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See Who's Editing Wikipedia: Diebold, the CIA, a Campaign
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by NotPhil | August 14, 2007 at 06:47 am
710 views | 54 Recommendations | 5 comments
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Inspired by news last year that Congress members' offices had been editing their own [Wikipedia] entries, Griffith says he got curious, and wanted to know whether big companies and other organizations were doing things in a similarly self-interested vein. ...The result: ... a search tool that traces IP addresses of those who make Wikipedia changes ... [and] a database of 5.3 million edits, performed by 2.6 million organizations or individuals ranging from the CIA to Microsoft to Congressional offices, now linked to the edits they or someone at their organization's net address has made.
Some of this appears to be transparently self-interested, either adding positive, press release-like material to entries, or deleting whole swaths of critical material.
Visit the Wikipedia Scanner and do some sleuthing. Post what you find here on our wall of shame, ... [and] lay bare the ego-editing and anonymous flacking on the site.
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (5)
at 07:33 on August 14th, 2007
Another salvo in the information war. I wonder if the Wikipedia community can keep up with and correct "5.3 million [anonymous] edits, performed by 2.6 million organizations"
at 11:44 on August 14th, 2007
Good stuff.
at 13:57 on August 14th, 2007
I think that's just a proof for something that was always known. I even managed to track down a local poltician editing his entry in Wikipedia.
at 14:31 on August 14th, 2007
NotPhil, thanks for posting this. I agree with kkaefer that it is something that was always lurking, but these specifics are pretty alarming. I think that Wikipedia entries should be taken on the same level as Press Releases or gossip--there may be grains of truth in there, but it's either buffed to a sheen or twisted to serve someone else's needs.
at 17:56 on August 14th, 2007
wait a minute...but everyone is allowed to edit wikipedia - thats its basis - social editing. I can go and edit any page I want, so can you. You can change what I put in, I can change anyone elses....
So what's the problem??
at 13:02 on August 15th, 2007
Yes but at least it allows others with knowledge of the subject to contribute to it.
What you are talking about is edits no the original article being posted
In that regard NP and many similar sites are no better - at least WP allows edits - NP does not
at 17:42 on August 15th, 2007
you misundertand - this thread is about editing of wikipedia contributions, nothing else.
at 19:12 on August 15th, 2007
LOL - yes we don't want rivers flowing backwards...
To discuss other angles, start a new topic - basic forum rules in every forum in the universe. Easy.
at 18:04 on August 14th, 2007
Not an inspiring example of "crowd-powered" info. At least NowPublic seems able to herd its many cats.