Fakepedia Wiki

Introduction
Google and Wikipedia are quickly becoming the most powerful and popular sites on the World Wide Web. Ranked by Alexa Internet Inc. Google and Wikipedia are internationally the first and seventh most popular sites are the web. Both receive billions of page views each month and are the leadi

ng source for information for many people. Both Google and Wikipedia have the potential to be dangerous as they control the information which so may trust. Are Google and Wikipedia worth the information and ease which they offer?

How is Wikipedia and Google so Powerful?
400px|right|What does Google really do?


 * " Wikipedia is the 9th most popular site on the web. Quantcast has them in the 8 spot. So does
 * Alexa, and Compete has them coming in at number 10. They’re the second most downloaded search engine addon for Firefox (after IMDB), and Google Trends shows that Wikipedia has a higher search volume than even perennial web search favorite, Paris Hilton."
 * “The verb "google", was added to the Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary and the Oxford English Dictionary in 2006, meaning “’to use the Google search engine to obtain information on the Internet.’”

Wikipedia currently has a total of 2,874,634 articles, and that’s just in English but a total of 3.1 million articles.

Although there is no set amount of people, approximately eight out of ten people use it and as of march 2008 it accounts for 58.1% of all internet searches in the US according to comScore.

Wikipedia receives about 2.5 billion page views a month, which totals to approximately 60 billion page views a year.

Wikipedia has become one of the most powerful websites due to:

 * Easy access to internet.
 * Many people use google, which more than half the times sends the user Wiki results.
 * People trust it to be relevant and accurate.
 * Wikipedia is growing in popularity and content. Now a days, teens are less likely to open books and more likely to turn to Wikipedia for research and other miscellaneous trivia.
 * "I'll use it to look up one thing but find myself surfing for hours because I'll keep getting sidetracked by the article's links."


 * Wikipedia is offered in many languages to accommodate our diverse world. This makes  it accessible to billions of people and increases the appeal.



Google has become a powerful search engine because:

 * Google allows its users many gigabytes of free storage for mail, but all mail sent and received in Gmail is scanned, so people do not have any privacy.
 * Google collects personal information on everyone.
 * Google has expanded worldwide, and has already started research in genetics and molecular biology.
 * Software + hardware = Googleware, which gives google the most computing power.
 * Google stores the entire web in its database.
 * Google has many other programs attached to it such as google maps, google earch, google images, google videos, etc. All the more applications that attract more users, which adds to its power.

The little things that count:
Why else may people use Google or Wikipedia? easy, its simplicity and its appeal to its users:

in words with 2 buttons, “search” and “I’m feeling lucky today”.
 * Google’s style of searching is simple, the word “Google” on top and a box to type


 * Google appeals to its users is the decorative spin they do to the word “google” on certain holidays such as the pink Google on Mother’s day.
 * Google also offers a translator and is available in a variety of languages. By being able to reach such an expanse of people  Google and Wikipedia guarantee control over their population and dedication  to their sites.
 * Wikipedia on the otherhand, is a little more complex looking but it also has and inviting front page. It has a picture of the Wikipedia globe and one can search with 10 different languages.

These are the little things that appeals to users worldwide.


 * 50.2% of Google's searches has Wikipedia as its first result.

This means that Google thinks that Wikipedia is the most authoritative on most of its searches.

As time goes by, Google and Wikipedia are working together more

What might happen in the future?:

 * Retried CIA agent is claiming that Google is already working with the U.S. government and even the CIA.
 * When such big companies work with the government, it can rapidly get out of hand and turn the U.S. into a totalitarian government.
 * Google Master Plan: any kind of information will be accessible to anybody controlled by Google itself.
 * With information, public or private, all over the web, the Google Master Plan may lead to consequences and problems that the nation may not be able to fix.

How Wikipedia could be bad

 * “Wikipedia has approximately 3.86 mistakes per article”
 * -Educate-youself.org

Wikipedia’s main flaw is its trust in its user that can edit articles. Wikipedia puts too much trust into its users that data can just be made up. Important information such as weapons of mass destruction could easily go on "Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge."

Articles can be easily submitted and edited, but who knows all the articles are reliable and accurate?:
In one incident, One of Bush’s friend inputted fake information on WMD People took this information to be real and the Bush administration was embarrassed with their tampering with “Whakypedia”
 * “Apparently the person was so concerned that people no longer bought the story about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq that he or she took to tampering with the
 * Whackypedia entry.”

But what if the info on WMD was actually real? Other countries could search crucial security information on the U.S. if one was to stupidly post and article on Wikipedia.

In another more serious case:
An article on Wikipedia previously stated that JFK and his brother’s assassination were linked to a journalist named John Seigenthaler.


 * "For a brief time, he was thought to have been directly involved in the Kennedy assassinations of both John and his brother Bobby. Nothing was ever proven."

What Wikipedia is capable of doing, is to change the past without knowing it. People make articles everyday. What if one decided to make up a rticles of a made up war? IF no one is oppose it, the war could easily turn “true” and the past altered.

What could result from fake articles are the numerous arrests of innocent people. Since Wikipedia is depended and trusted by many, most of its content will be taken seriously by users and even the media

== How Google could be Bad ==


 * All mail sent and received in Gmail is scanned, which means any data sent by gmail, important or not, is seen and kept by Google.
 * Also, Google collects personal information on everyone.

As mentioned in  "How is Wikipedia and Google powerful ":
 * Google has expanded worldwide, and has already started research in genetics and molecular biology.
 * Right now, Google is collecting personal information on everyone through email, cookies, and account information.
 * Retried CIA agent is claiming that Google is already working with the US government and even the CIA.
 * If Google is pro-choice it might essentially “hide” information corresponding  to pro-life articles by placing it on the twentieth page of the search  results. Thus, forming a population of Google-like thinkers.
 * If Google is pro-choice it might essentially “hide” information corresponding  to pro-life articles by placing it on the twentieth page of the search  results. Thus, forming a population of Google-like thinkers.

If one is to rule with Google on the government, it could easily have control of the nation because of its info on everybody. With this power, Google is creating accurate and detailed documents of everybody.

With the CIA behind its back, the government and Google could easily enforce its actions if they turn totalitarian. Google could easily become a worldwide superpower that controls the nation or even the world. Since they have personal information on everyone, they could organize people into groups and eliminated the unfavorables. Since the

y are already working with the government, the government could easily turn into a totalitarian government with information on everyone coming from their research in genetics and molecular biology. The government would know everything about everyone, leaving no one with any privacy, horrifyingly close to the situation in 1984.

With multiple add-on programs such as Google maps, Google images, etc. Google could be used for almost anything. Other programs and competition would be utterly destroyed and Google would be utilized as a dominating company over all its users.

What could the future be like?
If any of you ever read 1984, (which I’m sure you have) then the setting of that book may very well relate to the possible situation that may occur in the future.

If Wikipedia was to work with the government along with google, results may be catastrophic.


 * Wikipedia can act like the "Ministry of Truth", changing the history and past with crazy people always editing articles. Google, on the other hand, could be like big brother andalways relates to Wikipedia.

To put it simply, here is a picture of what the future could be like if Google, Wikipedia, and the government(along with the CIA) were to work together with evil intentions.

The Good Stuff :

 * They are some of the most well-known websites, and are therefore trusted by millions.
 * Its power is unmatchable, and the collaboration between the two make them even more in control of what we see.
 * It is technology and science so great that it benefits mankind in almost every aspect of life. From Home to School to Work, "Google-Pedia" (including all sub Wikia sites) give information on almost everything.

It is "A necessary Evil":

 * "GooglePedia", with all of its power, can be easily abused, with Wikipedia's "Anyone can edit!" capabilities.

If it is not kept in check, it could prove to be very dangerous. Abuse can also lead to propoganda possibilities, in which "Google-Pedia" can have almost a monopoly on internet obtained information. See True False Quiz

All the same, "Google-Pedia" is very beneficial, it is a great source of information, but it should be kept under check.