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12/12/2005: "ESR takes on Wikipedia"

Eric Raymond is now editing his own Wikipedia page.


The essay "Shut up and show them the code" was not received "derisively" at its time of publication; this is a back-reading in light of criticisms that were directed at me later. In fact, that whole paragraph on my claim to be a "core Linux developer" repeats claims that are easily falsified by a look at my software page. At least five of my projects (fetchmail, gpsd, ncurses, bogofilter, giflib/libungif) are carried in the core portions of major Linux disributions, and I have made significant contributions to over a dozen other such projects including Python, groff, and lbpng.


Uh huh. See, even Raymond knows that he has no code in 'linux' (the kernel). I love the retort he received on the Wiki Talk page:

In your defense of your "core Linux developer" claim, I'm not convinced by your reference to your software page. Fetchmail was not wholly yours, and is known for it's bad security holes and your maintainership and shelving of it is criticised. Gpsd - never heard of it. Ncurses, ok, that's a significant project, used and respected, someone should check how much you contributed to it, but I expect your contribution will indeed be significant. Bogofilter, didn't you write v0.1 and hand it off to another group who went on to criticise the code? giflib - that's a useful program.
[...]
Your style, useful in politics but not in Wikipedia, is based on getting a Win, not on correctness. You display this when you ask for a defense from "Anybody who wishes to claim that my technical contributions have been trivial" - when triviality was not the accusation, not being a "core Linux developer" was the accusation. Secondly you make a mine's bigger than your's request that Wikipedians wishing to correct this article must first prove they've coded more than you? That is not at all required of Wikipedians, just as you can edit Wikipedia without having to show that you've contributed as much as any other Wikipedian.