I stumbled across an interesting open letter on Wikipedia today, in which Larry Sanger claimed that Jimbo Wales co-founded Wikipedia with him, rather than being the sole founder. n.b. this letter may no longer appear on the current version of the page, as there are several editors constantly removing it. Larry Sanger has mirrored it on his project’s blog.

The argument is very long and complex, and requires a lot of explanation and opinion, but I am often puzzled as to why Jimbo Wales receives so much credit for Wikipedia.

What is the cause of my puzzlement? Is it Larry Sanger’s disputed role in its foundation? No, it is not. The reason that I am often puzzled is that Jimbo Wales is not really the person we should be thanking for this amazing resource, instead we should be thanking the thousands of editors who voluntarily spend their time maintaining, expanding, correcting and check it.

Jimbo Wales has made a total of 4429 edits to date from when Wikipedia was formed. Editors like me have made more edits (although mine were often very minor) and, to be honest, most active editors will have. Perhaps the idea of a wiki encyclopedia was his, or Larry Sanger’s, but the work has not mainly been put in by them. Still, they are the ones with whom the media are interested.

ReadWriteWeb suggested editors should get paid. I, and most editors, would disagree. We, just like Larry Sanger, want credit. The benevolent dictator is not the only person who warrants it.