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Jimmy Wales

70 quotes

“What if we could get everyone in the world together to record what they know in one place?”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted by Larry Sanger in "The early history of Wikipedia (part 1) ~(1:49)" (January 2000), YouTube (7 May 2020)
“Dude, you rock.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That's what we're doing.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Wikimedia Founder Jimmy Wales Responds," by Robin "Roblimo" Miller, Slashdot (28 July 2004)
“I frequently counsel people who are getting frustrated about an edit war to think about someone who lives without clean drinking water, without any proper means of education, and how our work might someday help that person. It puts flamewars into some perspective, I think.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Wikimedia Founder Jimmy Wales Responds," by Robin "Roblimo" Miller, Slashdot (28 July 2004)
“I have no plans at all to be running an asylum. This is a serious encyclopedia project. We *do* have to make our changes conservatively and slowly, so as to make sure that we preserve our open spirit to the maximal degree possible. But some people are just not suitable for editing here, and that's just a simple brute fact.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in an email Jimmy Wales sent to the WikiEN-l mailing list on February 26, 2004, at 5:06 PM CET
“[Wikipedia is] like a sausage: you might like the taste of it, but you don't necessarily want to see how it's made.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When someone just writes 'f**k, f**k, f**k', we just fix it, laugh and move on. But the difficult social issues are the borderline cases — people who do some good work, but who are also a pain in the neck.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Who knows?", The Guardian (26 October 2004)
“Wikipedia is first and foremost an effort to create and distribute a free encyclopedia of the highest possible quality to every single person on the planet in their own language. Asking whether the community comes before or after this goal is really asking the wrong question: the entire purpose of the community is precisely this goal.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Wikipedia-l mailing list (8 March 2005)
“Ideally, our rules should be formed in such a fashion that an ordinary helpful kind thoughtful person doesn't really even need to know the rules. You just get to work, do something fun, and nobody hassles you as long as you are being thoughtful and kind.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: User talk statement (7 April 2005)
“Most people understand the need for neutrality. The real struggle is not between the right and the left — that's where most people assume — but it's between the party of the thoughtful and the party of the jerks. And no side of the political spectrum has a monopoly on either of those qualities.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: How a ragtag band created Wikipedia" - TED Talk (July 2005); this has sometimes appeared paraphrased as "The real struggle is not between the right and the left but between the party of the thoughtful and the party of t…
“Freely licensed textbooks are the next big thing in education.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: While talking about Wikibooks project; TED - Jimmy Wales: How a ragtag band created Wikipedia, July 2005
“We are growing from a cheerful small town where everyone waves off their front porch to the subway of New York City where everyone rushes by. How do you preserve the culture that has worked so well?”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in ExpressIndia (7 September 2005)
“The primary issue is how seriously we take our chosen obligations to people in the developing world who do not have Internet connections. … Frankly, and let me be blunt, Wikipedia as a readable product is not for us. It's for them. It's for that girl in Africa who can save the lives of hundreds of thousands of people around her, but only if she's empowered with the knowledge to do so..”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Foundation-l mailing list (23 October 2005)
“Wiki editing thrives on local knowledge, but 'local' in an epistemological sense, not necessarily in a geographical sense. For example, I personally know a lot more about world news on topics that interest me and could synthesize much better in those areas, than I know about local politicians where I live”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with Jimbo Wales (10 December 2005)
“We are Wikipedians. This means that we should be: kind, thoughtful, passionate about getting it right, open, tolerant of different viewpoints, open to criticism, bold about changing our policies and also cautious about changing our policies. We are not vindictive, childish, and we don't stoop to the level of our worst critics, no matter how much we may find them to be annoying.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks on his user talk page on Wikipedia (18 December 2005); afterwards quoted in numerous publications and internet sites.
“It is pretty weird. A few years ago, I was just some guy sitting in front of the internet. Now I send an e-mail or edit an article and it makes headlines around the world … I used to be just a guy — now I'm Jimmy Wales.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Identity question for world's encyclopaedia", The Times (30 December 2005)
“We come from geek culture, we come from the free software movement, we have a lot of technologists involved. If we had done the same sort of comparison on poets or artists, I think that we would not have fared nearly as well.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It turns out a lot of people don’t get it. Wikipedia is like rock’n’roll; it’s a cultural shift.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Wales to Computerworld, "Wikipedia founder gazes into site's future" (18 August 2006), based on an earlier interview at Wikimania
“We've always had a love/hate relationship with numbers.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Wales to Computerworld, "Wikipedia founder gazes into site's future" (18 August 2006), based on an earlier interview at Wikimania
“IAR is policy, always has been.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Edit comment, removing attempts to minimize the significance of the Wikipedia:Ignore all rules policy statement (19 August 2006)
“Quite frankly, several of the people who contributed to the article should be banned from coming near a keyboard until they have learned to engage in proper encyclopedia writing.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In a discussion about Wikipedia article (07 September 2006)
“I think that argument is completely morally bankrupt, and I think people know that when they make it. There's a very big difference between having a sincere, passionate interest in a topic and being a paid shill … Particularly for PR firms, it's something they should really very strongly avoid: ever touching an article.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: PRWeek (30 Jan 2007) In response to suggestions Wikipedia might change policies to allow PR firms to edit the site without breaking a rule called "WP:AUTO".
“I regard it as a pseudonym and I don’t really have a problem with it.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On controversy regarding fraudulent claims of credentials by the Wikipedian Essjay, in an e-mail to editors of The New Yorker, as quoted in The New York Times (5 March 2007)
“I don't see any particular problem with that.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Responding to the deletion of a Wikipedia article from non-administrator view, while the article's deletion was being reviewed by the community. (27 March 2007)
“Myspace hurts my eyes.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with news24.com (April 2007)
“Wikipedia is a non-profit. It was either the dumbest thing I ever did or the smartest thing I ever did.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Keynote Speech, SXSW 2006, published in "The wisdom of one" (25 April 2007)
“pedophilic sexualization of a community mascot? No. - email me if you have questions”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: deleted page File:LoliWikipetan.jpg (8 June 2007 )
“Hayek's work on price theory is central to my own thinking about how to manage the Wikipedia project. … [O]ne can't understand my ideas about Wikipedia without understanding Hayek.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Jimmy Wales, cited by Katherine Mangu-Ward, "Wikipedia and Beyond: Jimmy Wales' sprawling vision," Reason (June 2007).
“Simply having rules does not change the things that people want to do. You have to change incentives.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with Reason magazine (June 2007)
“EssJay was appointed at the request of and unanimous support of the ArbCom.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Wikipedia-l mailing list (17 October 2007)
“I think MySpace is doomed, I give them about two more years.... I think Facebook is the next Microsoft in both the bad and the good senses. That's an amazing company that is going to do a lot of good and bad things.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Jimmy Wales on tech's future, Orlando Sentinel (03 November 2007)
“Greatest misconception about Wikipedia: We aren’t democratic. Our readers edit the entries, but we’re actually quite snobby. The core community appreciates when someone is knowledgeable, and thinks some people are idiots and shouldn’t be writing.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There’s plenty of rude stuff online. People say things online that they would be ashamed to say face to face. If people could treat others as though they were speaking face to face, that would be huge.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "The Encyclopedist’s Lair" in The New York Times (19 November 2007)
“I have said this many times in the past and will say it many times in the future I am sure: some people need to find a different hobby, because whatever they are here for, it is not to help build an encyclopedia.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Comment about "drama mongers" on the Wikipedia Administrator's noticeboard, (23 November 2007)
“We are going to change the [[w:GNU Free Documentation License|[GNU] Free Documentation License]] in such a way that Wikipedia will be able to become licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License. And so this is not, as some people speculated on Facebook my 50th birthday party. This is a party to celebrate the liberation of Wikipedia.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Announcing that the Wikimedia Foundation Board has voted to enable Wikipedia to be licensed under a Creative Commons license. "Wikipedia to be Licensed Under Creative Commons" (30 November 2007)
“Given enough time humans will screw up Wikipedia just as they have screwed up everything else, but so far it's not too bad.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Berkman Center (May 15, 2008)
“I don't really agree that most academics frown when they hear Wikipedia. Most academics I find quite passionate about the concept of Wikipedia and like it quite a bit. [...] The number of academics who really really don't like Wikipedia is really quite small and we find that they get reported on in the media far out of proportion to the amount they actually exist.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Wikimania 2008 Alexandria, press conference, 0'14 (August 2008)
“We are a passionate community of volunteers who are trying to create a free encyclopedia for every single person on the planet. So we don't often think in terms of competition. We are going to do what we do and we hope Google does wonderful things as well. … If we were approaching this as a business we would think always: Oh, how can we position ourselves on the market... We just don't do any of that stuff.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Wikimania 2008 Alexandria, press conference, 0'20 (August 2008), asked about Google Knol
“I have my team focused on the front end, working on the user experience, and making sure we have all the wiki-like tools people need to work on the site. We're just cranking away.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: About Wikia Search, in an interview with Susan Kuchinskas in iMediaConnection, March 26, 2009 (only days before Wales would shut down Wikia Search and lay off two developers)
“To me the key thing is getting it right. And if a person's really smart and they're doing fantastic work, I don't care if they're a high school kid or a Harvard professor; it's the work that matters.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I think this article was misleading in saying that I "recognized" Wikipe-tan. My removal of the sexualized version from Commons was in no way an endorsement of the standard versions. I don't like Wikipe-tan and never have. I recognize that some people do, and I'm not particularly agitated about it, but my name should not be invoked in a way that might lead some to believe that I approve. Thanks!--Jimbo Wales (talk) 11:33, 7 February 2011 (UTC)”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: I am not a fan (February 7, 2011; emphasis not in original)
“I'm on it pretty much all the time. I edit Wikipedia every day, I'm on Facebook, I'm on Twitter, I'm reading the news. During one of the US elections, I actually went through my computer and I blocked myself from looking at the major newspaper sites and Google News because I wasn't getting any work done.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Independent, October 23rd 2011
“What we won't do is pretend that the work of lunatic charlatans is the equivalent of "true scientific discourse." It isn't.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Real people are involved, and they can be hurt by your words. We are not tabloid journalism, we are an encyclopedia.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I think that reality exists and that it's knowable”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in an artwork, also depicting Wales, in the 2018 exhibition 'Internet Giants : Masters of the Universe' by Langlands & Bell.
“I hope someone will create lots of articles about famous dresses. Our systemic bias caused by being a predominantly male geek community is worth some reflection in this contest. We have nearly 90 articles about Linux distributions… I think we can have an article about this dress. We should have articles about 100 famous dresses.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: What has Wikipedia’s army of volunteer editors got against Kate Middleton’s wedding gown? (16 August 2012)
“Now, the UK is home to a very diverse newspaper community, a vibrant newspaper culture. We've got papers like The Sun, The Mirror, The Mail. [laughter]...we're trusted slightly more than the BBC. Now, that's a little scary -- [laughter]”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: This is my annual traditional talk(Jimmy Wales Speaks at Closing Ceremony of Wikimania 2014) +video
“One of the classic problems we have is -- and we have this a lot in English Wikipedia -- is the annoying user, who at least allegedly produces good content. There are users in the community who have a reputation for creating good content, and for being incredibly toxic personalities. This is a tough issue because [fixes slide problem] but my idea is very simple. Actually, on this issue, I have a very simple view is that most of these editors actually cost us more than they're actually worth, and we're making a big mistake by tolerating people who are causing us enormous...”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A lot of them, they really cost more than they're worth, and they should be encouraged to leave, and not in a bad way. I mean one of the things that I've always believed is letting people walk away with dignity. We don't have to shame them and scream at them and make them leave and then they're sad and annoyed and then they make sock puppets and then they come back and harass us for years.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Jimmy Wales Speaks at Closing Ceremony of Wikimania 2014 August 10, 2014
“Wikipedia is something special. It is like a library or a public park. It is like a temple for the mind. It is a place we can all go to think, to learn, to share our knowledge with others. When I founded Wikipedia, I could have made it into a for-profit company with advertising banners, but I decided to do something different. We’ve worked hard over the years to keep it lean and tight. We fulfill our mission efficiently.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source