Hersch resigned at Wikipediocracy

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Kumioko
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Re: Hersch resigned at Wikipediocracy

Post by Kumioko » Sat Jul 18, 2020 11:18 am

Yeah the WPO site has really turned sellout that's for sure. I also think it's funny the Kelly and Greybeard came out of retirements to pontificate on how great Zoloft was doing and how the great steamroller of wikipedia has become unstoppable. They literally said WPO is, and always has been irrelevant to Wikipedia. Unfortunately, now that has become more true than ever. TD Adler has done more to bring attention to Wikipedias problems than WPO ever has or ever will.
#BbbGate

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Re: Hersch resigned at Wikipediocracy

Post by harrytubman456 » Wed Jul 22, 2020 8:16 pm

Another victim of endless bureaucracy and stupidity.

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JeremyBlake
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Re: Hersch resigned at Wikipediocracy

Post by JeremyBlake » Thu Jul 23, 2020 7:29 pm

This stuff is endlessly complicated. It seems like meta-criticism of meta-criticism.

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ericbarbour
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Re: Hersch resigned at Wikipediocracy

Post by ericbarbour » Fri Jul 24, 2020 12:50 am

rhindle wrote: My own 2 cents: I think, at least on the surface, that the deletion of the thread seemed heavy handed. A change to the thread title could have been done or even move to a non-public area. Of course there may be more details I am not aware of so I'm not going to outright say the thread deletion was the wrong choice. However, if the assertions are considered bullshit, I think proving it's bullshit is better than deleting, even if it's for the upteenth time. Hersch is an "OG" critic so I figured he'd get more leeway but did he "exhaust" the management's patience?

As to the more meta discussion about wikipedia criticism in general, I do agree that there are bigger fish to fry in today's world than WP. Sure, it's still dysfunctional with a lot of problems but it's the same ol' same ol' and the criticism is same ol' same ol' also. Just some of the names have changed. Right now, social media is much more toxic as more get their info which is tailored to their confirmation biases where they are much more prone to "fake news" regardless of political persuasion. More and more are opening their eyes to this and there is improvement. Even though this site is dedicated to WP there is a window here to branch out to social media criticism as well and not just when it's at least tangential to WP. If those in charge here don't want to do that then that's fine but I think there could be an opportunity here.
Deletion of WHAT thread??
Kumioko wrote:Yeah the WPO site has really turned sellout that's for sure. I also think it's funny the Kelly and Greybeard came out of retirements to pontificate on how great Zoloft was doing and how the great steamroller of wikipedia has become unstoppable. They literally said WPO is, and always has been irrelevant to Wikipedia.
For what little it matters, Kelly has been saying more-or-less as much for at least 10 years, long before Wikipediocracy existed, and about WR before it. She is a former arbitrator so I would tend to take her comments very seriously.

It is also why I became burned out on writing a proper book about WP history. The Wikinerds SHOULD be criticized, they unquestionably deserve plenty of criticism. The site is stlll infested with cranks, sockpuppets of cranks, Wiki-fanatics, Jimbo's handpicked sluts, and general madness. But two generations of internet users have become completely inured to WP's existence in its present form. There simply isn't enough will or interest in the general public to "fix" it--assuming that was even possible without a total purge of the admin corps and the WMF. US politcs have become so toxic and bonkers that Wikipedia is the pettiest of sideshows, by comparison.

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Re: Hersch resigned at Wikipediocracy

Post by ericbarbour » Sat Mar 27, 2021 10:26 pm

Belated sidenote, since Hersch was a dedicated supporter of Lyndon LaRouche and his movement, LaRouche's demise two years ago could have been a possible motivating force in Hersch's quitting WPO. As some of you know, the LaRouche content on Wikipedia was fought over crazily for many years. And Hersch was right in the center of it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia ... n_LaRouche
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia ... LaRouche_2

And I STILL think LaRouche was just a minor slightly-ridiculous political crank with a fanboy following. How does his career compare to, say, the recent Trump presidency and its "colorful" end? Or to some of the mad-dog Republicans currently serving in Congress? I could go on and on, and probably throw Biden in there as an example of an "approximate Democrat with a law-and-order bent". LaRouche was a paranoiac who saw corporate control of the country as a problem; he was right about that one item. Not that anyone on Wikipedia really cares....

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