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Yet Another Wikipedia Scandal

AngelHedgieAngelHedgie Registered User regular
edited July 2007 in Debate and/or Discourse
...but this time, the stakes are much higher. Where as the infamous Essjay scandal was just about a moron who lied about his credentials, this one strikes a lot deeper, and is a lot darker - it seems that there is some questions that a top admin may be a spook. And considering how Wikipedia's handling this (not well at all), this could get really ugly.

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    JinniganJinnigan Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    isn't this, like, the CIA's job?

    Jinnigan on
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    DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    Jinnigan wrote: »
    isn't this, like, the CIA's job?

    Except that the person in question purportedly works for MI5, a British organization.

    You get an F-- in Reading Comprehension.

    DarkPrimus on
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    NakedElfNakedElf Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    Okay, someone who might have worked for MI5 two decades ago is a Wikipedia administrator... So? How is this a scandal? Are employees of intelligence agencies forbidden from contributing to the Wikipedia or something?

    It may be a shocking thought, but these people do have lives and interests beyond their jobs...

    NakedElf on
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    ege02ege02 __BANNED USERS regular
    edited July 2007
    I don't really see what the big deal is.

    ege02 on
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    AngelHedgieAngelHedgie Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    NakedElf wrote: »
    Okay, someone who might have worked for MI5 two decades ago is a Wikipedia administrator... So? How is this a scandal? Are employees of intelligence agencies forbidden from contributing to the Wikipedia or something?

    It may be a shocking thought, but these people do have lives and interests beyond their jobs...

    The problem is that she's a notoriously aggressive admin - she's well known for forcing her views into several articles, and banning anyone who even thinks of opposing her. When the two are put together, the question comes up of whether or not her work in Wikipedia was at the direction of a foreign power.

    AngelHedgie on
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    electricitylikesmeelectricitylikesme Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    NakedElf wrote: »
    Okay, someone who might have worked for MI5 two decades ago is a Wikipedia administrator... So? How is this a scandal? Are employees of intelligence agencies forbidden from contributing to the Wikipedia or something?

    It may be a shocking thought, but these people do have lives and interests beyond their jobs...

    The problem is that she's a notoriously aggressive admin - she's well known for forcing her views into several articles, and banning anyone who even thinks of opposing her. When the two are put together, the question comes up of why not just get rid of her anyway.
    Fix'd.

    electricitylikesme on
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    QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    The article itself links to a better one explaining that this particular admin may have been purposely fucking with the information to plant false information.

    Supposing it's true, I'd be angry but not entirely surprised.

    Edit: Also, the above. I've seen the way proper edits work in Wiki and there's no room for aggressiveness. The whole thing's hippy passive.

    Quid on
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    ShoggothShoggoth Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    Well that is fucking lame.

    Shoggoth on
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    NakedElfNakedElf Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    Agreed. If someone's being a dick admin, that's good enough grounds for removal in my book.

    But I guess the question people really want answers to is 'Did MI5 place her there on purpose?'

    Personally, I'd say probably not. It's likely this is just her personality shining through on a project which interested her because of its relevance to her work. I imagine MI5 has more important things to occupy itself with like trying to gather intelligence on Iraqi guerrillas before they kill British troops than wasting time editing Wikipedia articles.

    Of course, people have been known to do some exceptionally stupid things before, so it could be that MI5 is also being run by morons.

    NakedElf on
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    QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    That is true. I've made a couple edits about Camp Bucca/NPDB2 since I just happen to know about them. Not because I am trying to plant information.

    Or am I?

    Quid on
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    electricitylikesmeelectricitylikesme Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    Quid wrote: »
    That is true. I've made a couple edits about Camp Bucca/NPDB2 since I just happen to know about them. Not because I am trying to plant information.

    Or am I?
    It's me. I deleted all the pages on the Illuminati. I'm 'da spy in 'da op.

    electricitylikesme on
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    siliconenhancedsiliconenhanced __BANNED USERS regular
    edited July 2007
    Wait, this isn't about the fact there's 13 year old admins on the site, one of which blocked Steven Colbert's account until he gets invited on the show?

    Or about how there's idiots who claim to know more about what happened with the USS Liberty then the actual survivor's themselves?

    Ah well. Not shocking.

    siliconenhanced on
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    MrMisterMrMister Jesus dying on the cross in pain? Morally better than us. One has to go "all in".Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    Wikipedia is the vanity press. Even if it were true that MI5 were messing with it, what sort of scandal would that be?

    MrMister on
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    VeegeezeeVeegeezee Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    It would really only be scandalous insofar as the public might continue to trust Wikipedia for accurate information, which anybody paying attention shouldn't be doing in the first place at this point. I'm not even averse to a little Wikiscandal if it puts things into perspective.

    Veegeezee on
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    The CatThe Cat Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited July 2007
    this is still far less scandal per head than any government ever, lets put things in perspective. At most, it reveals a problem with wiki's admin structure, in that it appears to be inordinately difficult to ditch anyone who reaches that point and then turns to the dark side.

    The Cat on
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    -SPI--SPI- Osaka, JapanRegistered User regular
    edited July 2007
    MrMister wrote: »
    Wikipedia is the vanity press. Even if it were true that MI5 were messing with it, what sort of scandal would that be?
    A scandal that MI5 is wasting UK taxpayer's money dicking around on wikipedia instead of doing something productive.

    -SPI- on
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    stiliststilist Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    The problem here is that the average person has no reason to distrust Wikipedia. If an administrator is deliberately editing articles to insert falsehoods, I fail to see how this is something that can be casually ignored.

    stilist on
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    jungleroomxjungleroomx It's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovels Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    Wikipedia may not be the most partial or accurate place to get your information?

    You don't say.


    I'm sorry, but this really doesn't change my view on Wiki... nice place to visit, horrible place to base your college paper sources on. If anything this kind of reinforces the fact that my sociology professor isn't the prick everyone made him out to be ("No Wiki referencing").

    jungleroomx on
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    Pants ManPants Man Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    Wikipedia may not be the most partial or accurate place to get your information?

    You don't say.

    no dude, it used to be the best possible source of information about EVERYTHING, but then this one lady screwed it all up and only now is it a bloated and ultimately useless open-source online information repository.

    Pants Man on
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    ShoggothShoggoth Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    So much wiki hate.

    Boo hoo I can't cite it in my research paper.

    Shoggoth on
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    ShintoShinto __BANNED USERS regular
    edited July 2007
    I don't care about this.

    This is not a subjective statement, but a reflection of the unquestionable objective truth that this does not matter at all.

    Shinto on
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    electricitylikesmeelectricitylikesme Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    Shoggoth wrote: »
    So much wiki hate.

    Boo hoo I can't cite it in my research paper.
    ^ This. The amount of retarded about "but you can't use it in a research paper" is simply staggering. With the type of access to journals a uni gives you I routinely search for answers to simple questions using SciFinder just to enjoy how much awesome information I can get.

    electricitylikesme on
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    Pants ManPants Man Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    Shoggoth wrote: »
    So much wiki hate.

    Boo hoo I can't cite it in my research paper.

    God, i wouldn't cite wikipedia for anything legit if you tied me up, poured barbeque sauce on me, and threw me into a komodo dragon exhibit

    using any sort of encyclopedia as a reference is generally a bad idea, but an online open-source encyclopedia? uuugghhhhhhhh

    and the citation thing has merit because seriously, it's one thing to look something to the get the general gist of a subject, but no real understading is going to come from reading a wikipedia article. you're not an "expert" because you read a bunch of online sources, you're just some dude who has read some online sources. wikipedia is nice and shiny and a good place to find out about stuff you may not have known about before. as a place to create a base of knowledge though, it's utter crap.

    there's an article on "glomping" for fuck's sake

    Pants Man on
    "okay byron, my grandma has a right to be happy, so i give you my blessing. just... don't get her pregnant. i don't need another mom."
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    GoodOmensGoodOmens Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    Pants Man wrote: »
    Wikipedia may not be the most partial or accurate place to get your information?

    You don't say.

    no dude, it used to be the best possible source of information about EVERYTHING, but then this one lady screwed it all up and only now is it a bloated and ultimately useless open-source online information repository.

    Shit, man. And me with my Master's thesis coming up. Just my luck.

    Are the articles about the background stories of random video game characters still accurate? I'd really hate it if someone were lying about Tails.

    GoodOmens on
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    BroloBrolo Broseidon Lord of the BroceanRegistered User regular
    edited July 2007
    GoodOmens wrote: »
    Pants Man wrote: »
    Wikipedia may not be the most partial or accurate place to get your information?

    You don't say.

    no dude, it used to be the best possible source of information about EVERYTHING, but then this one lady screwed it all up and only now is it a bloated and ultimately useless open-source online information repository.

    Shit, man. And me with my Master's thesis coming up. Just my luck.

    Are the articles about the background stories of random video game characters still accurate? I'd really hate it if someone were lying about Tails.

    I hear he has two tails, but there's no source on that in the article.

    Brolo on
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    VoodooVVoodooV Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    So...what you're saying is that reality isn't a commodity?

    VoodooV on
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    The_ScarabThe_Scarab Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    I see the James Bond article got locked pretty quickly. Man, how many edits must that have had.

    (I went there for the exact reason everyone else did)

    The_Scarab on
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    BernardBernoulliBernardBernoulli Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    Wait, this isn't about the fact there's 13 year old admins on the site, one of which blocked Steven Colbert's account until he gets invited on the show?

    Or about how there's idiots who claim to know more about what happened with the USS Liberty then the actual survivor's themselves?

    Ah well. Not shocking.

    Is this true?

    Where'd you hear about it from?

    (Both points, I mean)

    BernardBernoulli on
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    VariableVariable Mouth Congress Stroke Me Lady FameRegistered User regular
    edited July 2007
    stilist wrote: »
    The problem here is that the average person has no reason to distrust Wikipedia. If an administrator is deliberately editing articles to insert falsehoods, I fail to see how this is something that can be casually ignored.

    I don't think anyone is saying that it ought to be ignored, but I wouldn't quite call it a scandal.

    I'd say it goes with the territory. we've known... well anyone who knows shit about wiki has known that you can't trust everything on it. anyone can edit it. ideally, people don't (edit - as in, edit in false information), but it's hard to have a website that works on ideals. I mean, this is the internet we are talking about.

    but yes, it certainly should be dealt with. it needs to be shown that wiki promotes honesty in its users and moreso its admins.

    Variable on
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    CouscousCouscous Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    there's an article on "glomping" for fuck's sake
    And? I don't see why that shouldn't have an article. It isn't like the article is taking up space that could be used on something else.

    Couscous on
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    GorakGorak Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    MrMister wrote: »
    Wikipedia is the vanity press. Even if it were true that MI5 were messing with it, what sort of scandal would that be?

    It would be a scandal that MI5 were doing such a piss poor job of hiding their identities.

    Gorak on
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    SnorkSnork word Jamaica Plain, MARegistered User regular
    edited July 2007
    titmouse wrote: »
    there's an article on "glomping" for fuck's sake
    And? I don't see why that shouldn't have an article. It isn't like the article is taking up space that could be used on something else.

    Anyone who uses the word 'glomping' to describe an action that they themselves perform is someone I probably do not want to be friends with.

    Snork on
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    siliconenhancedsiliconenhanced __BANNED USERS regular
    edited July 2007
    Wait, this isn't about the fact there's 13 year old admins on the site, one of which blocked Steven Colbert's account until he gets invited on the show?

    Or about how there's idiots who claim to know more about what happened with the USS Liberty then the actual survivor's themselves?

    Ah well. Not shocking.

    Is this true?

    Where'd you hear about it from?

    (Both points, I mean)

    Here's the USS Liberty Incident discussion.

    Here's the thing about the 13 year old kid admin.

    siliconenhanced on
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    The Muffin ManThe Muffin Man Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    Wait, this isn't about the fact there's 13 year old admins on the site, one of which blocked Steven Colbert's account until he gets invited on the show?

    Or about how there's idiots who claim to know more about what happened with the USS Liberty then the actual survivor's themselves?

    Ah well. Not shocking.

    Is this true?

    Where'd you hear about it from?

    (Both points, I mean)

    Here's the USS Liberty Incident discussion.

    Here's the thing about the 13 year old kid admin.

    The 4chan wiki is probably not a great place for information ;)

    The Muffin Man on
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    BuchwaldBuchwald Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    Wait, this isn't about the fact there's 13 year old admins on the site, one of which blocked Steven Colbert's account until he gets invited on the show?

    Or about how there's idiots who claim to know more about what happened with the USS Liberty then the actual survivor's themselves?

    Ah well. Not shocking.

    Is this true?

    Where'd you hear about it from?

    (Both points, I mean)

    Here's the USS Liberty Incident discussion.

    Here's the thing about the 13 year old kid admin.

    I approve of your sources.

    Buchwald on
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    siliconenhancedsiliconenhanced __BANNED USERS regular
    edited July 2007
    Wait, this isn't about the fact there's 13 year old admins on the site, one of which blocked Steven Colbert's account until he gets invited on the show?

    Or about how there's idiots who claim to know more about what happened with the USS Liberty then the actual survivor's themselves?

    Ah well. Not shocking.

    Is this true?

    Where'd you hear about it from?

    (Both points, I mean)

    Here's the USS Liberty Incident discussion.

    Here's the thing about the 13 year old kid admin.

    The 4chan wiki is probably not a great place for information ;)

    Just because it happens to be from ED dosen't make it any less true.

    At least in this case.

    siliconenhanced on
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    VariableVariable Mouth Congress Stroke Me Lady FameRegistered User regular
    edited July 2007
    it does happen to not make it any easier to believe.

    I'm not doubting you, just I never heard this before and this doesn't exactly put me over the top.

    edit - plus as far as I'm concerned colbert should be banned. he's funny, I like him, but he doesn't get/respect wikipedia. why should he be allowed to publicly fuck with it when that is far from the purpose? If he gets on the show, he can make this point.

    Variable on
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    AngelHedgieAngelHedgie Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    Variable wrote: »
    but (Colbert) doesn't get/respect wikipedia.

    Please, tell me why Schrodinger's Encyclopedia merits respect?

    Especially when the head pretty much came out and openly supported fraud? (Remember, he only dismissed Essjay after the story was really gaining traction in the MSM.)

    I think Colbert "gets" Wikipedia - and the mentality of those running it - perfectly.

    AngelHedgie on
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    BernardBernoulliBernardBernoulli Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    Just because it happens to be from ED dosen't make it any less true.

    At least in this case.

    The Liberty thing, fair enough, it's a direct link, but I'm not convinced about the kid thing. Come on, this thread's about not believing stuff from the Internet, what am I supposed to do? The 13 year-old boy claim is a meme on that thing as well, chances are that's wrong (and he seems far too articulate for one), and checking out Wikipedia, it's true he locked the Stephencolbert account, but I can't find anything about him demanding to be on the Colbert Report (although apparently he could hide any references anyway)

    I'm not expecting you to come up with additional evidence, I'm just saying I think it's more likely to be untrue

    BernardBernoulli on
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    AngelHedgieAngelHedgie Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    Just because it happens to be from ED dosen't make it any less true.

    At least in this case.

    The Liberty thing, fair enough, it's a direct link, but I'm not convinced about the kid thing. Come on, this thread's about not believing stuff from the Internet, what am I supposed to do? The 13 year-old boy claim is a meme on that thing as well, chances are that's wrong (and he seems far too articulate for one), and checking out Wikipedia, it's true he locked the Stephencolbert account, but I can't find anything about him demanding to be on the Colbert Report (although apparently he could hide any references anyway)

    I'm not expecting you to come up with additional evidence, I'm just saying I think it's more likely to be untrue

    Bernard, I'd really recommend you read up on the Essjay scandal. Yuo'd be amazed at how high a position he was given (up to being placed on, not elected to, the Arbitration Committee (one of the highest ranking bodies in the Wikipedia power structure) when his duplicity was KNOWN by Wales.

    AngelHedgie on
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