.k.a. Wookieepedia. For some types of communities, advertising to support the infrastructure is a good thing, and I fully support it. But not for Wikipedia.

As seems to be his special gift, Jason Calacanis has set off a bit of a blog storm with his report of having dinner with me a few months ago. The storm seems to mostly be of people responding with one of two viewpoints: (a) evil Jason Calacanis wanting Wikipedia to “monetize” versus virtuous Jimbo Wales nobly refusing OR (b) sensible Jason Calacanis wanting Wikipedia to do good with the money we could raise versus crazy idealist Jimbo Wales insanely refusing.
The real story, though, is much more interesting…

Read the rest of this entry »

10.30.06

Creative Commons Jack O’ Lantern from Jimmy Wales and Kira Wales

Posted in free culture at 9:43 pm by jwales

Two years ago I made a Wikipedia Jack O’ Lantern. It rocked. This year my daughter Kira came up with a brilliant idea: a Creative Commons Jack O’ Lantern. So we worked together and made it.

I love Halloween.

10.04.06

Lost is coming

Posted in General at 8:27 pm by jwales

I am so excited and terrified.

Lost Wikia is shaping up to be really great this year. We’ve got Lynnette Porter, co-author of the fabulous book “Unlocking the Meaning of Lost: An Unauthorized Guide” contributing. A ton of great users from last year are coming back.
30 minutes from the Season Premiere. I am so excited and terrified. Why did I ever let myself get addicted to this show? :-)