I weigh in on eBay's new wiki.

Earlier this week I was interviewed by an Agence France-Presse reporter for a wire story about eBay's new wiki.

A wiki is a website that allows users to compile, organize, and edit a body of information freely, without editorial oversight. Wikipedia is the best example. It's got far more entries than any encyclopedia, and it has been created by its users.

eBay's wiki will allow eBay users to contribute to a compendium of knowlege about the online auction. I imagine that it will be seeded with basic buying and selling tips and eventually grow more detailed, to the point where it may someday be a place where one can find, for instance, the most reliable way to ship large packages to Bosnia.

The AFP reporter wanted to know whether the eBay wiki would be the useful in stopping frauds like the ones I was involved in perpetrating on eBay. I was skeptical about this. Even if the wiki eventually includes detailed information about how to avoid buying fake art, most users will not read these tips before buying.

AFP, by the way, is the world's third-largest news wire service, after AP and Reuters. The article, which came out late Tuesday evening was called "eBay auctioneer eBay adds 'wiki' for online selling tips," was picked up by dozens of newspapers and websites around the world, including the Sydney Morning Herald, Yahoo News, and CNN.

I was thrilled to be able to contribute my two cents.