OPINION: The Wikipedia Blackout

Today, for 24 hours, the English-speaking version of Wikipedia has been blacked out by its founder, Jimmy Wales, in protest against SOPA, a bill to stop online piracy.

For me one day isn't enough - I'd like to see Wikipedia blacked out forever. It was an interesting social experiment but the information it publishes (they'd call it "facts" but, too often, that is stretching the definition of "fact") is unreliable, poorly written and subject to special interest groups and cabals who push their spin on a subject rather than deal with truth and evidence.

Alongside the many unreliable articles, Wikipedia us full of nonsense, fan cruft, entries which amount to little more than advertising and blatant lies. There's more detailed entries on minor fictional characters from Star Wars than of some truly notable and worthy real people. Wikipedia is a nonsense.

Sadly, Wikipedia has become the main reference source for many student essays, with chunks copied straight into their own work and rarely any cross-checking.

The main problem, once you get through the cabal controlled articles and the other nonsense, is that at any given moment all the facts on a subject can be changed by anyone to total nonsense or, worse still, to believable nonsense. Yes, such extreme editing and page vandalism would be corrected quickly but if you look something up on Wikipedia and happen to access a page in the minutes between vandalism and correction Wikipedia is publishing the vandalism as fact. Totally untrustworthy, totally unreliable.

A couple of years ago, as an experiment to prove how unreliable Wikipedia is, my wife and U changed a well known musician's entry to say he was a trained painter and decorator. This lie remained on his page for 6 weeks with the only check being someone asking for evidence. That, for an encyclopaedia, which Wikipedia classes itself as, is simply not good enough. I'm sure there are many other examples (I seem to recall that Wikipedia claimed that George Washington was gay at one point).

After the minefield that is the religious articles (unbelievably non-factual ut always pushing that particular religion's view) it is current news stories that are the worst. Editors are so overly keen to be the one that makes the edit, it's as if it scores them points, that facts appear on Wikipedua seconds after they have happened with limited context, no checking and , very often, pushing one particular opinion. When pages get too chaotic with changes editing is blocked. That, in itself, shows that the social experiment isn't working.

There are many questions which should be answered about the Wikimedia Foundation and its financing - supposedly a charity; Jimmy Wales; Jimmy Wales account if how Wikipedia was set up and why his own page is often blocked from editing and he has edited it himself (a serious no no); and why better checks of new facts and a greater quality control aren't in place.

Now Wikipedia is showing support for online piracy - the scourge of the music and movie industries. They are siding with the pirates, and showing their support by blacking out Wikipedia for 24 hours - but only the English-speaking version, which is an odd decision in itself.

I'd love to see Wikipedia remain blacked out and for them to be properly investigated by the IRS. I'd like to see Wikipedia die.

NEWS: The Matlock Blackout

And so the Matlock Blackout continues, 18 hours and counting.

Yesterday afternoon, at about 1pm, an electricity substation in Winster (a village a few miles from Matlock) exploded. It took firefighters several hours to put out the fire.

At its peak the loss of the substation had knocked out power from 34,000 homes from Matlock to Ashbourne and on to Leek in Staffordshire. By mid-evening many homes had power back. Overnight, though, 15,000 homes were still without power.

The kids saw it as a great adventure, all excited with the torches they have for camping.

When I drove back into Matlock at around 8.30 p.m. it was odd - somehow spooky with the lack of people put and about, and also the darkness with shops, houses, puns and restaurants plunged into blackness.

Behind some windows there was the flickering of candles.

Also surprising was the number of businesses that had an emergency supply to illuminate their windows. I'm sure the environment weeps each night.

The local pizza delivery firm was somehow fully open and, I suspect, doing a roaring trade.

And what of today?

I had always thought a national grid meant that if one part failed another could be switched over but it appears not. There was an announcement last night from the County Council saying that Matlock could be without power "for a few days" - in the 21st century this is ridiculous.

I've just been sent a text from my children's school saying they have power back and so will be open as normal - that's a relief!

We're hoping the food in the freezer stays frozen and will try to charge phones, etc. probably via car chargers.

In the meantime, to conserve energy, it is a communications blackout!

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7.13 a.m. update: My wife has just popped out and reports street lights have returned and some houses in our road seem to have power - how odd!

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11.53 update

And we're back. Power has returned!