Ernest Miller pursues research and writing on cyberlaw, intellectual property, and First Amendment issues. Mr. Miller attended the U.S. Naval Academy before attending Yale Law School, where he was president and co-founder of the Law and Technology Society, and founded the technology law and policy news site LawMeme. He is a fellow of the Information Society Project at Yale Law School.
Ernest Miller's blog postings can also be found @ Copyfight LawMeme
Feel free to contact me about articles, websites and etc. you think I may find of interest. I'm also available for consulting work and speaking engagements. Email: ernest.miller 8T gmail.com
LA Times Wikitorial Has Left the Building (For Now)
Posted by Ernest Miller
So I decided to see how the LA Times' "wikitorial" experiment was going this morning, but currently the only thing on the website is: "The Los Angeles Times Wiki is currently closed" (LAT Wiki). Vandalism perhaps? System maintenance? It would be nice to have a little more information.
In any case, Ross Mayfield thinks that the forked Wiki might have worked (Wikitorial Fork). On some topics, perhaps, you can have a single fork. But these are relatively rare. Do the two expressed opinions of the political parties cover the range of opinion? Rather than foster many voices and an exhaustive range of opinion, doesn't a forked wiki simply encourage false left/right dichotomies? You could have many forks, but why then a Wiki?
I am a wikipedian and more or less familiar with the Mediawiki software. I went to the LAT-wiki this morning.
This morning, there was an annoying level of vandalism around in the LAT-wiki. I did not see an admin there, so the vandalism might have been easily stopped.
It was annoying to see that the site maintainer (latimes) did a few layout changes to prevent user from doing good work. Recentchanges was hidden (but not disabled), as well as a few other pages. It was annoying for me when I tried to stop a nasty kind of vandalsim.
It seems plausible that the wiki was stopped by the panicking site maintainer who was unable to work with the people on the site who were working in good faith.
2. NGerda from Wikinews on June 19, 2005 10:26 AM writes...
Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, was attempting to get the LA Times Wiki to facilitate a counterpoint editorial for every editorial, creating a balance and neutrality. I wasn't able to see how this turned out, but it may be one of many reasons why the site is down.
3. NGerda from Wikinews on June 19, 2005 10:26 AM writes...
Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, was attempting to get the LA Times Wiki to facilitate a counterpoint editorial for every editorial, creating a balance and neutrality. I wasn't able to see how this turned out, but it may be one of many reasons why the site is down.
Ernest Miller pursues research and writing on cyberlaw, intellectual property, and First Amendment issues. Mr. Miller attended the U.S. Naval Academy before attending Yale Law School, where he was president and co-founder of the Law and Technology Society, and founded the technology law and policy news site LawMeme. He is a fellow of the Information Society Project at Yale Law School.
Ernest Miller's blog postings can also be found @
1. Mathias Schindler on June 19, 2005 09:06 AM writes...
I am a wikipedian and more or less familiar with the Mediawiki software. I went to the LAT-wiki this morning.
This morning, there was an annoying level of vandalism around in the LAT-wiki. I did not see an admin there, so the vandalism might have been easily stopped.
It was annoying to see that the site maintainer (latimes) did a few layout changes to prevent user from doing good work. Recentchanges was hidden (but not disabled), as well as a few other pages. It was annoying for me when I tried to stop a nasty kind of vandalsim.
It seems plausible that the wiki was stopped by the panicking site maintainer who was unable to work with the people on the site who were working in good faith.
Permalink to Comment2. NGerda from Wikinews on June 19, 2005 10:26 AM writes...
Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, was attempting to get the LA Times Wiki to facilitate a counterpoint editorial for every editorial, creating a balance and neutrality. I wasn't able to see how this turned out, but it may be one of many reasons why the site is down.
NGerda from Wikinews
Permalink to Comment3. NGerda from Wikinews on June 19, 2005 10:26 AM writes...
Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, was attempting to get the LA Times Wiki to facilitate a counterpoint editorial for every editorial, creating a balance and neutrality. I wasn't able to see how this turned out, but it may be one of many reasons why the site is down.
Permalink to Comment