Larry Sanger and why Wikipedia loves those who hate it

Who is Larry Sanger?

If he was that important a person you would have known. So you might want to ignore the question altogether.

But consider this- his Wikipedia page has 120 citations. Noam Chomsky has 120. Even Jimmy Wales has 101.

Most importantly, he likes to be called as the co-founder of Wikipedia. Because he was the one who thought of using Wiki as the platform for the encyclopedia that Wikipedia was to be.

But then Wikipedia is not about Wiki software. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia that you can edit. Wikipedia is about you.

Larry Sanger disagreed. How can you write the biography of Abraham Lincoln when you are not an expert on History? So, Larry Sanger quit Wikipedia in 2002, an year after Wikipedia was founded.

Jimmy Wales stuck to the idea that an infinite monkeys typing on infinite keyboards could, despite producing Lolcat jokes and 4chan, build the largest encyclopedia known to mankind.

Larry Sanger is still not happy. He is one of the biggest critics of Wikipedia.

Which is why he has 120 citations. Not because he is the co-founder of Wikipedia.

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China didn't get it. Wikipedia got it. In the age of information, the more you try to suppress it, the more coveted it gets.

When you publish four pages focusing entirely on your criticism (without even caring to refute it), when you hand over the microphone to your biggest critic on your own platform and provide 120 citations, no one will care to read it.

Even boring diplomatic cables when leaked sound like scandals. Put them on your website, no one will care.

We like only leaks.