Jimmy Wales walks out of interview after 1 minute for getting asked about the topic of being a co-founder, after he introduced himself as a founder.

Not a good look for Mr. Wales

This must be some sort of joke right?

I’m sorry to Jimmy Wales for the community doing this. I get that people want hard-cutting interviews, and I think it’s valid to do them, and that sort of interviewing needs to exist. But this is Wikipedia that we’re interested in, it was not the best way to start an interview.

I would’ve loved to have heard about the history and the day-to-day running, and I worry that people don’t understand how important Wikipedia and Wikimedia are to not only a large percentage of the world but to LLMs and the future of the world. Just because something isn’t new and cool doesn’t mean it isn’t crucial.

I admit that I used to donate about every year, and I stopped because I heard they had a ton of money already. I’m now second-guessing that, and will plan to give this year, because I use it indirectly most hours of each week now developing with LLMs, and I have fond memories of the old sets of World Book and Encyclopædia Brittanica our family had and the love and awe of learning they inspired. Wikipedia is that for today’s youth and will continue to be.

The most appalling thing of this is the printout of what seems to be a web page in darkmode.

- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45933077

- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45930998

- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45936905

It's silly that Jimmy doesn't want to refer to Sanger as a cofounder. But knowing that, this is an even sillier way to start a conversation with the man that's been leading the org alone for 22 years.

My appreciation of Wikipedia has decreased as my own expertise has increased. A long way before I’m anywhere near an expert on a topic, I begin to spot misleading inaccuracies in its Wikipedia articles. Most often, information that is decades out of date — correct once, but now actively perpetuating old, inaccurate information.

If you’re relying on Wikipedia for more than discovery, be aware that you’re internalizing some amount low-quality or false information along with your layman’s view of the topic.