Fark creator says wisdom of crowds is overrated

Fark.com founder Drew Curtis thinks collecting public input on news or policy issues is vastly overrated.

The chief executive of the humorous news aggregation site said there is far too much emphasis on allowing anyone to comment when most people have nothing of value to say. His remarks came Tuesday at a media conference hosted by the Poynter Institute in Washington.

"The 'wisdom of the crowds' is the most ridiculous statement I've heard in my life. Crowds are dumb," Curtis said. "It takes people to move crowds in the right direction, crowds by themselves just stand around and mutter."

The White House used the Web to reach out to citizens in a variety of ways, including online town halls and allowing users to vote on which questions President Obama will answer via YouTube.

Curtis pointed to his own experience moderating comments on Fark, which allows users to give their often humorous take on the news of the day. He said only one percent of Web comments have any value and called the rest "garbage."

As an example Curtis pointed to the America Speaking Out website recently launched by House Republicans to allow the public to weigh in on the issues and vote for policy positions they support. Curtis called the site an "absolute train wreck."

"It's an absolute disaster. It's impossible to tell who was kidding and who wasn't," Curtis said.

Among the most popular positions as voted by site users are increasing prosecution of illegal aliens, legalizing marijuana and making English the official language of the U.S. Other popular positions include reducing the size of government, repealing "Don't ask, don't tell" and eliminating earmarks and agricultural subsidies.

“To be sure, a casual look at America Speaking Out early on could very well have turned up some of the loyal Fark commentors that Mr. Curtis is so familiar with," said a spokesman for the project. "We have a much less cynical view of the importance of open debate however. That’s why we’ve been encouraging the thoughtful, honest conversations that have come to make up the overwhelming majority of content on America Speaking Out.”

Curtis acknowledged the success of other crowd-sourced endeavors like YouTube or Wikipedia, but said those sites are successful because they have strong leadership and rely on a team of editors to sift the content.

"You need structure, also known as editing," he said.