Jimmy Wales > Quotes

“Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge.”
― Jimmy Wales

“It has become more important than ever that we teach students how to do research, and how to evaluate different sources of information. (Jimmy Wales, IB World, 68, Sept. 2013, p.10. )”
― Jimmy Wales

“You had a question-..-so you found the relevant page and read it.
You probably do that often, even routinely. You may use Wikipedia every day. Or several times a day. You may read Wikipedia so often you don't notice that what you're reading is Wikipedia.
You may even think that what you’re reading doesn’t come from Wikipedia when it does-because when you do a Google search…you get an answer that looks to a casual observer as if the information comes from Google itself, and only a more careful examination will spot the link to the Wikipedia page that is the true source.”
― Jimmy Wales, The Seven Rules of Trust: A Blueprint for Building Things That Last

“Not thinking about something you rely on is the ultimate expression of trust. Around the world, Wikipedia has achieved that level of trust with an immense number of people”
― Jimmy Wales, The Seven Rules of Trust By Jimmy Wales & Year Of The Slow Burn By Jonas Finch 2 Books Collection Set

“The evidence is overwhelming. Since the 1950s, in countries around the world, researchers have asked people, “Generally speaking, would you say that most people can be trusted, or that you can’t be too careful in dealing with people?” How people answer that simple question is associated with a host of important social markers, like crime rates and education levels. In part, that’s because if you believe most other people will obey the law and pay their taxes and help others, you will be more likely to obey the law and pay your taxes and help others.”
― Jimmy Wales, The Seven Rules of Trust: A Blueprint for Building Things That Last

“Now, you may think this is all kindergarten ethics, right down to the time-out for naught kids. If so, you are correct. … Civility is what people need to establish relationships and cooperate… But civility does not mean-I can’t underscore this strongly enough-minimizing or downplaying disagreements, much less avoiding disagreement altogether. We not only should disagree when we have sincere, thoughtful objections. We must. Disagreements it is how we learn from each other and get smarter together. It is not uncivil to disagree. Civility simply demands that we put the focus on the substance of the disagreement, not on the people disagreeing.”
― Jimmy Wales, The Seven Rules of Trust By Jimmy Wales & Year Of The Slow Burn By Jonas Finch 2 Books Collection Set

“..civility took root at Wikipedia. It grew into a social norm...But sometimes, even the toughest social norms aren’t enough. We found there is always a tiny fraction of people who get a kick out of being rude and abusive, and they won’t stop even when they are asked, politely, to knock it off. Every community has a right and a duty to set expectations for minimum acceptable behavior and enforce standards as a last resort, so we created a system for warnings. Those who ignored the warning could be kicked out briefly. If they came back and kept acting like jerks they got booted for longer. Or even permanently.”
― Jimmy Wales, The Seven Rules of Trust By Jimmy Wales & The 5 Second Shift By Blair Yates 2 Books Collection Set

“Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet has free access to the sum of all human knowledge.”
― Jimmy Wales

“Not thinking about something you rely on is the ultimate expression of trust. Around the world, Wikipedia has achieved that level of trust with an immense number of people.”
― Jimmy Wales, The Seven Rules of Trust: A Blueprint for Building Things That Last

“In those years, (2005) the term "troll" - meaning someone who got his kicks by shocking and outraging others on the Internet-was only starting to enter people's vocabulary, but everyone knew the type. Some small percentage of people delight in causing hurt and dismay. The enjoy vandalizing what others build. ... if an ordinary guy could use Wikipedia to do something awful, imagine what real sociopaths would do.”
― Jimmy Wales, The Seven Rules of Trust: A Blueprint for Building Things That Last

“Wikipedia had to get strangers on the Internet to talk and cooperate. To do that, those strangers had to trust each other. They had to trust that others would not be abusive or uncivil to them. They had to trust that others would not change or erase their contributions without consideration or explanation. They had to trust that others would sincerely listen to what they had to say and really think about it. They had to trust that even when others didn’t agree with them and their views weren’t accepted, they would at least be treated fairly. Only if that trust between volunteers was established-only if there was internal trust-could Wikipedia even get off the ground.”
― Jimmy Wales, The Seven Rules of Trust By Jimmy Wales & The 5 Second Shift By Blair Yates 2 Books Collection Set

“..before Wikipedia became the biggest collection of knowledge in the history of the world, before Wikipedia became the largest encyclopedia ever, it had to overcome its greatest challenge: Wikipedia had to get strangers on the Internet to talk and cooperate.”
― Jimmy Wales, The Seven Rules of Trust By Jimmy Wales & The 5 Second Shift By Blair Yates 2 Books Collection Set