Chapter 3

By the end of the year, it is obvious that the process is too slow

Larry was working on a successor to his blog about the Y2K or ‘millenium bug’ problem (‘a source of a bit of embarrassment on my part and good-natured ribbing on the part of friends and family’), and had e-mailed Jimbo and some other acquaintances to get feedback on an idea for a blog. To his surprise, Jimbo emailed back, describing an idea for a free enyclopedia. He wanted a philosopher to lead the project, making it a condition of employment that Larry finish his Ph.D.

In early 2000, Jimbo hires philosophy PhD Larry Sanger to set up the online encyclopedia Nupedia. The project will use the expertise of academic experts and specialists to build ‘an ever expanding Open Source encyclopedia’. The Nupedia review process is long and cumbersome, and there are not nearly enough articles, nor do the academics want to write short informative articles about specific subjects (such as small American towns).

By the end of the year, it is obvious to Larry and Jimbo that the production process is too slow, and they have no satisfactory method for using volunteers. By the end of 2000, they have twenty six articles in progress, with only fourteen articles completed, all of them ‘deep’, none of them ‘specific’. Jimbo appeals to the principles that, to his mind, underpi the success of the Linux operating system. It dominates the world not by having a small group of highly talented programmers toiling away in obscurity. Its success depended on being open and with zero regard for qualifications or credentials. “If you contact the manager of a truely [sic] open project, volunteering to help, the first question back will not be ‘what are your qualifications?’ The first question will be ‘when can you send in some code?’”

See also

• Chapters 1-2
• Wikipedia through the Looking Glass
• Chapter 4