A key figure in the emergence of Wikipedia has walked out of a podcast after being asked if he was the sole or co-founder of the popular free internet encyclopedia.

Jimmy Wales, who started the site with Larry Sanger in 2001 before the latter’s departure a year later, had settled into his seat to speak with German journalist Tilo Jung last week.

But it it was the beginning of the end when Jung pressed his guest, who introduced himself as the “founder of Wikipedia”.

“Founder or co-founder?” Jung asked.

Wales responded: “I don’t care. It’s the dumbest question in the world.”

Jung said there “seems to be a dispute”, but his guest said “there’s no dispute”.

“I don’t care. So say what you like. It doesn’t matter,” Wales said.

Jung then asked, “what are the facts?”.

“It’s not a fact, it’

See Full Page