One of the shortest interviews
Entrepreneur and Wikipedia creator Jimmy Wales gave one of the shortest interviews in the world. He left the Jung & Naiv studio about 50 seconds after the first question—whether he "founded" or "co-founded" Wikipedia.
The host repeatedly asked Wales whether he considered himself the founder or co-founder of Wikipedia. The entrepreneur replied that it didn't matter, but after the fourth time, he couldn't take it anymore and left. Interviews on the channel typically last about an hour.
The old wound is so deep that one of them—Jimmy Wales—fled the interview immediately after this question.
What's the gist of the dispute?
Wales is usually considered a co-founder of Wikipedia, along with Larry Sanger, who left the project in 2002 and has since actively criticized his brainchild, for example, for censorship and "political bias."
Wales responded by editing his own Wikipedia page, removing references to Sanger. He later apologized, but continued to insist that Sanger's role had been exaggerated. Wikipedia itself, however, still lists Wales as a co-founder.
And are they still at odds?
Yes, even though Wales called the dispute "the stupidest in history."
Who founded the encyclopedia, after all?
In 2001, it was Wales who launched Wikipedia through his company Bomis, but Sanger, the editor-in-chief he hired, played a key role in the project's development by suggesting the use of a wiki engine.
