Last year, just as I was making preparations to attack the biggest bird I had ever come across (ie. before Christmas), Wikipedia founder Jimbo Wales said that he would create a Google killer.
One year has passed, with plenty of hyperbole and ridicule, mixed in with impatience and Wikia-confusion, but it looks like the time is nigh (given the emphasis on the word “private” I wasn’t gonna post this, but indeed this email is public, ’tis the actual beta that is meant to remain private, fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la):
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Jimmy Wales <jwales@wikia.com>
Date: Dec 23, 2007 10:04 PM
Subject: [Search-l] private pre-alpha invites available
To: “search-l@wikia.com” <search-l@wikia.com>
Ping me if you want one…. we’re launched. 
I’m going to be letting people in slowly over the next few days and we
are aiming for a January 7th public launch. We want to run over the
system with help from people to complain about what is broken…
Best way to ask is by email, but please don’t be offended if I don’t
answer right away. I am expecting a bit of a flood here.
–Jimbo
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See our previous coverage here: Can a For-Profit Search Engine Be Too Open and Transparent to Succeed?
Here’s a Prediction for 2008: a Google shuffle is around the corner and the one most affected will be Wikipedia.org’s results.
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