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I was going to say I've never seen him identified as "co-founder" in a headline rather than just "founder".

by ronaldx 13y ago

Bjoern 13y ago
Co-Founder. Wikipedia was formally launched on 15 January 2001 by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger, using the concept and technology of a wiki pioneered in 1995 by Ward Cunningham. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Wikipedia
- redthrowaway 13y ago
  And, as with anything that involves Wikipedia, this is disputed. Jimbo hired Sanger to work on Nupedia before Wikipedia began. Wikipedia was later launched by that team. Sanger claims he co-founded it, while Jimbo claims he was an employee and not a founder. http://www.nbcnews.com/id/17798723/#.Uggmx5LrxYw http://www.nbcnews.com/id/17798723/#.Uggmx5LrxYw
  - Bjoern 13y ago
    Probably the real question is, after leaving a project can you be downgraded to nothing from Co-Founder? Here is Sangers collection of "evidence". http://blog.larrysanger.org/role-in-wikipedia/my-role-in-wikipedia-links/ http://blog.larrysanger.org/role-in-wikipedia/my-role-in-wik... I find this paragraph most interesting. Wikipedia’s first three press releases (2002, 2003, and 2004), including two that I had nothing to do with, all credited me as founder. It was not until later, in 2004 that Jimmy Wales began omitting mention of my involvement at the start of Wikipedia to the press, and he didn’t start denying that I am co-founder until 2005 or 2006, just when Wikipedia began to enter the public eye.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
cookiecaper 13y ago
That's opening a pretty serious can of worms for persons familiar with Wiki history. After several edit wars over Sanger and Wales's pages, Wales ultimately decreed that henceforth it was wiki-gospel that he was sole founder and that Sanger should never be referred to as a founder or co-founder of Wikipedia. With the blessing of Jimbo, WP admins regularly reverted anyone who attempted to modify Sanger's page to mention a role in founding Wikipedia. It seems that at some point since I stopped actively editing Wikipedia (several years ago now), this resolved with Sanger keeping "Wikipedia co-founder" on his WP page. Doesn't seem that there's an ongoing edit war anymore. Wales claims that Sanger was simply an early employee and does not warrant founder status. Sanger claims that Wales is a suit whose primary early function in WP was to provide funding and that he himself (Sanger) not only originated the idea, but did all of the work, and is entitled to the label "co-founder".

I was going to say I've never seen him identified as "co-founder" in a headline rather than just "founder".

by ronaldx 13y ago

I was going to say I've never seen him identified as "co-founder" in a headline rather than just "founder".

Co-Founder. Wikipedia was formally launched on 15 January 2001 by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger, using the concept and technology of a wiki pioneered in 1995 by Ward Cunningham. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Wikipedia

redthrowaway 13y ago
And, as with anything that involves Wikipedia, this is disputed. Jimbo hired Sanger to work on Nupedia before Wikipedia began. Wikipedia was later launched by that team. Sanger claims he co-founded it, while Jimbo claims he was an employee and not a founder. http://www.nbcnews.com/id/17798723/#.Uggmx5LrxYw http://www.nbcnews.com/id/17798723/#.Uggmx5LrxYw
- Bjoern 13y ago
  Probably the real question is, after leaving a project can you be downgraded to nothing from Co-Founder? Here is Sangers collection of "evidence". http://blog.larrysanger.org/role-in-wikipedia/my-role-in-wikipedia-links/ http://blog.larrysanger.org/role-in-wikipedia/my-role-in-wik... I find this paragraph most interesting. Wikipedia’s first three press releases (2002, 2003, and 2004), including two that I had nothing to do with, all credited me as founder. It was not until later, in 2004 that Jimmy Wales began omitting mention of my involvement at the start of Wikipedia to the press, and he didn’t start denying that I am co-founder until 2005 or 2006, just when Wikipedia began to enter the public eye.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

cookiecaper 13y ago

That's opening a pretty serious can of worms for persons familiar with Wiki history. After several edit wars over Sanger and Wales's pages, Wales ultimately decreed that henceforth it was wiki-gospel that he was sole founder and that Sanger should never be referred to as a founder or co-founder of Wikipedia. With the blessing of Jimbo, WP admins regularly reverted anyone who attempted to modify Sanger's page to mention a role in founding Wikipedia. It seems that at some point since I stopped actively editing Wikipedia (several years ago now), this resolved with Sanger keeping "Wikipedia co-founder" on his WP page. Doesn't seem that there's an ongoing edit war anymore. Wales claims that Sanger was simply an early employee and does not warrant founder status. Sanger claims that Wales is a suit whose primary early function in WP was to provide funding and that he himself (Sanger) not only originated the idea, but did all of the work, and is entitled to the label "co-founder".