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Wikia Search
Jimmy Wales Definitely Not Getting His Wikipedia Jet Now
Did you know the founder of Wikipedia had a search engine? By the numbers, it's unlikely, since Wikia Search, Jimmy Wales's would-be Google killer, only attracted 10,000 users a month. He's now closing it. More » -
failanthropy
Brother, Wikipedia Wants Your Dime
The children of the world will be deprived of knowledge unless you shell out money soon, says Jimmy Wales, the sleaze-drenched cofounder of Wikipedia. Is this what Wikipedia has come to — an online telethon? -
the sum of all human knowledge
Jimmy Wales, the nobody everybody knows about
"A nondescript man with thinning brown hair and a slight paunch" is how W nondescribes Jimmy Wales, the cofounder of Wikipedia, the site where anybody can write history, and nobodies do. Wales, once known for sporting kimonos and Mao jackets, has reverted to wearing all black, which gives the fashion magazine rather thin material to work with. One would think the magazine would turn to probing his brains, not his looks — but there, too, they came up empty. More » -
rachel marsden
Hit piece costs Canadian mag $1,000 copyright fee
Canada's reputation as the best blue state ever got dinged this week. Canadian copyright law required MacLean's magazine to pay a $1,000 (U.S.) invoice from Valleywag commentress Rachel Marsden after the mag printed this copyrighted photo of Marsden and Bill O'Reilly downloaded from the Internet. Marsden says MacLean's tried to settle for a smaller check, but paid the thousand bucks rather than let the issue become a legal spat. There's an important takeaway here, and I think it's: Drinks are on Rachel. -
rachel marsden
Jimmy Wales's former Fox fling wins the Knol land rush
You guys are slow! Conservative pundit Rachel Marsden has already penned roving Wikipedia cofounder Jimmy Wales's first biography on Knol, Google's write-it-yourself compendium of articles. "And it will be a closed collaboration," she adds. Unlike Wikipedia, Knol lets an article's initial author control all subsequent edits. Other contributors can write their own articles about Jimmy, but Marsden's prank hints that Knol fights — in which multiple people attempt to author the definitive entry on a topic — will be a lot more fun to watch than re-re-re-reversions of the same old Wikipedia page. -
geek love
CNBC's Becky Quick joins long line of women emailing Jimmy Wales
Call it a strange attraction: Women whose Wikipedia entries aren't to their liking just can't seem to resist taking their case to the site's stubbly cofounder, Jimmy Wales. Even CNBC's Becky Quick struck up a correspondence, she admits in this clip. Unlike Canadian television commentator Rachel Marsden, whose call for help turned into a sexual fling, Quick is married. To a computer programmer. (I can hear you all eating your hearts out.) Why didn't she just ask her husband for help getting her entry edited? Given Wales's reputation, that seems easier. -
the sum of all human knowledge
How Jimmy Wales gets the ladies
We've always wondered how a schlubby guy like Jimmy Wales sees so much action. It can't be the I-founded-Wikipedia-can-I-edit-your-page pickup lines — for every Rachel Marsden he lands with those, one thinks Wales would get 10 drinks in the face. At last, we've gotten a scientific explanation: It's the stubble. A recent study found women prefer mates with stubbly cheeks to smooth faces or full beards. (Thank you, Don Johnson.) And according to Wales's comprehensive compendium of facial hair stylings, Wales himself is the iconic paragon of stubble. (Photo by EvgenyGenkin) -
superficial
What would Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan's love child look like?
One in a while a Web application comes along that's so damn useful, even we'd invest in it. Facebook? Nah. MakeMeBabies, the site that lets you create ruddy-cheeked mashups from any two photos? Its diapers will be filled with nothing but spun gold. Here's what the site came up with from photos of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and girlfriend Priscilla Chan. After the jump, we give a few other notable couples the same treatment. Please do add your own in the comments with our image-upload feature — best and worst fake babies will win an as-yet-undetermined prize of nominal value! More » -
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antivanity ads
New York Post's desperate bid for Google relevance keys on ... "Rachel Marsden"?
Google has turned us all into monetizable micromarkets. An ad for everyone, and everyone in an ad. the New York Post is now advertising against the keyword "Rachel Marsden" on Google to attract readers. If you're asking "Marsden who?", then you've gotten the point already. Marsden, the Canadian political commentator (and Valleywag commenter), is best known for having been dumped by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales on Wikipedia. Current Post readers are no doubt more interested in her reportedly unceremonious exit from the Fox News show Red Eye. What this ad buy tells us: That the Post thinks it can profit from attracting the small number of people who have heard enough about Marsden to search on her name. And that if Marsden is worth advertising against in Google's frictionless marketplace, every last one of us is next. More » -
the sum of all human knowledge
Is Jimmy Wales getting Wikipedia in legal trouble?
Jimmy Wales's clandestine editing of a girlfriend's Wikipedia entry has done more than just bring the online encyclopedia into disrepute. It may well put the site's nonprofit parent, the Wikimedia Foundation, in legal jeopardy. Wikipedia has thrived in part thanks to a protection granted by the Communications Decency Act, which spares websites which merely host users' content from liability for what they say. But what if one of the website's officials moves to have that content edited? Then the protection vanishes. That is the legal argument advanced by Wales's ex, Rachel Marsden, in a series of emails with Mike Godwin, Wikimedia's general counsel, that she has posted to Valleywag. More » -
the sum of all human knowledge
Jimmy Wales drops off the Time 100 list again
Safe to say that Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales's plan to take Canadian journalist Rachel Marsden to the Time 100 party are definitely off. Not only have Wales and Marsden broken up, but Time has, as we predicted, declined to return Wales to its list of the most influential people. Think he'll shrug this off? Check out this video from last year where he complained to Stephen Colbert about getting bumped for the likes of Tyra Banks: More » -
nerdspotting
Jimmy Wales takes his Wikipedia magic show to New York City
For a province of California, Silicon Valley can be strangely puritan at times. That made it an uncomfortable locale for libertine Libertarian Jimmy Wales, the less-than-saintly founder of Wikipedia. Wales told ex-lover Rachel Marsden, the Canadian controversialist, that he wanted to move to New York to be closer to her. Their affair is over — ended, fittingly, via a posting on Wikipedia — but Wales has relocated to New York all the same. The likely reason has to do with work, or the appearance of work. Although Wikipedia's nonprofit parent, the Wikimedia Foundation, is located in San Francisco, and his ostensible employer, for-profit wiki venture Wikia, has itsheadquarters in a suburb to the south of the city, Wales is charged with running a search-engine project for Wikia which is based in New York. More » -
the sum of all human knowledge
Jimmy Wales hires bodyguard for New York event
Invited to speak about "the future of the Internet" at New York University, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales instead spent the session dwelling on his smartphone's inbox. Why was the muse for the world's most exhaustive list of Simpsons episodes so distracted? Likely for the same reason he hired a personal security guard for the event: would-be paramour Andrea Weckerle. We're told that Weckerle, a PR consultant previously linked to Wales, has such a crush on Wales — unrequited — that she flew cross-country for the event, and told friends she was sharing a hotel room with Wales for a supposed tryst. More » -
the sum of all human knowledge
Jimmy Wales edited Julia Allison's Wikipedia entry
We now know the kind of woman Jimmy Wales goes for: brunettes who appear on Fox News and have conveniently troubled Wikipedia entries. In January, the founder of the world's greatest online list of unusually shaped vegetables was courting Canadian controversialist Rachel Marsden with sex-fantasy-laden IM chats. But at the same time, Wales was also playing the gallant on Star editor-at-large and former Fox News late-night pundit Julia Allison's Wikipedia page. More » -
comments
Commenter of the week: Rachel Marsden
"Could someone please go up and punch Al [Gore] in the face? Then, when he calls the cops, ask him why he didn't try the UN first." — TV pundit Rachel Marsden, Valleywag's newest bestest friend fatale, splashes cold, conservative Canadian water in the faces of our NPR-numbed Bay Area readership [Valleywag Comments] -
the sum of all human knowledge
World Economic Forum organizers defend womanizing Randian Jimmy Wales as conference chair
Why is Jimmy Wales, the do-little founder of Wikipedia, cochair the annual World Economic Forum on the Middle East? The event is the "foremost global gathering of political, business and cultural leaders," according to the organizers. Wales was chosen for the "contribution [he has made] globally, regionally or within [his] industry... His expertise in terms of business, knowledge etc. is the important thing here, not necessarily any knowledge of the region... At present the gossip and allegations directed towards Mr. Wales remain just that — gossip and allegation — and as such, the Forum has no comment." What gossip and allegation are they referring to? Something like this, perhaps: More » -
the sum of all human knowledge
Wales's ex-girlfriend on Wikipedia edits: "Game on, sweetheart"
There is no neutral point of view in a love affair gone bad. Jimmy Wales violated Wikipedia's rules in posting a note announcing his breakup with Canadian journalist Rachel Marsden on the world's most exacting collection of urban legends about McDonald's. Marsden has retaliated in kind, or attempted to. Her recent efforts to leave a note for Wales on Wikipedia — "the only way to have any sort of rational or caring discussion with him," she claims — resulted in her account being banned by administrators. More » -
rachel marsden
Former Crazy Wikipedia Muse Reduced To Looking At Mediabistro
Rachel Marsden, the former pundit on the Fox show "Red Eye" who was tossed out for being too crazy, and who then went on to date Wikipedia guru Jimmy Wales before breaking up with him and putting his clothes up for sale on eBay, is now, predictably, unemployed. So she's trawling for jobs on Mediabistro, just like you! Marsden has supposedly applied to be a senior publicist at Maxim [P6]. Negatives: She has demonstrated that she is a serial loose cannon who will probably seduce the magazine's top editors and draw them into a scandalous and embarrassing public affair. Positives: She doesn't really like the Black Crowes, either. -
rumormonger
Did Jimmy Wales and Wikipedia boss make out in Amsterdam?
What is it about Jimmy Wales? The founder of Wikipedia has a thing for brainy women, and a penchant for mixing business and pleasure. But the latest rumor I've heard is mind-blowing: That Wales had a brief affair with Sue Gardner, the executive director of the nonprofit which runs Wikipedia. Gardner has always been swift to rush to Jimmy Wales's defense — oddly so, since he's just one of many board members she reports to. In a recent newspaper article on Wales, there was this line: "Ms. Gardner said there will always be a need for what Mr. Wales provides." Ah yes, what Mr. Wales provides. To Rachel Marsden, Elisabeth Bauer, and Barbara Cohen, among others, you mean? More » -
wikpedia
Donor, ex-girlfriend accuse Jimmy Wales of Wikipedia extortion
Jeff Merkey, a former Novell chief scientist, has issued a statement accusing Jimmy Wales of extortion. Merkey says that Wales offered him "special protection" for his Wikipedia entry in exchange for a "substantial" donation to Wales's Wikimedia Foundation. After Merkey withdrew his donation over concerns that the funds were being mismanaged, he was banned from the site for "frivolous and unsubstantiated claims." Merkey's not the only one: Rachel Marsden, Wales's ex-girlfriend, has privately threatened Wales with a lawsuit over what she claims are hostile revisions to her Wikipedia entry which began after they broke up. While they were together, Wales promised Marsden swift action on edits so he could "continue fucking [her] brains out." After the jump, Merkey's statement and Marsden's email. More » -
the sum of all human knowledge
"Modest, frugal" Jimmy Wales flies first-class
In a simpering interview on CNET — "Let's just get this out of the way," the host actually says — Sue Gardner, executive director of the foundation which runs Wikipedia, used the classic disgruntled-employee line to dismiss charges that Wales had abused his position there. But that's not the only way she made a fool of herself. "He's a good guy, he's a really good guy, he's a modest guy, he's a frugal guy," says Gardner. Oh, really? Read this transcript of a chat between Wales and ex-girlfriend Marsden, as he debates whether to go first-class or business-class on a junket to Korea in February, and judge for yourself. His hosts, not the foundation, apparently paid for the tickets; Gardner says Wales has only charged $1,100 to the Wikimedia Foundation in the past six months. All the same, if there's any sign of modesty or frugality here, I'm missing it. More » -
the sum of all human knowledge
Jimbo's bimbos a brainiac pack
We keep hearing new rumors about women Jimmy Wales has been involved with. But why tell you? Some Wales critics say it's not the sex, it's the money. But it's hard to separate the two when charges fly that Wales took a girlfriend on trips paid for by the nonprofit WIkipedia. The latest names linked to Wales: Barbara Cohen, formerly an editor with the Public Library of Science, left; and Julie Melton, an online-learning expert, right. Wales's relationship with Cohen, former Wikipedia insiders say, contributed to the breakup of her marriage. Melton stayed in Wales's apartment, though she's said to be seeing someone else. Yes, yes, I know, enough about the sex — did he edit their Wikipedia entries? More » -
the sum of all human knowledge
Wikipedians cover up for Jimmy Wales
"The Wikipedia effort is not personality-driven," claims a commenter who insists that "nobody cares" about Jimmy Wales's behavior. The cult of personality in action: Journalist Cyrus Farivar — a regular contributor to NPR, The Economist, Wired and the New York Times — has had his Wikipedia page deleted several times in retaliation for a joke he made on Slate ("Yes, I added an entry on myself to Wikipedia. Why haven't you?") Meanwhile, Wales's entry is missing the "Personal controversies" section that sprouts on any conservative media personality's page. Of course, his Fox TV paramour Rachel Marsden has one. Here's the current sum of all human knowledge of the Wales/Marsden affair stored in Wikipedia as of 9:15 a.m. PST: More » -
the sum of all human knowledge
Rupert Murdoch's underlings lets loose on Jimmy Wales
News Corp. overlord Rupert Murdoch may be getting a bit slow in his dotage, but he still knows a good story. Is it a coincidence that three arms of his media empire — the Times of London, Fox News, and the New York Post — have belatedly picked up on Jimmy Wales's bizarre breakup with Rachel Marsden? Marsden was, until last fall, a Fox News commentator, which can only make the tale more delicious for Murdoch: The prodigal daughter welcomed back as grist for the gossip mill. Beyond that, why the onslaught? More » -
the sum of all human knowledge
Jimmy Wales's other other women
In an IM chat with ex-girlfriend Rachel Marsden, Jimmy Wales scolded Valleywag for not following his sex life more closely: "I have shown up at many different Silicon Valley events with many different "dates" through the past year or so, although not always actually dates, so the assumption would be colleagues or whatever, and figured they would eventually pay attention to that." True, Jimbo, we've been remiss. And we're doing our best to make it up to you. Besides Marsden, we've heard two names frequently linked to Wales, who is separated from his wife. Either would be an impressive catch. If the rumors are true, then all we can say is — well-played, Jimbo, well-played. More » -
the sum of all human knowledge
Wales's last-ditch bid to make up with girlfriend
A tipster reports overhearing Jimmy Wales at SFO the morning of Saturday, February 23, pleading with a girlfriend — presumably Rachel Marsden — to keep the relationship alive. His eyewitness report of the conversation: More » -
jimmy wales
The dirtiest Wikipedia sex chat you can imagine
What's the worst thing Jimmy Wales could talk about with a girlfriend? Get your mind out of the gutter, and down into the sewer. Before his Wikipedia-posted breakup with Rachel Marsden, Wales plotted with the Canadian journalist on exactly how he was going to get her Wikipedia entry cleaned up. To avoid his foes at Wikipedia Review, he told Marsden he'd work through proxies. In a statement, he claimed he was not acting "inappropriately." Here are the transcripts which will let you judge for yourself. (Marsden is the "me" in this chat; Wales's moniker is "jimbo.wales.") More » -
the sum of all human knowledge
Jimmy Wales's "gold-plated washing machine"
It's not the sex. It's the money. So contends Danny Wool, a former top administrator at the nonprofit which runs Wikipedia. Wool reports on how Wales ran up $30,000 in expenses on trips abroad, many of which allowed him to pick up speaking fees which he kept personally. Florence Devouard, chair of the nonprofit, confronted Wales about this. "I don't make any money, and my wife needs a washing machine," Wales reportedly told her. Her reply, according to Wool: "A gold-plated washing machine?" Wool is right. More » -
the sum of all human knowledge
Michael Arrington places Jimmy Wales on suicide watch
Michael Arrington, a fragile soul, imagines the rest of the Valley is as weak-willed as he is. Without mentioning Jimmy Wales by name, Arrington distraughtly lays out his fears that Valleywag will drive him to kill himself. How little you know, Michael. For Wales, Valleywag induces not the big death but the little one. In his sex chats with Rachel Marsden, Wales fantasized about taking the Canadian TV commentator to a public event like this spring's Time 100 party, and wondered why Valleywag hadn't previously outed him. The transcripts, below: More » -
conflicts of interest
The goodbye email from Jimmy Wales's girlfriend
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and Fox News personality Rachel Marsden have broken up — and Jimmy is learning a harsh lesson: hell has no fury like a woman scorned. Here's the goodbye email from Rachel to Jimmy and an IM conversation that strongly suggests Wales violated Wikipedia's rules to encourage favorable changes to Marsden's Wikipedia profile. More » -
jimmy wales
The Last Temptation Of Jimbo Christ: A Non-Nerd Cheatsheet To The Wikipedia Founder's Downfall
How to describe His Holiness Jimbo Wales? The pugnacious entrepreneur Jason Calacanis can't stand dealing with Wales, because the Wikipedia founder is so humble, so calm, so staid that, unlike Calacanis's other would-be competitors, he takes no bait and is above reproach. So Jason must be pleased to see Wales revealed as human, and in fact as a dude who picks up chicks using his own online encyclopedia. The nerds have already heard this story in, like, fifty volumes on Valleywag, but here's a quicker version. The point: Jimmy Wales is an Internet Christ figure, this was his Last Temptation, and even though he failed he's still the Son of God. More » -
the sum of all human knowledge
Wikipedia guy's ex-girlfriend auctions his clothes on eBay
Breaking up stinks. Never more so than when your ex is Jimmy Wales, the unhygienic founder of Wikipedia, right-wing TV commentator Rachel Marsden has learned. Before Wales dumped her via Wikipedia, he left two reeking articles of clothing at her New York apartment. She's now selling them on eBay Canada. Today's contribution to the sum of all human knowledge: Jimmy Wales shops at Men's Wearhouse. Screenshots of the eBay listings: More » -
the sum of all human knowledge
Wikipedia creator Jimmy Wales dumps girlfriend on Wikipedia
This is surely a first: Breaking up with a girlfriend via Wikipedia. Jimmy Wales, the creator of the world's best collection of Outkast lyrics, has announced in a statement on the website that he's no longer seeing Rachel Marsden, the saucy Canadian right-winger who started chatting him up after her Wikipedia profile came under attack. (See Valleywag's exclusive transcripts of their secret love IMs.) One hopes Marsden didn't learn about the split by reading Jimmy's love note online. As late as last night, she told a friend that she and Wales had patched things up. More » -
rachel marsden
Four hot pics of Wikipedia guy's girlfriend
Jimmy Wales can't get enough of Rachel Marsden, the girlfriend he met on Wikipedia. Here's a shot of her pouting for the camera. Three more after the jump. More » -
exclusive
Transcripts of Wikipedia founder's sex chats
In which Wikipedia's chief non-expert Jimmy Wales worries that Larry Page and Sergey Brin will be able to read their instant messages, talks dirty about broadband infrastructure, and says his "Google killer" startup Wikia needs to make him enough money so he can buy a jet where he and Canadian girlfriend Rachel Marsden can have even more sex. Friends claim that Wales, worried Marsden would leak the chats, threatened her with blackmail charges over the transcripts, and talked about jail time and deportation back to Canada for her. That got her so upset she sent copies to one or more friends. They've landed in our inbox. Good job, Jimbo. The best bits: More » -
wikipedia
Wiki quickie has Jimmy Wales moving to New York
Why did Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales suggest Wikipedia move from Florida to New York last fall? His for-profit startup, Wikia, is based on the Peninsula; siting Wikipedia's nonprofit foundation across the country made little sense. In light of his fling with cantankerous Canadian Rachel Marsden, the New York-based TV commentator, Wales's Big Apple urges now seem clearer. We now hear he's told Marsden he intends to move to New York in April, after his lease on a San Francisco apartment expires. -
geek love
How Wikipedia got Jimmy Wales laid
Men, if you want to win over a girl, don't post ads on Craigslist. Instead, help her clean up her Wikipedia page! It sure worked for Jimmy Wales. The twice-married, now-divorcing Internet stud met his current girlfriend Rachel Marsden through the site. Here's a brief recap of the Web courtship: More » -
jimmy wales
Wikipedia founder's fling with Fox News fox
Jimmy Wales loves to talk about "transparency" and "a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge." Unless it's about his scandal-prone girlfriend. Wales, who is divorcing his second wife Christine, has been secretly seeing conservative TV commentator Rachel Marsden since last fall, friends say. Wales apparently took notice of Marsden when Wikipedia users started an edit war over her page. Marsden, known as "Canada's Ann Coulter," has quite a history: She's been accused of stalking. She plead guilty to charges of criminal harassment in 2004. Most recently, she was escorted out of the Fox News building in New York after an alleged contretemps. More »
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