
Andrew Leonard has a fascinating article on Salon examining the hidden “edit wars” taking place behind the seemingly placid façade of Wikipedia, the collaborative online encyclopaedia. It is an extraordinary account of how personal vendettas pursued through Wikipedia can be taken to the most extreme of degrees, involving the use of fake online personae, sock-puppets and other means of hiding true identities. I’d strongly recommend a read for anyone who has ever used Wikipedia – and that would be the majority of web users. All is not as it seems…
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Excellent story – I’ve seen this happen all too often on Wikipedia. I’ve lost a lot of faith in the site because of unscrupulous politicians who have their minions keep their pages scrubbed of any negative information, and also bash people who try to add in facts that put the politician in a less-than flattering light.
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Very true. Though some Irish politicos do it old style. Enjoy! 😉
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A certain Irish Blog commentator of a contarian bent is always quoting Wikipedia as though its a authority on Irish Politics. Mabe Sammy should think again.
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😉
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Sorry that should be maybe.
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