GetWiki

Wikinfo was inspired by Fred Bauder in 2003, based on Wikipedia, but differed in that articles were to be written from a "Sympathetic Point of View" (SPOV). From January, 2004 to March, 2007, it ran and helped fuel development of the GetWiki collaboration software. Once again using Wikipedian software to power the site, the XML-based importing of Wikipedia content has come to an end, something which was (not coincidentally) a huge controversy for Wikipedians.

Critical Views

Wikinfo is a "virtual" dictatorship of a Wikipedian, Fred Bauder. The nature of Wikinfo cannot be understood without first analyzing this founder, Fred Bauder, a former lawyer who was suspended in 1997 after he suggested meeting with a client's wife and his new girlfriend for a sexual rendezvous. The Colorado Supreme Court censured Bauder publicly and ordered $2,158 in disciplinary hearing costs within 30 days. Bauder refused. Some say he turned instead to Wikipedia, perhaps as a psychological compensation.

Fred soon rose to a high rank in the Wikipedia hierarchy and became a member in the Arbitration Committee. He also is, according to "Encyclopedia Dramatica", a member of The Magic 23, meaning he has the power to permanently delete page revisions without a trace. He started Wikinfo in 2003, when he had an "edit war" with Larry Sanger (whom he called a "half-cocked academic"), "RK" and "172". However, Wikinfo basically continues to function along the same failed lines as Wikipedia. From Encyclopedia Dramatica:

• First he allowed (profile:Proteus|Proteus) to be a slave worker. Proteus spent thousands of hours to make Wikinfo work, but was randomly de-sysoped and threatened with a permanant ban if he used a Wikinfo account to complain. Proteus had kept the vandalism and spam cleaned up on Wikinfo, and since his departure in March, 2007, Wikinfo has been "p0wned" by vandals, Wikipedia factions, and other disaffected Wikipedians.
• Numerous articles were deleted by Bauder, often violating his Wikinfo's policy, although he couldn't evaluate their contents. He stated as reasons "lack of notability", "privacy considerations", "no reliable sources", just as on Wikipedia.
• Users who critisized his actions were banned, such as Zordrac who was banned for two months, yet had spent hundreds of hours writing articles for Wikinfo.
• True discussion is impossible as Bauder behaves in a "Jimbo-esque" manner (like Jimbo Wales, the founder of Wikipedia), issuing "edicts" and ignoring "arguments" (Proteus, Nhprman, and others).
• Bauder portrays his opinions as "common sense" so that his claims need no substantiation. He disallows otherwise "sympathetic" articles on Nazism, Hitler, People's Republic of China, and other topics because he "despises" them. In other words, Bauder's subjective world view doesn't allow discussion, and those who "present (...) [Bauder's] nightmares as [their] dreams will get (...) banned from Wikinfo" (Fred Bauder).

Relevant deleted articles Wikinfo would otherwise have retained:

• Daniel Brandt
• Tamara Rotolo
• Nicole Coste
• Fred Bauder
• Critical Views of Fred Bauder
• Wikitruth
• Wikipedia Review
• Broad Criticisms of Wikipedia Review
• Wikipedia Review and holocaust denial
• Prominent Stories released by Wikipedia Review

Sources

• On Fred Bauder (Encyclopedia Dramatica) (link updated 2014)
• internet-encyclopedia.org/index.php/User_talk:Proteus (no longer available)
• Discussion of Nazis on Wikinfo (since deleted and re-discussed)
• internet-encyclopedia.org/index.php/Talk:Nicole_Coste (no longer available)

This article was first imported and adapted on 27 September 2007 from an earlier version of the highly critical Encyclopedia Dramatica article Fred Bauder no longer available from E.D., and the pages "User_talk:Proteus" and "Broad Criticisms of Wikinfo", no longer available from Wikinfo, all under the GNU Free Documentation License.