Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free-content online encyclopedia established by Jimbo Wales and Larry Sangers on January 15, 2001. It currently has over 6 million articles, written in 250 languages[1], including over 1,600,000 articles in the English version. Like Conservapedia, it is a wiki that is written and edited by its users. Under its GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL), anyone can add to or edit the content on Wikipedia.
Initially, Wikipedia was hosted on servers operated by Bomis Incorporated, a pornographic search engine funded by Jimbo Wales. Then in 2003, Jimbo Wales created the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation with himself as board president, to oversee the day-to-day operation of Wikipedia.
Contents
Sigenthaler Scandal
In May 2005, an anonymous user created a Wikipedia article on John Seigenthaler Sr, a journalist and an assistant to former attorney general Robert F. Kennedy that states:
John Seigenthaler Sr. was the assistant to Attorney General Robert Kennedy in the early 1960s. For a short time, he was thought to have been directly involved in the Kennedy assassinations of both John, and his brother, Bobby. Nothing was ever proven.
and
John Seigenthaler moved to the Soviet Union in 1971, and returned to the United States in 1984. He started one of the country's largest public relations firms shortly thereafter.
In September 2005, a friend of Seigenthaler's discovered the Wikipedia entry and alerted Seigenthaler, whom then contacted the Wikimedia foundation to have the article corrected, however the false biography had remained on Wikipedia for many months. Wikipedia critic Daniel Brandt later discovered the prepetrator of the prank was Brian Chase, an aquintence of Seigenthaler Sr. John Seigenthaler Sr later published an article in USA Today on the whole affair[2].
Essjay Scandal
In January 2007, Wikipedia critic Daniel Brandt discovered that a prominent Wikipedia administrator, bureaucrat and arbitrator nicknamed Essjay has lied on Wikipedia and in phone interviews with The New Yorker magazine about his age, job, background, and academic credentials[3]. Essjay, who later identified himself as Ryan Jordan and who was an employee at Wikia Inc. funded by Jimbo Wales, had claimed to be a 40 year old homosexual, holding doctoral degrees in theology and canon law and is a tenured professor at a private university; but he was in fact a 24 years old community college dropout [1] from Kentucky. This fraud was reported by ABC, BBC and many other major news organizations. Jimbo Wales upon learning of this incident, stated: "I regard it as a pseudonym and I don’t really have a problem with it."[4]
The first public notice occured on Wikipedia Review, a critic's forum frequented by Brandt and several other prominent Wikipedians, including many who have been blocked from editing Wikipedia. Brandt pointed out as early as July 2006 [2] that "something... doesn't add up" regarding Essjay's claim of being a college professor despite editing Wikipedia as much as 16 hours per day. One of the site's administrators posted on Jan. 11, 2007 regarding Essjay's hiring by Wikia after noticing that Jordan's "Essjay" account on Uncyclopedia (a Wikia-owned site) had been changed to include the "Staff" reference, normally given only to paid Wikia employees. The "Essjay" user page on Wikia had been posted, along with the name "Ryan Jordan," on Jan. 7, 2007 - with no explanation given for why Essjay would leave a tenured faculty position to work as a Community Manager for Wikia. The situation quickly became the subject of increasing speculation by the Wikipedia Review forum members, of whom Brandt was the most skeptical.
Later, the same administrator posted further details [3] of discrepancies between Jordan's Wikia user page and his Wikipedia user page on January 19th, after Jordan added still more personal-background information to his Wikia user page that bore little similarity to the credentials he had claimed on Wikipedia since April of 2005.
Sinbad Hoax
On March 16, wikipedia entry on the 50-year old entertainer Sinbad, born David Adkins, states: "He succumbed to a fatal heart attack on the morning of March, 14, 2007." This hoax was widely reported in the media[5].
Wikipedia and Bias
Wikipedia has been accused by the American Public at large in numerous news articles, talk shows, and forums of containing biased and inaccurate entries, including the concept of "Wikiality". The article detailing confirmed incidents of liberal bias is found here: Examples of Bias in Wikipedia.
References
- ↑ List of Wikipedias - Wikimedia
- ↑ http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2005-11-29-wikipedia-edit_x.htm
- ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6423659.stm
- ↑ http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/07/31/060731fa_fact
- ↑ http://www.ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iSectionId=2891&iArticleId=3734818
