Post AzdKQ3CMNs1GdCsMfA by jackyan@mastodon.social
(DIR) More posts by jackyan@mastodon.social
(DIR) Post #Azd6TGi3Cw5O2uL5ea by aral@mastodon.ar.al
2025-10-27T09:06:40Z
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So there’s a new Guardian interview with Jimmy Wales out (to promote his new book, with an affiliate link for the Guardian in it) titled “‘People thought I was a communist doing this as a non-profit’: is Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales the last decent tech baron?”*For those who only read the headlines, here’s a TL;DR: No. There is no such thing as decent tech baron.From the article itself:for those who only read the headlines. From the article:“‘I’m actually quite in favour of business and capitalism and all that.’ (He’s currently president of Fandom, an ad-funded entertainment site that hosts user-edited pages, owned by private equity firm TPG Capital).”And:“Does he still regard Musk, the world’s richest man, as a friend? ‘Friends is probably a little strong. I mean, not, not that –‘ he sputters, editing himself in real time. ‘I want to be careful how I say that, only because I’ve met him maybe five or six times, so that I would be overstating to say friends. We’ve been friendly, and even now he’s much nicer to me in private than you might think. I mean, he’s got a big public persona, and that’s a little bit different from the private Elon, who I think is more thoughtful.’”Also, some@more background:https://mastodon.ar.al/@aral/115445244962527420#JimmyWales #wikipedia #theGuardian #bookPromotion #capitalism #ElonMusk #adTech #zeroRating #Facebook #Meta #surveillanceCapitalism #regulation * https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/oct/27/people-thought-i-was-a-communist-doing-this-as-a-non-profit-is-wikipedias-jimmy-wales-the-last-decent-tech-baron
(DIR) Post #Azd6hu2zkOlM6W77iq by jackyan@mastodon.social
2025-10-27T09:08:12Z
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@aral I mainly remember him as the dude who ran Bomis.
(DIR) Post #Azd6pHZ2i6wJ4Fcfce by aral@mastodon.ar.al
2025-10-27T09:09:02Z
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@jackyan ‘Nuff said.
(DIR) Post #Azd6zXRwVH9zEPByr2 by meljoann@topspicy.social
2025-10-27T09:12:28Z
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@aral fuuuuck. I’d no idea :(
(DIR) Post #AzdE1tnf4lXwo9QKkC by Rania@freesewing.social
2025-10-27T10:31:21Z
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@aral All respect and appreciation, Aaron
(DIR) Post #AzdKQ3CMNs1GdCsMfA by jackyan@mastodon.social
2025-10-27T11:42:58Z
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@aral If he had had his way, Wikipedia would have been filled with ads. Mind you, Wikipediaʼs inaccurate or geographically biased car pages are why Autocade exists, so for that I am grateful.
(DIR) Post #AzdkCKmQofCRukrswa by fkamiah17@syzito.xyz
2025-10-27T16:31:40Z
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@aral "Maybe we shouldn't tax billionaires actually because look at this guy" 🙄
(DIR) Post #AzdlH88bLcRY6g5Yum by brad@1040ste.net
2025-10-27T16:43:32Z
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@aral So - less shitty is still at least a bit shitty? Fair enough.Wikipedia itself is still one of the more useful places on the Internet in my estimation - would you have any shareable thoughts on more anarchist, or at least decentralised, alternative stores for human knowledge? Is Wikipedia sufficiently non-hierarchical to be usefully trustworthy?
(DIR) Post #B2vRqBrTadYiHg7m40 by archesofscratch73@zirk.us
2026-02-02T23:07:04Z
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From what I gather, most of the big wikis on Fandom are trying to leave because it's so filled with ads. Apparently the process is difficult, and compounded by the fact that Fandom refuses to delete content after a wiki has moved somewhere else. Which means they keep the higher SEO rating to keep driving clicks to ad-riddled pages that are out of date or full of vandalised garbage.@aral
(DIR) Post #B2wyFtpOeUYBZgPl8S by aral@mastodon.ar.al
2026-02-03T16:43:57Z
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@archesofscratch73 Sounds about par for the course.