Wikipedia founder used his website to dump his lover - and SHE used eBay to get revenge

By DAVID GARDNER

Last updated at 08:49 04 March 2008


Rachel Marsden: responded with the Internet-age equivalent of throwing his clothes out on the street

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales got a cyber slap in the face after he used his own online encyclopedia site to dump his lover.

TV pundit Rachel Marsden responded with the Internet-age equivalent of throwing his clothes out on the street – she put his T-shirt and sweater up for sale on eBay.

With centuries of protocol on a dignified ending of a relationship out of the proverbial window, Mr Wales, 41, and 33-year-old Miss Marsden preferred to play out their brief fling online.

Bloggers already had a taste of the Internet icon's lurid instant messages when they appeared on a popular Silicon Valley site.

"Jimbo", as he is known to friends, made a fortune from Wikipedia, the web encyclopedia written and edited by its users that now boasts more than nine million articles in 253 languages.

And he used the popular site to announce on Saturday that he had only met Miss Marsden, a right wing Canadian TV commentator, one time in a "brief relationship" on February 9 and was "no longer involved" with her.

He also denied rumours that he had favourably altered his girlfriend's Wikipedia listing while they were still on good instant messaging terms.

The next day, Miss Marsden posted photos on eBay of herself modelling clothing Mr Wales left behind at her New York flat.

"Hi, my name is Rachel and my (now ex) boyfriend, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, just broke up with me via an announcement on Wikipedia," said the accompanying posting.

"It was such a classy move that I was inspired to do something equally classy myself, so I'm selling a couple of items of clothing he left behind here in my NYC apartment, on eBay.

"Jimbo was supposed to come visit me in a couple of weeks and pick up some of his stuff, but obviously that won't be happening now," she added.

She apologises for her appearance in the modelling photos,adding a PS: "Sorry that my hair is such a mess – I'm in breakup mode right now and really couldn't be bothered."

The couple first met online when Miss Marsden complained that her online profile was full of errors.

This isn't the first problematic romance for Miss Marsden.

In 2004, she was reportedly given a conditional discharge for criminally harassing a Vancouver radio host following their split.

According to The Times, she was also in hot water last September after she allegedly used her blog to accuse a Canadian counter-terrorism officer, with whom she had a two-year relationship, of letting her peek at top secret documents.

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