Posted on 09/10/2005 4:50:20 AM PDT by LoveDoc
Greetings,
This is my first time creating a thread, so please be kind...
I am a conservative who's fascinated with Wikipedia. For those of you who don't know, Wikipedia is an open sourced on-line encyclopedia. In theory, anyone can contribute, add or subtract to it's contents.
I've read just about every thread I could find about Wik in Free Republic and found that most people fall into one of 3 camps:
1) Wikipedia is an excellent and useful source of information.
2) Wikipedia has potential but it is biased left and, if you want to change it, go in there and edit it yourself.
3) Wikipedia is so in bed with the left that it's unsalvageable. We need to start our own conservative edited Wikipedia.
I reside mostly in Camp 2. I do believe Wik is OVERRUN by leftists ( I know it is), but my experience has been that, if you pick and chose your fights wisely and REFUSE to back down, you can make significant changes. How long these changes will last is anybody's guess. And if all the hard work I've put in is later reversed, it will no doubt re-position me in Camp 3.
But, for the time being, I'm COMMITED to making Wik the best possible encyclopedia ever. In theory it has that potential. Let's face it, never in the history of man has such a project been even possible. I'm not willing to just leave it to left wingers to run. And starting up an alternative in my mind is kind of like starting up an alternative to Ebay. They already have first-mover status. Let's just untilt the bias. And besides, they don't blackball conservatives at Wikipedia, like they do at...oh the Associated Press for example! (or seems to.) It's just that there are more left wingers editing.
We can change that.
Now, I'm not talking about turning Wikipedia into a conservative-oriented source of information. And if you have had trouble working with Wik in the past, it may be because that was your agenda. I simply want to remove as much of the institutionalized left wing bias that currently PREDOMINATES in their articles. Particularly when the subject is a left wing villain. For a few yucks, check out the Karl Rove article. It is a CESSPOOL of liberal refuse.
I am willing to work to change Wikipedia.
I'm satisfied our work will not go for naught. If, at the end of the day, they conduct some purge or enact some policy that effectively censors conservatives, in other words, if we force them to reveal their hand, than we win by EXPOSING them for who they are. But, if we can figure out a way to influence Wik so that it no longer is just an alternative domain name for the johnkerry.com, then we win that way as well. And by 'we', I mean the general public, not just conservatives.
So, it's a win:win:win.
Therefore, if you like to write, and have some time (it can feel like a THANKLESS task) and you feel it's important to eliminate all the left wing bias in Wikipedia... please do so.
Freepmail me if you decide to edit Wik. I'd like to stay in touch and hopefully work together. I'm not interested in starting some sort of right wing cabal, but staying connected can be valuable both with respect to support and editorial insights.
Wikipedia, or any venture of its nature, can only work well when authoredThat makes more sense, eh.withoutwith a common point of view.
About.com has also been infiltrated whether deliberately or by outsiders.
So much time can be spent refuting so much BS.
But what do you expect from those who as a political group demonize everyone who disagrees as "racist/sexist/bigot/greedy/mean/etc.".
Political Correctness does not permit any dissent from the liberal agenda. If you disagree then you are wrong and possibly criminal. Damned intellectuals have already decided all of the issues. Just accept it. < /sarcasm >
Sounds good.
I have pinged a few other Freepers who do a great job of indexing.
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