Term limits are so 1992.

January 29, 2006 8:51 AM

Now, even congressmen get in on abusing Wikipedia. Marty Meehan's staffers admit editing out negative information about the congressman from his Wikipedia entry. According to the article, Rep. Meehan is not the only politician toying with the Wikipedia.
posted by caddis (15 comments total)

The main links seems to be down, here is the google cached version.
posted by MetaMonkey at 9:01 AM on January 29, 2006

Love teh scare quotes around 'encyclopedia' in the headline.
posted by Space Coyote at 9:13 AM on January 29, 2006

Whereas not just any old mouth-breather can contribute to the Lowell Sun, see.
posted by killdevil at 9:19 AM on January 29, 2006

It's a "slur" to say that Frist is ineffective? I like how the Meehan article is locked/protected but you can "request unprotection" for it. This sort of highlighting of Wikipedia vandalism usually just makes those articles, eventually, even more accurate than before. People keep blanking out the article on librarians and replacing it with epithets, which I think has only served to make sure that more people keep an eye on the article and keep it accurate.
posted by jessamyn at 9:28 AM on January 29, 2006

i don't know why anyone would be surprised at any of this. I mean, given the Wiki format, can anyone honestly say they didn't think this sort of thing would happen?
posted by Thorzdad at 9:53 AM on January 29, 2006

....Why would people diss on librarians? That amendment thing from the confrence a few days ago?
Jesus. Nation of 6-year-olds.
posted by 235w103 at 10:02 AM on January 29, 2006

Just like here or anywhere else where any old knucklehead can wander in and shoot off their mouth or cut someone's mike or whatever, eternal vigilance and a decent breaker/fixer ratio is vital.

This just highlights that point.
posted by chicobangs at 10:26 AM on January 29, 2006

Now, even congressmen get in on abusing Wikipedia.

Well, it is the free dictionary anyone can edit.
posted by three blind mice at 10:29 AM on January 29, 2006

I can speak from personal experience here. My (sic) Wiki page was created by a troll or two with an unexplained grudge. Revisions and corrections made by friends and comrades of mine are instantly erased.
posted by mickeyz at 10:36 AM on January 29, 2006

The more popular Wikipedia gets, the more abused and unusable it becomes.

WELCOME TO THE INTERNET!
posted by xmutex at 10:48 AM on January 29, 2006

Meehan is not the only politician toying with the Wikipedia.

Let's not kid ourselves that it ends there ...
posted by bwerdmuller at 12:00 PM on January 29, 2006

My (sic) Wiki page was created by a troll or two with an unexplained grudge.

meta
posted by 3.2.3 at 12:52 PM on January 29, 2006

I don't see a big problem with this...
Devin's 2nd theorum of wikipedia: the sum of the biases of the contributors equals a right article. At least in theory.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 1:23 PM on January 29, 2006

I'm actually surprised nobody's turned up evidence linking the White House to Wikipedia edits.

Yet.
posted by dhartung at 2:39 PM on January 29, 2006

Well, Wikipedia itself has turned up evidence linking the U.S. House of Representatives to Wikipedia edits.
posted by emelenjr at 2:27 PM on January 30, 2006