Comments on: Is Wikipedia being politically manipulated?

By: Ed

Ed — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 16:05:59 +0000

Well, I can only assume we have a case of crossed-wires. Denying what are obviously facts for no apparent reason isn’t really something I’m in the business of. It simply wouldn’t interest or benefit me. Nor am I in the business of defending an administration I find, to say the least, distasteful, against accurate censure. I never called you paranoid, naive, lacking in experience or understanding or claim you didn’t know how to trace a Wikipedia edit (not least because before this post I’d never heard such a practise.)
My point is that the post seems to imply this editing is some kind of officially-sanctioned, Orwellian black-op. But the fact that at least some politically-biased edits are being made from government computers is by no means proof of that. It is, on the other hand, something that raises significant ethical questions and is certainly something that should be pursued. I hope I’ve managed to make myself a little clearer!
Best regards.

By: Peter - blog author

Peter - blog author — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 15:59:50 +0000

Thanks for clearing up the misunderstanding. As Cnet http://news.com.com/2061-10796_3-6033082.html pointed out in “Congress caught making false entries in Wikipedia” the edits were embarrassing for many members of Congress:

“the trusty editors at Wikipedia got together and compiled a list of over 1,000 edits made by Internet addresses allocated to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. The IP address subsequently was blocked”

Details of the edits: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log/block&page=User:143.231.249.141

Comment from Wikipedia: “Repeated vandalism despite multiple warnings” / “we should expect better from the US House of Representatives”

Best regards from Belgium

By: Ed

Ed — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 14:08:36 +0000

I meant to say that my critical comments were being amended, truncated or deleted. Something I found ironic, given the nature of the post.

By: Peter - blog author

Peter - blog author — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 13:35:13 +0000

In general, I do not edit a comment (however, I often add a clearly marked “comment from the author” if it is beneficial to an ongoing discussion). I vaguely recall that I truncated your first comment in Nov, I assume you just denied facts that were visible for the whole world. Denying visible facts is not a “critical comment”, it’s called “trolling”. Obviously, I appreciate critical comments, but I stick with one basic rule: “don’t feed the trolls”.

By: Ed

Ed — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 17:39:24 +0000

Heh. It’s ironic that posts on this blog are getting politically manipulated.

[Comment from the author: "Ed, I'm not sure what you're trying to achieve by posting this one liner. As you can read, even CNET acknowledged and documented elaborate political manipulation of Wikipedia articles: http://news.com.com/2061-10796_3-6033082.html But, since you explained at your own blog: '26h is written by Jim, who is currently working on a PhD in the Philosophy of Biology, and by Ed, who is a bum', I assume your blog's tagline says it all: 'You Might Be Wrong"]

By: Is Wikipedia Being Politically Manipulated? - SportbikesWest

Is Wikipedia Being Politically Manipulated? - SportbikesWest — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 12:50:26 +0000

[...] Is Wikipedia Being Politically Manipulated? � Antwerp Calling[...]

[Comment from the author: "Thanks for the ping-back - a motorbike forum discussing US politics was a most pleasant surprise Apparently CNET ran a story at http://news.com.com/2061-10796_3-6033082.html - 3 months after my original post"]

By: Ed

Ed — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 13:49:31 +0000

So, the fact that edits to Wikipedia are being made from government computers, you believe, means that the Bush administration has a cynical and systematic strategy afoot for politically skewing Wikipedia content.

[Comment from the author: "No, I'm not paranoid nor naive, nor am I lacking worldly experience and understanding, especially since a US state employee elaborately commented right here, on a recent blogitem at http://antwerp.wordpress.com/2006/09/13/a-message-from-the-us-ministry-of-homeland-security-to-all-us-bloggers/.
And yes, I know how to trace-back a Wikipedia edit."]