| Revision as of 16:30, 5 October 2008 editFran Rogers (talk | contribs)8,995 editsm Note that Comcast, Kohs's employer, owns "Attack of the Show"← Previous edit | Revision as of 16:48, 5 October 2008 edit undoFran Rogers (talk | contribs)8,995 edits →Paid editing: Note reinforced status as persona non grataNext edit → | ||
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| In August 2006, Wales issued a “mutually beneficial” compromise<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2006-August/051897.html|title=MyWikiBiz|date=2006-08-09|accessdate=2008-08-20|publisher=WikiEn-L|authorlink=Jimmy_Wales|last=Wales|first=Jimmy}}</ref> where he encouraged MyWikiBiz to author and post content on a ] section of MyWikiBiz.com, which could then be ] by non-paid, independent editors into Misplaced Pages and other GFDL sites.<ref name="zittrain"/> | In August 2006, Wales issued a “mutually beneficial” compromise<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2006-August/051897.html|title=MyWikiBiz|date=2006-08-09|accessdate=2008-08-20|publisher=WikiEn-L|authorlink=Jimmy_Wales|last=Wales|first=Jimmy}}</ref> where he encouraged MyWikiBiz to author and post content on a ] section of MyWikiBiz.com, which could then be ] by non-paid, independent editors into Misplaced Pages and other GFDL sites.<ref name="zittrain"/> | ||
| In ] 2006 Wales again banned Kohs from Misplaced Pages, and cautioned any business from using its services. According to Kohs, the result of this was for MyWikiBiz to go into “]”; although still operating, the site is currently acting solely as a ] for people and corporations to author their own wiki articles, with no transferral to Misplaced Pages. Kohs maintains a belief that everyone, even editors with commercial interests should be able to contribute to Misplaced Pages.<ref name="zittrain"/> | In ] 2006 Wales again banned Kohs from Misplaced Pages, and cautioned any business from using its services; the Misplaced Pages community has since reinforced Kohs's status as ''persona non grata'' after repeated ] of the project and claimed ] of Misplaced Pages contributors.<ref name="lobu">{{cite web|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/Wikipedia:List_of_banned_users|title=Misplaced Pages: List of banned users|date=2008-9-27|accessdate=2008-10-05|publisher=]}}</ref> According to Kohs, the result of this was for MyWikiBiz to go into “]”; although still operating, the site is currently acting solely as a ] for people and corporations to author their own wiki articles, with no transferral to Misplaced Pages. Kohs maintains a belief that everyone, even editors with commercial interests should be able to contribute to Misplaced Pages.<ref name="zittrain"/> | ||
| === Centiare alliance and takeover === | === Centiare alliance and takeover === | ||
Revision as of 16:48, 5 October 2008
| Type of business | Private |
|---|---|
| Type of site | Wiki |
| Available in | Multilingual |
| Founded | 2006 |
| Headquarters | West Chester, Pennsylvania, US |
| Founder(s) | Gregory Kohs |
| Key people | Gregory Kohs (CEO) |
| URL | www.mywikibiz.com |
| Advertising | Google AdSense |
| Registration | optional |
| Launched | 2006 |
| Current status | Active |
MyWikiBiz is a wiki directory that allows people and enterprises to write about themselves. The brand began as a service creating Misplaced Pages articles for paying corporations, which ended when the owner of MyWikiBiz was banned from Misplaced Pages. The current site at MyWikiBiz.com uses a version of the MediaWiki software. The MyWikiBiz directory currently contains over 36,000 pages of content about corporations and individuals, mostly imported en bloc from other directory sources. The business is headquartered in West Chester, Pennsylvania. The site was founded by Gregory Kohs, a market researcher.
According to its main page:
MyWikiBiz is a new directory where you can author your legacy on the Internet. We think you are notable, even if Misplaced Pages has rejected an article about you or your enterprise as being “non-notable”. With MyWikiBiz, you create a beautiful, reader-friendly page that will get picked up by Google, Yahoo!, and MSN Search engines.
Professor Jonathan Zittrain of the Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society discussed the case of MyWikiBiz in his book The Future of the Internet - And How to Stop It. Gregory Kohs appeared on Attack of the Show!, a property of his full-time employer Comcast, on January 25, 2007, and discussed MyWikiBiz. Heise Online expressed a suspicion that while MyWikiBiz’s “attempted corporate infiltration” of Misplaced Pages was discovered, MyWikiBiz was not an isolated case.
History of the site
Paid editing
Gregory Kohs and his sister started the MyWikiBiz venture in Pennsylvania in July 2006, initially as a paid editing service, writing content for inclusion in Misplaced Pages and other community-edited sites. The idea came from Misplaced Pages’s “Reward Board”, where interested parties would offer cash rewards or gifts to create or improve Misplaced Pages articles.. MyWikiBiz’s tiers of service were priced at $49, $79, and $99 per article. Kohs stated MyWikiBiz would only produce legitimate Misplaced Pages articles that conformed to the necessary policies. No official Misplaced Pages policy prohibited paid-for contributions at the time. Kohs argued that there were tens of thousands of companies and nonprofit organizations unrepresented on Misplaced Pages.
Misplaced Pages's Jimmy Wales called the commercialized editing “antithetical” to Misplaced Pages’s mission, and “absolutely unacceptable”. Wales blocked Kohs from editing Misplaced Pages. Brian Bergstein of the Associated Press compared Kohs’ situation to that of Rick Jelliffe, a technical writer approached by Microsoft to edit Misplaced Pages articles for pay.
In August 2006, Wales issued a “mutually beneficial” compromise where he encouraged MyWikiBiz to author and post content on a GFDL-compliant section of MyWikiBiz.com, which could then be scraped by non-paid, independent editors into Misplaced Pages and other GFDL sites.
In October 2006 Wales again banned Kohs from Misplaced Pages, and cautioned any business from using its services; the Misplaced Pages community has since reinforced Kohs's status as persona non grata after repeated vandalism of the project and claimed harassment of Misplaced Pages contributors. According to Kohs, the result of this was for MyWikiBiz to go into “hibernation”; although still operating, the site is currently acting solely as a wiki for people and corporations to author their own wiki articles, with no transferral to Misplaced Pages. Kohs maintains a belief that everyone, even editors with commercial interests should be able to contribute to Misplaced Pages.
Centiare alliance and takeover
In late October 2006, Kohs formed a partnership with the owner of centiare.com which resulted in Kohs promoting and marketing a wiki-based directory at Centiare. When Centiare’s owner opted to pull the plug on the site, Kohs negotiated a transfer of the entire contents of Centiare.com to MyWikiBiz.com.
References
- ^ Bergstein, Brian (2007-01-24). "Idea of paid entries roils Misplaced Pages". MSNBC/Associated Press. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
- Read, Brock (2007-01-24). "Misplaced Pages Blocks a Pay-for-Play Scheme". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved 2008-08-27.
- "Main Page - MyWikiBiz". MyWikiBiz. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
- ^ Zittrain, Jonathan (2008). The Future of the Internet - And How to Stop It. Yale University Press. p. 140. ISBN 0300124872.
-
dvinson (2007-01-15). "Attack of the Show: Blog, January 15, 2007". Attack of the Show: Blog. G4TV. Retrieved 2007-10-15.
Gregory Kohs, webmaster for mywikibiz.com and Molly Wood, the Executive Editor from C-Net join us tonight at 7PM to discuss!
- Jellen, Richard (2007-03-31). "Edit-War um Friedrich Merz (Edit War on Friedrich Merz)" (in German). Heise Online. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
- MyWikiBiz.com (2006-08-08). "MyWikiBiz press release: Misplaced Pages - Open For Business". 24-7 Press Release. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
- Metz, Cade (2008-02-06). "Misplaced Pages ruled by 'Lord of the Universe'". The Register. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
- ^ Bergstein, Brian (2007-02-04). "A sticky wicket for Misplaced Pages". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
- Peer, Mathias (2006-08-24). "Misplaced Pages-Artikel, die man kaufen kann (Misplaced Pages articles that you can buy)" (in German). Die Welt. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
- Noisette, Thierry (2006-08-11). "Misplaced Pages, nouvel enjeu de relations publiques (Misplaced Pages, a new issue of public relations)" (in French). ZDNet. Retrieved 2008-08-27.
- ^ Bergstein, Brian (2007-01-28). "What's wrong with accepting money to write on Misplaced Pages?". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette / Associated Press. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
- Bergstein, Brian (2007-01-24). "Microsoft Offers Cash for Misplaced Pages Edit". Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
- Wales, Jimmy (2006-08-09). "MyWikiBiz". WikiEn-L. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
- "Misplaced Pages: List of banned users". Misplaced Pages. 2008-9-27. Retrieved 2008-10-05.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - "Centiare on the Heels of Misplaced Pages". SBWire. 2007-01-05. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
