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The editors of the popular Internet encyclopedia, Wikipedia, voted against recognizing non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as an art form.
The debate began back in late December, and the platform launched several polls to find out how users feel about the new milestone in the crypto industry. The questions were mainly about the most expensive token sales and whether NFT art sales could be called “art sales” or “NFT sales”.
“Wikipedia really can’t decide what counts as art and what isn’t, so the debate continues,” wrote the editor of jonas.
Most of the talk has centered on the question of whether NFT is an art, or is it just an electronic token separated from it. Editors are unable to resolve this dispute because, as they explain, they lack reliable information from which to draw a conclusion.
As for the discussion of the editors-in-chief, 5 of them opposed the inclusion of non-fungible tokens in the sale of works of art, and only one expressed support. On January 12, an agreement was reached to remove sales such as the $ 91 million NFT Pak collection and the $ 69 million NFT Beeple from the list of top-selling artworks, and reopen the discussion at a later date.
The decision seems controversial, especially when you look at NFT Beeple’s “Everydays: The First 5000 Days,” which features a collage of original works by a renowned digital artist sold at the prestigious Christie’s art auction last March. The New York Times also named Beeple the “third best-selling artist” alive.
According to Wikipedia’s rules, no unanimity or voting is required to form consensus. In order to reach a decision, the consensus must take into account all legitimate concerns of the participating editors that fall under the platform’s policies.
What’s going on on Wikipedia?
However, the consensus position was disliked by the only NFT-supporting editor, Pmmccurdy, who argued:
“How can we reach a consensus if from the very beginning I was in favor of including NFT on this list. Overwhelming evidence from secondary sources places NFT art as art and therefore deserves to be included in this list. “
“If we agree that Beeple and Pak are artists, why aren’t their sales counted on this list? I don’t understand the logic here, ”he added.
The SiliconRed editor responded that the consensus they read was: “NFT should be removed from this list for now with the intention of reopening the discussion at a later date. As far as I understand, this includes all concerns, including yours. “
NFT proponents like Nifty Gateway co-founder Griffin Cock Foster were annoyed by the issue, tweeting today that:
“It’s pretty confusing – Wikipedia mods are trying to say that * no * NFT can be art – for example, if it is NFT, it cannot be classified as art.”
Everipedia, the decentralized counterpart of Wikipedia on Web3, responded to the platform by comparing its approach to NFT and art:
“Everipedia editors have created over 100 pages of #NFT collections, while Wikipedia is moving towards labeling NFT as ‘not art’ on its platform. It’s time for NFT projects to move on to Everipedia $ IQ, a Web 3.0 encyclopedia that supports art and innovation. “
This is not the first time Wikipedia has had trouble communicating cryptographic information. In September 2020, anti-crypto activist and Wikipedia senior editor David Gerard helped remove an entry regarding Australian blockchain software company Power Ledger.
Gerard stated that the post was removed on the grounds that “this is a bunch of press releases and the only genuine press coverage was that the Power Ledger was a scam,” even though the entry was sourced from reputable outlets such as TechCrunch and The Economic.
Posted by Newt Salamander, Analyst at Freedman Club Crypto News
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