05.13.2014 05:28 PM

Wikipedia is threatening legal action if I don’t take this down (updated)

Come and get me, wikidiots.

UPDATE: For those wondering what the problem is: for years, a loon in Ottawa has for years “vandalized” (to use Wikipedia’s terminology) the “Warren Kinsella” page, using fake names. I don’t even think I deserve a Wikipedia page, but the Wikidiots feel otherwise.

Anyway: for laughs, a friend developed a Wikipedia page about me containing just the facts, ma’am. I link to it. So do others. Wikipedia has apparently seen it, and today sent me a legal letter, demanding it be taken down.

So I plan to make them a deal: deal with the so-called vandalism by the guy in Ottawa (or just eliminate me as an entry), and I’ll take down the mock page. Until then, they can both fuck off.

.

29 Comments

  1. Lance says:

    Please forgive the dimness on my part, but I seem to be missing something; take what down, exactly? They want YOU to take down a wiki page about YOURSELF? If so, why?

    • Lance says:

      Okay, I just read everything there about you. Unless I am missing something, it all looks factual, stuff that happened, etc. What am I missing?

      • Chris says:

        Warren is hosting a replica of a wikipedia page on his site, using the trademark name and logo of wikipedia. I assume that is what they have a problem with.

        • TrueNorthist says:

          It’s kinda like the company that made the mirror in your bathroom claiming copyrite on the reflected image.

  2. Bill says:

    Per wiki: “In 2014, Kinsella was revealed as the director of the war room of Toronto mayoralty candidate Olivia Chow.”

    Is this true, and who revealed it.. wikileaks? Have you officially gone over to the Dipper Dark Side?

  3. Robert Doucette says:

    If you got a message from “wikipedia” threatening legal action, you’re probably being trolled. Ignore it.

    • 7d2s says:

      Idiot, wikipedia is a corporate entity that makes millions from donations and costs next to nothing to actually keep running. Suing people for MONEY is what Jimbo Wales lives for.

  4. !o! says:

    Although the text used on wikipedia itself is like open source and can be reused/modified etc. as per https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/, the formatting, wikipedia logo itself etc. are proprietary.

    It’s probably a trademark thing… http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Trademark_policy, specifically section 5.1, which prohibits the creation of websites that mimics the “look and feel” of a wikimedia site, and specifically applies to imitation articles.

    • Rob says:

      And yet Wikipedia provides their software for free so anyone can create their own wiki, the default theme being that used by Wikipedia. Doesn’t make any sense.

      • !o! says:

        yeah I see the point, though, they would probably say that the distinction is that it’s fine if you’re making ‘a’ wiki, but not fine if you’re passing something off as being from wikipedia.

        I’m all for the insane distant descendants of American Gods from Ottawa to have their hands tied so they can’t spread their insane ramblings, but I can also kinda see wikipedia’s point.

      • doconnor says:

        Maybe its just the logo that they have a problem with. The default logo for MediaWiki is different.

        Because it the logo on this page uses the image from Wikipedia’s server, they can tell which pages are using it just by someone viewing it on a web browser, and if it is an unauthorized one, they can take action.

  5. Ron Waller says:

    Why? What’s the problem? Do you need someone else to publish it?

  6. Matt says:

    Maybe it’s the crappy device I’m using now to view the wiki page (sometimes all the features/text of a webpage doesn’t load) but I’m having a difficult time seeing anything they would find objectionable.

    What’s their problem?

    • Al in Cranbrook says:

      I think it’s the part where he ran in the election and lost to a Reform candidate. Too much information. 🙂

  7. Ridiculosity says:

    Counter-sue the bastards for defamation of character. (No Wiki Page = No Discernible Character/ Career.)

  8. Campbell says:

    I assume the problem is that the “authentic” wikipedia article (found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Kinsella) contains text that is different. Wikipedia is likely concerned because a reasonable person viewing Warren’s imitation, wherein he controls the content, could be led to believe that the content of that webpage is actually the same as content of the Wikipedia article about him (which it isn’t, quite). That and Warren seems to have borrowed their logo/look and feel.

  9. Just askin' says:

    Would you have grounds to sue Wikipedia for defamation on the basis that they are knowingly facilitating the same?

  10. Michael says:

    I was going to write that I’d never seen the other site. As it turns out, I’ve only ever seen the vandalized site. The real one is much better. Wikipedia’s actions demonstrate what happens when bureaucrats try to manage intelligent activity.

  11. Philippe says:

    Damn Warren you’re getting angry & crusty in your old age. 🙂

  12. Cameron Prymak says:

    Timely – given the European news regarding Google keeping old or inaccurate data around.

  13. Kre8tv says:

    Brother, you sure attract the weirdest kinds of adversaries.

  14. Bill MacLeod says:

    “Until then, they can both fuck off.”

    You have such a lawyerly way of putting things. 😉

    Too bad you retired. (I think.) If I ever need a lawyer, you’d be high on my list.

    Regards,

    Bill

  15. The Stig says:

    Having read over the ‘official’ Wikipedia page, I don’t see anything outlandish. What are you current objections to the content on Wikipedia?

  16. e.a.f. says:

    it doesn’t matter what they say as long as they spell your name right. O.K. perhaps not always, but doesn’t Wiki have something else to do. Perhaps it is all furthence of a hoax much like the Wiki page. The deal however, is a good one, which the real Wiki will most likely not pick up on. If they do, they will have set a precident for being factual.

    In the grand scheme of things, who cares. Get Olivia elected, and ensure Hudak isn’t elected. Then you can get on with a personal life.

  17. VC says:

    Every time I go on Wikipedia I am faced with a banner that is begging for donations so that wiki can stay afloat; I doubt Wikipedia can afford anything beyond a demand letter, much less the full course of litigation.

  18. smelter rat says:

    Is the original being managed by the guy who was going to send you to prison a few months back?

  19. socks clinton says:

    Is this the same Ottawa loon whom a number of years ago added himself and you as writers to the children show Barney the Dinosaur on the Internet Movie Database. Fortunately IMDB has a low tolerance for data vandalism and those entries have been quickly removed. Since then one has appeared on George Stroumboulopoulos’s The Hour and the other still remains a nobody.

  20. Bob the builder says:

    I’m a loser.

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