Wikipedia and Grains of Salt
HatTip: DrudgeEarly on in my Blogging career, I was warned about using Wikipedia an online version of an encyclopedia that is updated and content added by the users – some with dubious “expertise” in the areas they may comment. I was told to take what you find here and base it against two other sources for authenticity. Seems like that advice is sound:
...[S]omebody from a computer traced to Democrat HQ edited a page on conservative American radio host Rush Limbaugh, calling him "idiotic", "ridiculous" and labelling his 20 million listeners as "legally retarded".
But the biggest culprit that the Scanner [of changes to the Wikipedia content] claims to have discovered is Diebold, a supplier of voting machines, which it says has made huge alterations to entries about its involvement in the controversial "hanging chad" election in the US in 2000. The company was criticised in the wake of the disputed results, but edits made by its employees
on Wikipedia have included the removal of 15 paragraphs detailing the
allegations.
"In August 2003 Walden O'Dell, chief executive of Diebold, announced
that he had been a top fundraiser for George W Bush ..." the deleted text read.
"When assailed by critics for the conflict of interest ... he vowed to lower his
political profile." The change, made two years ago, was quickly reversed and
the culprit warned off for "vandalism". A Diebold official was not available for
comment.
There was are allegations that, last year during
former United States Senator George Allen’s (R.,VA) re-election campaign, the
definition of “Macaca” on Wikipedia was edited to reflect it as being a racial
slur against Native Americans. Senator Allen denied he used the word as a slur,
said he was offering it in his context in the same usage as the word "garbage"
or "junk," and that he had no notion of its use as a slur. The "macaca" flap may
not have single-handedly doomed his campaign, but it certainly didn't help.
But the biggest culprit that the Scanner [of changes to the Wikipedia content] claims to have discovered is Diebold, a supplier of voting machines, which it says has made huge alterations to entries about its involvement in the controversial "hanging chad" election in the US in 2000. The company was criticised in the wake of the disputed results, but edits made by its employees
on Wikipedia have included the removal of 15 paragraphs detailing the
allegations.
"In August 2003 Walden O'Dell, chief executive of Diebold, announced
that he had been a top fundraiser for George W Bush ..." the deleted text read.
"When assailed by critics for the conflict of interest ... he vowed to lower his
political profile." The change, made two years ago, was quickly reversed and
the culprit warned off for "vandalism". A Diebold official was not available for
comment.
There was are allegations that, last year during
former United States Senator George Allen’s (R.,VA) re-election campaign, the
definition of “Macaca” on Wikipedia was edited to reflect it as being a racial
slur against Native Americans. Senator Allen denied he used the word as a slur,
said he was offering it in his context in the same usage as the word "garbage"
or "junk," and that he had no notion of its use as a slur. The "macaca" flap may
not have single-handedly doomed his campaign, but it certainly didn't help.
It isn’t outside the realm of possibility for malicious editing at Wikipedia, since those who add/change information at Wikipedia are not necessarily required to have expertise in the area they are commenting on, and it is open to all.
Bottom line: treat anything on the site with a critical eye.
Labels: wikipedia
posted by Alpheus at 9:01 AM
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