Re: Wikipedia extolled as an aide for getting history correct

[J Leslie Turriff <jlturriff@mail.com>]

	Indeed, the failure of Wikipedia to differentiate references to the kernel (Linux) and
OSs that depend on it (GNU/Linux et al) is unfortunate.  Many people, including those who
actually use Linux-based systems, are wont to use 'Linux' as a short-hand for GNU/Linux*;
and there are many who aren't aware of the distinction at all, which is where this
shortcoming of the Wikipedia article is particularly unfortunate.

Leslie

*Me too.

On 2022-06-16 16:46:42 Akira Urushibata wrote:
> An article appeared in Washington Post's opinion section praising
> Wikipedia's service to democracy by providing objective information
> on the history of Russia and Ukraine and related issues.
>
> Russian President Vladimir has made claims that Ukraine is run by
> Nazists and they need to be eradicated.  He also believes that
> Ukraine should not be independent from Moscow.  Upon hearing such
> statements many people in democratic societies headed to Wikipedia
> to examine their veracity.  Relevant articles saw a sharp increase
> in page views.
>
> ---
>
> Wikipedia acts as a check on Putin's false view of history
> https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/05/31/wikipedia-hitler-putin-la
>vrov/ Perspective by Noam Cohen
>
>   ...
>
>   Since the Russian invasion, the English Wikipedia articles about the
>   historical figures and topics Putin invoked have been racking up
>   pop-star numbers. The article about Stepan Bandera, a far-right leader
>   of Ukrainian nationalists before and during World War II - whom Putin
>   sees as an evil force guiding Ukraine even today - has been viewed a
>   million times since the invasion. The one about the Ukrainian Soviet
>   Socialist Republic, an obscure entity within the Union of Soviet
>   Socialist Republics that Putin sees as having enabled Ukraine's
>   current separate political identity, has had more than a half-million
>   views since the invasion. Also with Bandera-type numbers is the
>   article about Kievan Rus' (just under a million views), the ancient
>   kingdom led by Vladimir the Great (225,000).
>
>   ...
>
> ---
>
> A world with an impartial source of information is far healthier than
> one in which only disparate narratives from two competing entities are
> heard.
>
> However, my personal observation of Wikipedia makes me doubt whether
> it deserves as much praise as Noam Cohen suggests.
>
> Occasionally I take a look at the Wikipedia article on the "Linux"
> operating system.  It is constantly edited.  At times I have seen
> efforts to eradicate or minimize the role of GNU.  Here are the
> first two paragraphs of the current version of the article:
>
>    Linux is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based
>    on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on
>    September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged
>    in a Linux distribution.
>
>    Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system
>    software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU
>    Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their
>    name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name "GNU/Linux" to
>    emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
>
> It is true that FSF uses the name "GNU/Linux" but the way it is
> phrased gives people the impression that FSF is but an isolated voice
> among computer specialists.  This is a factual error.  For example
> there is "Debian GNU/Linux" developed by an organization independent
> from FSF.  Moreover in numerous technical documents I encounter the
> term "GNU/Linux" used by people who are obviously not affiliated to
> FSF, in contexts where it is necessary to distinguish between the
> kernel and the operating system.  Wikipedia, while putting emphasis on
> the desires of FSF, fails to make clear that people have practical
> reasons for saying "GNU/Linux."  Failure to say that not everybody who
> says "GNU/Linux" is prodded by FSF is a factual error.  Failure to
> mention that people need to distinguish the kernel from the OS is
> yet another.
>
> Wikipedia may have helped thwart Russian President Putin's efforts to
> rewrite history but it has been less successful in getting operating
> system history straight.
>
> I know of other instances of questionable quality.  Certain articles
> on WW2 subjects exhibit stark differences in the Japanese page and the
> English page.  It is easy to imagine this happening where disputes
> surround the subject matter.  But I have also seen contradictions in
> figures for which controversy is not known to exist.  Japanese and
> English Wikipedia pages on Japanese capital warships at times disagree
> on the number of casualties at the time of sinking.  For the Shinano,
> the world's largest aircraft carrier at the time, the difference is
> 644.
>
> Nowadays machine translation is widely available and Wikipedia encourages
> its use.  If people who edit Wikipedia articles don't always check
> the facts with the help of machine translation, it may well be that
> they do not examine available references either.
>
> ---
>
> Discussions of free software often presume that promotion is a good
> thing.  The eagerness to promote may shove other aspects aside.
>
> Even in a world with no proprietary software, people may suffer from
> lack of freedom.  Computers are useful because they are accurate.
> When fed false data, computers produce misleading output.
>
> Imagine the captain of a sinking ship who is not sure how many
> passengers are on board, or the capacity of each lifeboat.  Delays in
> evacuation may put lives at risk.  An accurate computer running free
> software won't help the captain if he does not have faith in the data
> therein.  And when a person dies, loss of freedom is total and
> irreversible.  The survivors are better off but also suffer from
> dimininished freedom caused by physical and mental injuries and loss
> of belongings.
>
> Now consider an industrial setting.  False figures lead to defects.
> Money, effort and time are spent dealing them instead of production
> or development.  False figures take away the organization's freedom.
>
> As important as the promotion of free software are efforts to ensure
> that false facts and figures are not supplied as input to the systems.
>
> ---
>
> Has anybody been monitoring the Wikipedia article on the "Linux"
> operating system?  As stated above I notice that it is constantly
> evolving.  I see the need to examine the article and the "GNU/Linux"
> naming ordeal from an objective perspective.
>
>
>
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