Wikpedia will go offline Wednesday to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), according to Co-Founder Jimmy Wales. Wales made the announcement via a series of tweets.

“This is going to be wow,” reads one tweet. “I hope Wikipedia will melt phone systems in Washington on Wednesday. Tell everyone you know!”

This is going to be wow.I hope Wikipedia will melt phone systems in Washington on Wednesday.Tell everyone you know!

— Jimmy Wales (@jimmy_wales) January 16, 2012

Wales has been mulling the idea of a blackout on his user talk page. Wikipedia joins other major websites, such as Reddit, where a very active anti-SOPA community exists. Wales tweeted that the decision was made by community consensus among Wikipedia users:

@dmonniaux The emerging consensus of the community seems to be for a global blackout of English Wikipedia.

— Jimmy Wales (@jimmy_wales) January 16, 2012

According to another tweet by Wales, Wikipedia English receives approximately 25 million visitors every day. Wikipedia’s decision means those millions of visitors will be greeted not with the usual digital tome of knowledge, but with a screen explaining the company’s stance on the bill and information on how to take action against SOPA. The blackout will only effect the English language page.

“Student warning! Do your homework early,” joked Wales in another tweet. “Wikipedia protesting bad law on Wednesday!”

Student warning!Do your homework early.Wikipedia protesting bad law on Wednesday! #sopa

— Jimmy Wales (@jimmy_wales) January 16, 2012

Late last week, the authors of both SOPA and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) announced they would be removing the DNS blocking provisions from both bills. The DNS acts as a kind of “phone book” for the Internet, and many in the tech community warned that interfering with DNS would have catastrophic consequences for the stability and security of the Internet.

However, many – including Wales – have responded with a whole-hearted “that’s not good enough.” An anti-SOPA rally in New York is still being planned for Wednesday.

Dick Costolo, President of Twitter, tweeted today that “closing a global business in reaction to single-issue national politics is foolish,” perhaps an indication that Twitter will not be following in the footsteps of Wikipedia and Reddit.

Meanwhile, Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News Corporation, went on a Twitter diatribe lambasting the Obama administration for failing to support SOPA.

Do you think Wikipedia made the right choice? Let us know in the comments below.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, gmutlu

More About: Jimmy Wales, PIPA, SOPA, stop online piracy act, wikipedia

No related posts.

the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results. Typically, the earlier a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, and industry-specific vertical search engines. As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work and what people search for. Optimizing a website primarily involves editing its content and HTML coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines. The acronym "SEO" can also refer to "search engine optimizers," a term adopted by an industry of consultants who carry out optimization projects on behalf of clients, and by employees who perform SEO services in-house. Search engine optimizers may offer SEO as a stand-alone service or as a part of a broader marketing campaign. Because effective SEO may require changes to the HTML source code of a site, SEO tactics may be incorporated into web site development and design. The term "search engine friendly" may be used to describe web site designs, menus, content management systems and shopping carts that are easy to optimize.

A Website can have the best design in the whole Internet universe, but if it is "hidden" within layers of "black holes", it becomes the "trash" of the Internet universe. I believe, before creating a Website, we should ask ourselves, why do I need a Website? If the purpose of the Website is to promote a company, one should have, at least, the contact information, the services and/or products descriptions of the company. A personal Website is not so much different, one should also has a profile and "selling" information. After all, who does not want to be visible? SEO is our only way to be visible in the Internet universe. When we do it right, we will be on top of its "mountains". Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is not the easiest nor the hardest thing to do in marketing, yet it is tidies. There are many components involved in the process. From editing HTML codes to its contents. I believe, the most important key of SEO is useful contents, useful contents and useful contents. We can illustrate one as a car that is going downhill. If the car has more contents and its tires are properly installed, the car will get to the bottom of the hill faster than a car with less contents and improperly installed tires. Therefore, more useful contents and better HTML tags are better for SEO. Once the Website is "visible", now it is time to maintain its position. It is not easier task, but it is not hard. Again, it is tidies. At the end of the day, we always need to ask ourselves if "the juice is worth the squeeze". How far are we willing to go to keep our rank on top? We can accomplish this by keeping the "audience" interested in its contents. Provide more useful contents.  Better yet, post more fresh interesting contents daily. People will keep coming back for more when they like what they see and read. Generally, Websites which provide news, reviews or personal blogs are the ones with more traffics. All in all, a Website with no audience can be considered as a "trash" of the Internet universe. It takes many working hours to be visible on Search Engines, but it requires more work to stay on top. It is wining a battle to be visible in a search engine, but keeping up the position is an on going war.

No related posts.

The application is a small piece of software that provides a collection of project management proverbs that will be chosen randomly from a database. Some proverbs are just entertaining and some are really worth thinking about and sometimes they are even very educating. The "Project Manager says" application will conjure a smile on the lips of every stressed Project Manager … Developer: www.itemis.de Category: business

As we all know that there is no "holidays" for learning. We are all learning new things every day. Whether it is "How to peel an apple" or "How to become the best Project Manager". I know of some Project Managers from a various type of industries and am amazed of the things that they have to deal with and things that they have to learn in day-to-day bases. I am not saying that it is the best job to have, but it is one of the most fun jobs to have. According to Wikipedia,

A project manager is a professional in the field of project management. Project managers can have the responsibility of the planning, execution, and closing of any project, typically relating to construction industry, architecture, computer networking, telecommunications or software development. Many other fields in the production, design and service industries also have project managers.

As a Project Manager, you always have to try to find ways to work faster, cheaper, and more efficient. In between of all the tasks, however, you still need to have a relax moment once in awhile. Well, I believe "Project Manager says…" application can lighten your day as a Project Manager or give you an extra knowledge of "What a Project Manager Would Say". Its contents are randomly chosen from its database every time you open the application or simply hit the big-inviting-button in the middle of the screen. Once again, iPhone applications becomes more and more helpful for us to become more productive! … Well, at least, to some of us who has an iPhone …

No related posts.