Editing History of Wikipedia (section)

===Early roles of Wales and Sanger===
{{anchor|Early roles of Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger}}
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Wales, along with others, came up with and funded the idea of an open-source, collaborative encyclopedia that would accept contributions from ordinary people.<ref name="memoirofwiki" /> Sanger played an important role in this as Nupedia's [[editor-in-chief]] and main employee.<ref name="co-founders" /> In Sanger's introductory message to the Nupedia mailing list, he said that Jimmy Wales "contacted me and asked me to apply as editor-in-chief of Nupedia. [...] He had had the idea for Nupedia since at least last fall. He tells me that, when thinking about people (particularly philosophers) he knew who could manage this sort of long-term project, he thought I would be perfect for the job. This is indeed my dream job".<ref name="archive2000">{{Cite web |title=nupedia-l Introduction |url=http://www.nupedia.com/pipermail/nupedia-l/2000-April/000143.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030710141440/http://www.nupedia.com/pipermail/nupedia-l/2000-April/000143.html |archive-date=10 July 2003 |access-date=19 November 2013}}</ref>

Sanger suggested using a wiki to provide a complementary project for people "intimidated and bored" by Nupedia's elaborate processes,<ref name="Wikipedia-l-000671" /> and coined the portmanteau "Wikipedia" as the project name.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Terdiman |first=Daniel |date=21 December 2005 |title=Wikipedia founder modifies his bio |url=https://www.cnet.com/news/wikipedia-founder-modifies-his-bio/#! |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140327233948/http://www.cnet.com/news/wikipedia-founder-modifies-his-bio/#! |archive-date=27 March 2014 |publisher=[[CNET]]}}</ref><ref name="co-founders" /> This was broadly seen as a way to unblock the growing community of Nupedians who found it hard to contribute.<ref name="co-founders" /> Sanger continued to work on Nupedia while contributing to Wikipedia (including drafting policies such as "Ignore all rules"<ref name="Ignore_all_rules">{{Cite news |title=Rules To Consider |work=Ignore all rules |publisher=[[Internet Archive]] |url=http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/RulesToConsider |url-status=dead |access-date=25 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010416035716/http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/RulesToConsider |archive-date=16 April 2001}}</ref> and "Neutral point of view"<ref name="Stacy Schiff" />) and worked with an outreach lead to build up the community of both Nupedia and Wikipedia editors.<ref name="co-founders" /> Upon departure in March 2002, Sanger emphasized the main issue was purely the cessation of funding for his role, which was not viable part-time,<ref name="resignation" /> and encouraged others to continue contributing to Wikipedia while noting that Nupedia could not survive without a full-time editor-in-chief.<ref name="resignation" /> Later that year he stopped contributing to either project, and by 2004 had become publicly critical of Wikipedia. In December 2004 he wrote an essay arguing that Wikipedia was suffering from anti-elitism.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2005-04-18 |title=The Early History of Nupedia and Wikipedia: A Memoir – Slashdot |url=https://features.slashdot.org/story/05/04/18/164213/the-early-history-of-nupedia-and-wikipedia-a-memoir |access-date=2023-08-21 |website=features.slashdot.org |language=en}}</ref> In April 2005 he published a two-part memoir of his work on Nupedia and Wikipedia, highlighting his role in their creation and continuing belief that Nupedia deserved to be saved.<ref name=":1" /> Later that year Wales began to push back on Sanger's characterization of his role in the project.<ref name="Dan_Mitchell_Insider_Editing">{{Cite news |last=Mitchell |first=Dan |date=24 December 2005 |title=Insider Editing at Wikipedia |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/24/technology/24online.ready.html?ex=1293080400&en=431aff478b00239e&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss |url-status=live |access-date=25 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013084516/http://nytimes.com/2005/12/24/technology/24online.ready.html?ex=1293080400&en=431aff478b00239e&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss |archive-date=13 October 2007}}</ref><ref name="Evan Hansen">{{Cite magazine |last=Hansen |first=Evan |date=19 December 2005 |title=Wikipedia Founder Edits Own Bio |url=https://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,69880,00.html |url-status=dead |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |publisher=[[Wired News]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061230053039/http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0%2C1284%2C69880%2C00.html |archive-date=30 December 2006 |access-date=25 March 2007}}</ref><ref name="Seth Finkelstein">{{Cite news |last=Finkelstein |first=Seth |date=12 February 2009 |title=What's in a name? Everything, when you're talking wiki value |work=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2009/feb/12/wiki-answers-wikia |url-status=live |access-date=12 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002212052/http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2009/feb/12/wiki-answers-wikia |archive-date=2 October 2013}}</ref> By 2006, after the launch of Citizendium, Sanger was harshly critical of Wikipedia, describing it as "broken beyond repair."<ref name="Wikipedia 'broken beyond repair' says co-founder">{{Cite news |last=Thomson |first=Iain |date=13 April 2007 |title=Wikipedia 'broken beyond repair' says co-founder |publisher=[[Information World Review]] |url=http://www.iwr.co.uk/information-world-review/news/2187709/wikipedia-broken-beyond-repair |url-status=dead |access-date=15 April 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070426034156/http://www.iwr.co.uk/information-world-review/news/2187709/wikipedia-broken-beyond-repair |archive-date=26 April 2007}}</ref>

In 2005, Wales described himself simply as the founder of Wikipedia;<ref name="Dan_Mitchell_Insider_Editing" /> however, according to [[Brian Bergstein]] of the [[Associated Press]], "Sanger has long been cited as a co-founder."<ref name="co-founders" /> Sanger and Wales were referred to as co-founders in various press releases, interviews, and news reports from 2001<ref name="sanger-NYTimes">{{Cite news |last=Peter Meyers |date=20 September 2001 |title=Fact-Driven? Collegial? This Site Wants You |work=The New York Times |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9800E5D6123BF933A1575AC0A9679C8B63&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fSubjects%2fC%2fComputer%20Software |url-status=live |access-date=18 April 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071226154410/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9800E5D6123BF933A1575AC0A9679C8B63&n=Top%2FReference%2FTimes%20Topics%2FSubjects%2FC%2FComputer%20Software |archive-date=26 December 2007 |quote=It's kind of surprising that you could just open up a site and let people work," said Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia's co-founder and the chief executive of Bomis, a San Diego search engine company that donates the computer resources for the project. "There's kind of this real social pressure to not argue about things." Instead, he said, "there's a general consensus among all of the really busy volunteers about what an encyclopedia article needs to be like.}}</ref> and 2002.<ref name="Yahoo!">{{Cite news |last=Wales |first=Jimmy |date=6 August 2002 |title=3apes open content web directory |work=[[Yahoo!|Yahoo! Tech Groups forum post]] |publisher=[[WebCite]] |url=http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/xodp/message/1720 |url-status=dead |access-date=3 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090408184006/http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/xodp/message/1720 |archive-date=8 April 2009 |quote=I'm Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Nupedia and Wikipedia, the open content encyclopedias.}}</ref> Before January 2004, Wales did not dispute Sanger's status as co-founder.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bishop |first=Todd |date=26 January 2004 |title=Microsoft Notebook: Wiki pioneer planted the seed and watched... |url=https://www.seattlepi.com/business/article/Microsoft-Notebook-Wiki-pioneer-planted-the-seed-1135376.php |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200225123302/https://www.seattlepi.com/business/article/Microsoft-Notebook-Wiki-pioneer-planted-the-seed-1135376.php |archive-date=25 February 2020 |access-date=16 March 2023 |website=Seattle Post-Intelligencer |language=en}}</ref> In 2006, Wales said, "He used to work for me [...] I don't agree with calling him a co-founder, but he likes the title".<ref name="James Niccolai">James Niccolai, [http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=7177 "Wikipedia taking on the vandals in Germany"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071022165415/http://pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=7177 |date=22 October 2007 }}. [[PC Advisor]]. 26 September 2006.</ref> Starting in 2006, when Sanger wrote and was interviewed extensively about the launch of Citizendium, he emphasized his status as co-founder, and these earlier sources that described him as such.<ref name="co-founders">{{Cite news |last=Bergstein |first=Brian |date=25 March 2007 |title=Sanger says he co-started Wikipedia |work=NBC News |agency=Associated Press |url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/17798723 |access-date=28 March 2007 |quote=The nascent Web encyclopedia Citizendium springs from Larry Sanger, a philosophy PhD who counts himself as a co-founder of Wikipedia, the site he now hopes to usurp. The claim doesn't seem particularly controversial – Sanger has long been cited as a co-founder. Yet the other founder, Jimmy Wales, isn't happy about it. |archive-date=5 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005002629/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/17798723/ |url-status=dead }}.</ref><ref name="sanger-NYTimes" /><ref name="Sanger-Technology Review">{{Cite magazine |last=Heim |first=Judy |date=4 September 2001 |title=Free the Encyclopedias! |url=http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/12586/ |magazine=[[Technology Review]] |access-date=25 March 2007}}</ref><ref name="SangerLinks">{{Cite news |last=Sanger |first=Larry |title=My role in Wikipedia (links) |work=larrysanger.org |publisher=Larry Sanger |url=http://www.larrysanger.org/roleinwp.html |url-status=live |access-date=25 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312163901/http://www.larrysanger.org/roleinwp.html |archive-date=12 March 2007}}</ref>