Andrew Orlowski

Andrew Orlowski (born 1966 in Britain, currently based in San Francisco) has been an investigative journalist and columnist for The Register since 2000.

In 1992 he started an alternative newspaper in Manchester, England called "Badpress", and also wrote for Private Eye.

In April 2003, he coined the term Googlewashing to describe the potential for well-linked weblogs to obscure the original meaning of a controversial expression (e.g., "the Second Superpower"). He later classified this^[1] along with "absurd intellectual property claims" as an example of an unwarranted assumption of power or authority to gain sociological advantage on behalf of a particular lobby group. This factor is the core of what makes a story "great", he argues.

In December, 2004 he was invited to assemble a panel on techno-utopianism at Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

Orlowski argues that utopianism distracts attention and diverts capital away from solving real infrastructure problems^[2] "Technology can help us," he writes on his FAQ page. "But we venerate the machines we have, which aren't very good, and worse, limit ourselves to seeing the world through this machine metaphor. Technology is useful when it makes something we already like to do easier. Technology can't tell us something we don't know. Technology cannot solve problems that don't exist."

Criticism of Wikipedia

Orlowski has been described as a "professional troll" by Jimmy Wales with regard to several generally hostile articles about Wikipedia in the online IT newspaper The Register. In reply to one, Wales wrote, "Excellent article! Well balanced and thoughtful! Ok, well, entertaining anyway."

In these articles, Orlowski called Wikipedia editors "wiki-fiddlers"^[3], or "wiki wankers", and "pediaphiles", perhaps a pun on pedophiles. Supposed characteristics of a Wikifiddler include

1. making pointless edits, such as adding commas, merely in order to increase edit counts, and move up the "hierarchy" of Wikipedia,

   Although the project has no shortage of volunteers, most add nothing: busying themselves with edits that simply add or takeaway a comma. These are housekeeping tasks that build up credits for the participants, so they can rise higher in the organization.^[4]

2. having little expertise,
3. driving out people with actual knowledge of a topic,

   We increasingly hear of experts who attempt to contribute to the project being repelled. If you're an expert, and you want to help Wikipedia, be prepared for months of fighting - usually with people who don't know what they're talking about.^[5]

4. adding irrelevant material to articles,
5. being a

   small coterie of self-selecting wiki fiddlers^[6],

6. youth. Wikifiddlers are described as being "children" and "spotty teenagers". Wikipedia is described as the "children's encyclopedia" and "the world's most useless online text".

Wikifiddlers are also accused of misrepresenting subjects by populating articles with minor trivia rather than central facts. The Register points out, in particular, Wikipedia's entry on Buckminster Fuller and its focus on Eric Drexler:

For example, if you consult the world's most useless online text, the captive Wikipedia, you'll see Fuller's entry is a plug for Eric "AI" Drexler.^[7]

The consensus building process of Wikipedia is also ridiculed. Orlowski describes Wikipedia in terms of "monkeys trying to type Shakespeare" and quotes a statement

a source whose organizing principle appears to be that twenty jackasses make an expert.^[8]

To support his case, Orlowski also quotes from articles^[9] by Robert McHenry, former editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia Britannica, in which McHenry describes the gradual degeneration of an article on Alexander Hamilton during a process of multiple edits:

In fact, the earlier versions of the article are better written overall, with fewer murky passages and sophomoric summaries. Contrary to the faith, the article has, in fact, been edited into mediocrity.

and by Nicholas G. Carr^[10] in which Carr quotes from the Jane Fonda and Bill Gates pages of Wikipedia. The response of Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales is also described.^[11]

According to the results of Google searches^[12], Orlowski's term wikifiddler has not achieved widespread currency beyond its originator.

External links

• Andrew Orlowski's personal website

References/External links

1. ^ Andrew Orlowski's FAQ
2. ^ Andrew Orlowski, Six Things you need to know about Bubble 2.0, The Register, 7th October 2005.
3. ^ Andrew Orlowski, "Wiki-fiddlers defend Clever Big Book", The Register, 23 July 2004.
4. ^ Andrew Orlowski, "Why Wikipedia isn't like Linux", The Register, 27 October 2005
5. ^ Andrew Orlowski, "Wikipedia founder admits to serious quality problems", The Register, 18 October 2005
6. ^ Andrew Orlowski, "Buckminster Fuller on stamp duty", The Register, The Register, 14 July 2004
7. ^ Andrew Orlowski, "magic, monkeys and typewriters", The Register, 24 October 2005
8. ^ Nicholas G. Carr, "The amorality of Web 2.0"
9. ^ George Haff, "More Wikipedia Weakness", 20 September 2005
10. ^ Robert McHenry, "The Faith-Based Encyclopedia", Tech Central Station, 15 November 2004
11. ^ Andrew Orlowski, "Wikipedia 'to make universities obsolete'", The Register, 07 September 2004.
12. ^ Andrew Orlowski, "Wikipedia's Emergent People fail to impress readers", The Register, 15 September 2004.
13. ^ User:Jeremygbyrne/Wiki-fiddler