WikiPR

Okay, a few questions come to mind over the WikiScandal...

How many people visited the LA Times’ Web site and/or its OpEd pages before last week?

Not many.

And how many people cared about what the LA Times was planning with their Web site or Internet strategy?

Again, not many.

And now?

How many page views have the LA Times' Web site and its OpEd pages received?

A lot.

And – importantly – how many readers will keep returning to the LA Times’ Web site, and its OpEd pages, into the future, because they’ve become fascinated by what Michael Kinsley and company are planning?

A huge lot.

Oh. And one last question. Or two.

Do you really think, after running a quality online service for several years, that Kinsley doesn’t understand what a Wiki is, or how it could be hijacked by “n’er-do-wells”? ("N'er-do-wells" is Craig Newmark's famous term for those evil forces he and his superheroic customer-support team have been fending off for years. Thnk about how much spam you see on Craigslist...now realize how amazing that is.)

Do you really think Kinsley cared if the experiment succeeded? Or is he as happy as can be that it exploded and spread LATimes bits all over the place?

And do you think he's not even happier to be reaping the "network beta-testing effect," having thousands of smart minds across the Internet offering innovative, focus-tested, detailed, and FREE product-development information?

You know the answers to all these questions.

Kinsley knows what an audience is, and he knows precisely how to move it.

The LA Times’ WikiScandal is the best thing a newspaper has done this year to try and save this scandalously sclerotic industry from itself. Bravo.