Thread: Anyone Missing Wiki?

Wiki is down for 24 hours to protest the proposed piracy bill. Don't despair; those suffering chronic withdrawal can still get it on their mobile.

Wikipedia Goes Dark For 24 Hours To Protest Web Piracy Bills | Fox News

Yes, I missed it not 5 minutes ago, wanting to check who wrote Sober As A Judge. Fortunately another Google link tickled my memory.

There is always another and better link for whatever information you need to find.

For those who don't know (and while it's still legal to post it) this is what it's about:

Good grief. Suppression of access to information must not happen. Ever.

Those of you that have experienced the drudgery of real library research understand the point.

Originally Posted by garza

There is always another and better link for whatever information you need to find.

I don't doubt it, but Google (or facsimile) has this annoying tendency of linking you to various pages, promising widgets, information, articles and other such things, linking you again and again... and not providing the information promised, or a skewed, lacklustre article.

The advantage to Wikipedia, surprise, is that it is very much like an encyclopaedia, in the sense that you search what you want, and you'll almost always get it right away.

That said, I haven't been on the computer much today, so haven't had the opportunity to miss it.

That's a good explanation video, Rob.

While I have some sympathy for anyone who has their work ripped off I can't help thinking there has to be a better way to fix that than to try to clamp down government policing on the internet. I am not in favor of this at all, my view is that problems on the internet have resulted in entrepreneurial solutions (also known as JOBS!).

Will the government fix all identity theft, libel, negative comments, hurt feelings, loss of information due to crashes, etc. next? There already solutions being created by entrepreneurs. Just a few names I can think of off the top of my head for things like this:

• Reputation Defender
• LifeLock
• Identity Guard
• Toshiba online backup, Mozy Pro, Carbonite

You want to make sure no one is plaigerizing your work? Ask Hawke how she checks for this, you can do it yourself. If you get successful enough you can hire an assistant to keep a check regularly to make sure that your intellectual property isn't being lifted and used elsewhere. I know that with many bands now you can't find their videos on YouTube unless they okay it and if they don't they'll get that video pulled. They check regularly and you have to go to their channel...so why do they need a government bill? They don't.

If the government wants to play on the internet, too, how about they pay strict attention to their own information? Cyber-warfare just may be the next type of aggression from one country to another, perhaps they should be planning for THAT rather than putting Bieber in jail (though that was the only part of the video that I kinda cheered about).

I realize that the internet is rife with stuff I don't want my kids to see, stuff I don't agree with, things that are unfair, rude, and even dangerous. But I want the government to keep its nose OUT. If the internet is the new Wild West then let's be wise and arm ourselves accordingly without Big Brother stomping all over it.

Originally Posted by Foxee

That's a good explanation video, Rob.

While I have some sympathy for anyone who has their work ripped off I can't help thinking there has to be a better way to fix that than to try to clamp down government policing on the internet. I am not in favor of this at all, my view is that problems on the internet have resulted in entrepreneurial solutions (also known as JOBS!).

Will the government fix all identity theft, libel, negative comments, hurt feelings, loss of information due to crashes, etc. next? There already solutions being created by entrepreneurs. Just a few names I can think of off the top of my head for things like this:

• Reputation Defender
• LifeLock
• Identity Guard
• Toshiba online backup, Mozy Pro, Carbonite

You want to make sure no one is plaigerizing your work? Ask Hawke how she checks for this, you can do it yourself. If you get successful enough you can hire an assistant to keep a check regularly to make sure that your intellectual property isn't being lifted and used elsewhere. I know that with many bands now you can't find their videos on YouTube unless they okay it and if they don't they'll get that video pulled. They check regularly and you have to go to their channel...so why do they need a government bill? They don't.

If the government wants to play on the internet, too, how about they pay strict attention to their own information? Cyber-warfare just may be the next type of aggression from one country to another, perhaps they should be planning for THAT rather than putting Bieber in jail (though that was the only part of the video that I kinda cheered about).

I realize that the internet is rife with stuff I don't want my kids to see, stuff I don't agree with, things that are unfair, rude, and even dangerous. But I want the government to keep its nose OUT. If the internet is the new Wild West then let's be wise and arm ourselves accordingly without Big Brother stomping all over it.

Your new avatar?

old man's dreams - I have spent many hundreds of hours in libraries and archives in various parts of the world. A big problem with today's journalists is that they are no longer willing to do that. I continue to use libraries and archives because the sum total of the world's knowledge is not yet on the Internet.

phillistine - While Google is quick and easy, it's not my first choice when I want to do any serious research on the Internet. I accumulate addresses of sites that deal with specific areas of knowledge. I store these in folders and sub-folders which I routinely keep backed up on at least two computers and Sky Drive. It's a bit slower, but I don't have to wade through all the irrelevant material you mention that Google brings to the surface. The files are added to almost daily as I come across new, good, sites. Google is good for the quick search for something easy, such as xO looking for information about 'Sober as a Judge'.

I have never used Wikipaedia for research, so I don't miss it.

Edit - A followup thought. Thinking about it, I can't remember the last time I used an encyclopaedia of any sort. Probably not beyond first form. They are useful for kids in school, but once we get to a certain age we need something more.

Originally Posted by Baron

Your new avatar?

Heh, possibly!

I noticed it at 11 at night. I wanted to wiki stuff

I did sign the google petition, because honestly, blocking certain sites only works so long as someone doesn't use a proxy. And if proxy sites get blocked, people will just put Tor up on rapidshare or something.

So essentially, SOPA, if passed, will block like, 12% of the people.

Would SOPA interfere with the sorts of sites I use most often? I don't download music or videos or games. I use Gutenberg and several university sites to download public domain texts. I go to newspaper sites around the world to find out what's happening. I read online versions of magazines and journals. Which of these will be affected? Truth to tell I've paid no attention to it because I pay so little attention to what goes on in The Far Frozen North.

Anyone who is getting desperate can still access the mobile version by using this link:

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Originally Posted by garza

Would SOPA interfere with the sorts of sites I use most often? I don't download music or videos or games. I use Gutenberg and several university sites to download public domain texts. I go to newspaper sites around the world to find out what's happening. I read online versions of magazines and journals. Which of these will be affected? Truth to tell I've paid no attention to it because I pay so little attention to what goes on in The Far Frozen North.

It depends, if there are any copyright issues about articles or content, yes. I'd assume university and other .edu sites would not be affected. But I wouldn't be surprised if Al-jazeera got "accidentally" blocked after some negative Islamic incident.

This isn't one of those things that would stay contained to one area. If it's about copyright then all kind of .edu uses will be affected even if it's to have a layer of bureaucracy added over top of what they already do.

Be very wary of looking at this and saying 'oh, but this would never happen to me.'