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Andrew Orlowski: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 15:09, 8 December 2005 editDannyWilde (talk | contribs)4,046 editsm →Criticism of Misplaced Pages: Added details and Jens Stoltenberg link.← Previous edit Revision as of 15:21, 8 December 2005 edit undoAntaeus Feldspar (talk | contribs)17,763 edits rv DannyWilde's second bad-faith merging of the entire content of Wikifiddler prior to any AfD resultNext edit →
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== Criticism of Misplaced Pages == == Criticism of Misplaced Pages ==


Orlowski has written several generally hostile articles about ] in the online IT newspaper ]. In these articles, Orlowski called Misplaced Pages editors "]"{{ref|big_book}}, or "wiki wankers", and "pediaphiles", perhaps a pun on ]. Supposed characteristics of a Wiki-Fiddler include Orlowski has been described as a "professional troll" by ] with regard to several generally hostile articles about ] in the online IT newspaper ]. In reply to one, Wales wrote, "Excellent article! Well balanced and thoughtful! Ok, well, entertaining anyway."
#making pointless edits, such as adding commas, merely in order to increase edit counts, and move up the "hierarchy" of Misplaced Pages,
#:''Although the project has no shortage of volunteers, most add nothing: busying themselves with edits that simply add or takeaway a comma. These are housekeeping tasks that build up credits for the participants, so they can rise higher in the organization.''{{ref|quality_problems}}
#having little expertise,
#driving out people with actual knowledge of a topic,
#:''We increasingly hear of experts who attempt to contribute to the project being repelled. If you're an expert, and you want to help Misplaced Pages, be prepared for months of fighting - usually with people who don't know what they're talking about.''{{ref|monkeys_and_typewriters}}
#adding irrelevant material to articles,
#being a
#:''small coterie of self-selecting wiki fiddlers''{{ref|big_book}},
#youth. Wiki-Fiddlers are described as being "children" and "spotty teenagers". Misplaced Pages is described as the "children's encyclopedia".


In these articles, Orlowski called Misplaced Pages editors "]s"{{ref|big_book}}, "wiki wankers" and "pediaphiles", perhaps a pun on ]. Commenting on the ], ] and ] controversies, Orlowski wrote:
Wiki-fiddlers are also accused of misrepresenting subjects by populating articles with minor trivia rather than central facts. Orlowski points out, in particular, Misplaced Pages's entry on ] and its focus on Eric Drexler:
:''For example, if you consult the world's most useless online text, the captive Misplaced Pages, you'll see Fuller's entry is a plug for Eric "AI" Drexler.''{{ref|buckminster_fuller}}


:In fact, we can extend the metaphor further, by looking at Misplaced Pages as a massively scalable, online role-playing game, or RPG. Players can assume fictional online identities - and many "editors" do just that. And drive-by shootings are common. But the rules of the game are shifting, complex, and far from transparent. {{ref|wikipedia_bio}}
The consensus building process of Misplaced Pages is also ridiculed. Orlowski describes Misplaced Pages in terms of "monkeys trying to type Shakespeare" and quotes a statement
:''a source whose organizing principle appears to be that twenty jackasses make an expert.''{{ref|not_linux}}
To support his case, Orlowski also quotes from articles{{ref|faith_based}} by ], former editor-in-chief of the ], in which McHenry describes the gradual degeneration of an article on ] during a process of multiple edits:
:''In fact, the earlier versions of the article are better written overall, with fewer murky passages and sophomoric summaries. Contrary to the faith, the article has, in fact, been edited into mediocrity.''
and by ]{{ref|amorality_web_2.0}} in which Carr quotes from the ] and ] pages of Misplaced Pages. The response of Misplaced Pages founder ] is also described.{{ref|quality_problems}}
:''Excellent article! Well balanced and thoughtful! Ok, well, entertaining anyway.''


Orlowski has been criticized and accused of unprofessional journalistic behavior.
According to the results of Google searches{{ref|google_wiki-fiddler}}, Orlowski's term ''wiki-fiddler'' has not achieved widespread currency beyond its originator. However, it has been adopted in other ''The Register'' articles{{ref|wikipedia_growth}}.

Orlowski has also commented on problems with self-edited biographies on Misplaced Pages{{ref|who_owns_bio}}. Beginning with the cases of ], falsely labelled a Kennedy assassin in a Misplaced Pages article, and ], similarly falsely labelled a paedophile in a Misplaced Pages article, he goes on to contrast the experiences of three people who tried to edit their own biographical articles, ], ] and ], and demonstrates that Misplaced Pages is inconsistent in allowing or denying users the right to edit biographies of themselves. He quotes Daniel Brandt on the inconsistent application of the Misplaced Pages rules:
:''All the rules are cancelled if they like you, and all the rules are enforced up the hilt if they hate you.''
and suggests
:''Trying to massage one's reputation out on the toxic wastelands of the web can go one of two ways. If the attempt is successful, it leaves you looking as foolish and vain as Doctorow. If unsuccessful, it guarantees an energy-sapping defeat.''


==External links== ==External links==

Revision as of 15:21, 8 December 2005

Andrew Orlowski (born 1966 in Britain, currently based in San Francisco) has been an investigative journalist and columnist for The Register since 2000.

In 1992 he started an alternative newspaper in Manchester, England called "Badpress", and also wrote for Private Eye.

In April 2003, he coined the term Googlewashing to describe the potential for well-linked weblogs to obscure the original meaning of a controversial expression (e.g., "the Second Superpower").

He later classified this along with "absurd intellectual property claims" as an example of an unwarranted assumption of power or authority to gain sociological advantage on behalf of a particular lobby group. This factor is the core of what makes a story "great", he argues.

In December, 2004 he was invited to assemble a panel on techno-utopianism at Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

Orlowski argues that utopianism distracts attention and diverts capital away from solving real infrastructure problems "Technology can help us," he writes on his FAQ page. "But we venerate the machines we have, which aren't very good, and worse, limit ourselves to seeing the world through this machine metaphor. Technology is useful when it makes something we already like to do easier. Technology can't tell us something we don't know. Technology cannot solve problems that don't exist."

Criticism of Misplaced Pages

Orlowski has been described as a "professional troll" by Jimmy Wales with regard to several generally hostile articles about Misplaced Pages in the online IT newspaper The Register. In reply to one, Wales wrote, "Excellent article! Well balanced and thoughtful! Ok, well, entertaining anyway."

In these articles, Orlowski called Misplaced Pages editors "wikifiddlers", "wiki wankers" and "pediaphiles", perhaps a pun on pedophiles. Commenting on the Siegenthaler, Daniel Brandt and Adam Curry controversies, Orlowski wrote:

In fact, we can extend the metaphor further, by looking at Misplaced Pages as a massively scalable, online role-playing game, or RPG. Players can assume fictional online identities - and many "editors" do just that. And drive-by shootings are common. But the rules of the game are shifting, complex, and far from transparent.

Orlowski has been criticized and accused of unprofessional journalistic behavior.

External links

References/External links

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