Wikipedia finds itself in 'chaos'

The Internet giant Wikipedia has suddenly been cast in to what employees from within are calling the environment as 'Chaos."

It seems when people are looking for a definition or to learn about someone or something they have turned to Wikipedia for the answer. Many people claim that because the website is user driven that sometimes some of the information contained on the site is inaccurate. Just the same that hasn't stopped people from flocking to the site for answers. Now the website group finds itself in the middle of a firestorm concerning pornographic pictures on the website that their owner and founder, Jimmy Wales, personally removed. He then ordered thousands of more images to be deleted off of the Wikimedia servers. That has caused editors, board members, writers, and others within the Wikimedia family to rebel against Wales for his use of being the "ultimate editor." It was Fox News that first broke the fact that these pictures existed back in late April. Then they also reported the uproar amongst the staff and their turning on Wales. Since then Fox News contact a number of corporations that donate to the Wikimedia Foundation, which runs Wikipedia, and they have since inquired about the nature of images appearing on the website. Some of the corporations that donate to Wikimedia include, Google, Ford Foundation, Microsoft, and Yahoo! to just name a few companies who expressed interest in the allegations. The feeling on Wales' behalf was that the images could be considered pornographic in nature as they show topics including masturbation, sexual acts, and genitalia. These images are not monitored and Wikipedia is available in schools where children can freely access them. Opponents to Wales' actions stated that it flies in the face of what Wikipedia and a free-open "user generated" website is all about. Fox News posted part of an opponent's e-mail that read, "In essence, right now Jimbo is deleting things based on his singular judgment about what should be allowed…. This is a large change and lack of a clear policy creates a very confusing and frustrating environment for editors. (Multiple Commons admins have already stated their intention to resign and/or retire over this.)” Wales has posted his own statement on the Foundations list-serve that read, "Much of the cleanup is done, although there was so much hardcore pornography on commons that there's still some left in nooks and crannies…." He continued by saying, "we were about to be smeared in all media as hosting hardcore pornography and doing nothing about it. Now, the correct storyline is that we are cleaning up. I'm proud to have made sure that storyline broke the way it did, and I'm sorry I had to step on some toes to make it happen. As a result of this Wales has relinquished his top level control over the encyclopedia's content. He can no longer add, delete, edit or do anything to a posting. This same release of control was also done across the parent company's other projects as well. One source told Fox News that Wales had the highest level of control, "he was our leader." Now the source reports that when asked who is in charge, “No one. It’s chaos.”