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Somebody added Paul Ryan to Wikipedia's Invertebrates entry (Original Post) JHan Jan 2017 OP
LOL! nt marybourg Jan 2017 #1
Thank Gawd only 1 of that species survives.... FSogol Jan 2017 #2
Haha! herding cats Jan 2017 #3
LOL! The Velveteen Ocelot Jan 2017 #4
Lolololol!!! bravenak Jan 2017 #5
Thanks! I needed the laugh Freethinker65 Jan 2017 #6
But why isn't Mitch McConnell there as well? yellowcanine Jan 2017 #7
Ain't Mitch a turtle? I'm just glad the Horseshoe Crab was above Ryan... JHan Jan 2017 #14
It's now been changed. longship Jan 2017 #8
it's seems to still be there. Raine1967 Jan 2017 #25
I am just curious The_Voice_of_Reason Jan 2017 #9
Vandalizing Wikipedia should not be celebrated. Jim Lane Jan 2017 #10
Yeah, but it's not like the information was inaccurate. JHan Jan 2017 #13
Thank you - I agree. HeartachesNhangovers Jan 2017 #16
I don't generally approve of intentionally fabricating stuff on Wikipedia. However, Stonepounder Jan 2017 #17
Very noble of you, considering they themselves do approve. tenorly Jan 2017 #20
You are completely mistaken. Jim Lane Jan 2017 #29
Spot on! Fantastic Anarchist Jan 2017 #31
I see laughing, not celebration... LanternWaste Jan 2017 #24
GOP has paid cyber punks elmac Jan 2017 #26
I disagree on several counts Jim Lane Jan 2017 #36
But it usual does work, other than incidents such as this. Fantastic Anarchist Jan 2017 #30
Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaas shenmue Jan 2017 #11
LOL.... CherokeeDem Jan 2017 #12
screen capped the wiki page. Javaman Jan 2017 #15
Downloaded the Wikipedia page meow2u3 Jan 2017 #18
Love it. There needs to be more JDC Jan 2017 #19
No, there doesn't. Fantastic Anarchist Jan 2017 #32
More invertebrates listed JDC Jan 2017 #33
Who's scolding? Fantastic Anarchist Jan 2017 #34
Well, *I* for one am scolding. Jim Lane Jan 2017 #37
Exactly. It's the most accurate description of Paul Ryan that exists......lol. JHan Jan 2017 #35
I love our clever Dem humor!! ailsagirl Jan 2017 #21
Hilarious, but it won't last long. MineralMan Jan 2017 #22
I could think of few more party befor russia blueseas Jan 2017 #23
Biggest laugh I've had since the fucking election. VOX Jan 2017 #27
FANTASTIC! MBS Jan 2017 #28
hard to find anything to laugh about these days. But this worked! Takket Jan 2017 #38

JHan

(10,173 posts)
14. Ain't Mitch a turtle? I'm just glad the Horseshoe Crab was above Ryan...
Fri Jan 27, 2017, 01:14 PM
Jan 2017

Because even the noble Horseshoe Crab knows Ayn Rand was ridiculous.

 

Jim Lane

(11,175 posts)
10. Vandalizing Wikipedia should not be celebrated.
Fri Jan 27, 2017, 12:34 PM
Jan 2017

Do you complain about the corporate media? Wikipedia accepts no advertising. It charges no fee to anyone who wants to use it. Content is created by unpaid volunteers who idealistically believe in the mission of making all the world's knowledge available to everyone for free.

If you think that's a crazy mission statement, then don't volunteer, but at least respect the work of the people who do volunteer.

(Incidentally, it is a crazy mission statement. Truthfully has it been said that the problem with Wikipedia is that it works only in practice. In theory, it can't work.)

tenorly

(2,037 posts)
20. Very noble of you, considering they themselves do approve.
Fri Jan 27, 2017, 02:04 PM
Jan 2017

Wikipedia has long since taken over by corporate lobbyists, who have pretty much made sure articles that suit them read like PR fluff and those having to do with some adversary or competitor, like hack jobs.

 

Jim Lane

(11,175 posts)
29. You are completely mistaken.
Sat Jan 28, 2017, 12:24 AM
Jan 2017

First, as to whether "they themselves do approve," the Wikimedia Foundation has been very concerned about the developing problem of paid editing. You can read the policy on paid-contribution disclosure (including prohibition of editing with a conflict of interest) here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia: Paid-contribution_disclosure (except you'll first have to delete the blank space before the word "Paid"; sorry, I can't figure out how to make the link work when it includes a P after a colon so that DU software makes it smiley).

Now, obviously, corporate flacks can and do try to violate the policy, while the Foundation and Wikipedia volunteers try to catch them and block them. I believe that, in this ongoing cat-and-mouse game, each side has had some successes. But what's absolutely clear is that there is no truth to your charge that Wikipedia approves of any takeover.

Second, you assert -- without troubling to provide a shred of evidence -- that these corporate efforts have actually succeeded in taking over Wikipedia. The fact is that, even if a paid corporate shill makes the kind of biased edit you describe, and even if that person is not outed as a paid shill, that's hardly the end of the matter. Wikipedia's strength is the ease with which errors may be corrected. A shill's edit can be reverted by a disinterested editor.

I'll take one example that I know something about personally, because, as an attorney, I represented some of the families whose well water had been poisoned by General Electric. If you go to the Wikipedia article on GE, specifically to the "Environmental record" section, you'll find accounts that are quite damning to the corporation. I haven't participated in editing that article, but I'm sure there are plenty of Wikipedians who have it watchlisted, meaning that they'll be notified of any changes. If GE pays someone to clean up the article to make it "read like PR fluff", one of those unpaid editors will restore the information.

The section on GE's environmental record also includes some things that put the company in a good light, such as its involvement in renewable energy. Does that show there's a problem? No, it's completely proper. Wikipedia is there to provide the information, not to tailor the facts to a preconceived ideology (whether of the left or of the right).

If it's true that GE "agreed to pay a $250 million settlement in connection with claims it polluted the Housatonic River (Pittsfield, Massachusetts) and other sites with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other hazardous substances," and it's also true that GE's "Ecomagination initiative ... resulted in 70 green products being brought to market," then both those facts belong in the Wikipedia article. And there they are.

Fantastic Anarchist

(7,309 posts)
31. Spot on!
Sat Jan 28, 2017, 02:18 AM
Jan 2017

It's troubling how many people attack Wikipedia, usually, as you noted, with no supporting evidence.

Wikipedia is a vital source of information whether said information is damaging or not.

I appreciate the efforts of those who are largely successful in keeping Wikipedia independent and fair.

 

LanternWaste

(37,748 posts)
24. I see laughing, not celebration...
Fri Jan 27, 2017, 02:14 PM
Jan 2017

I see laughing, not celebration; so it may be more accurate to righteously admonish and studiously lecture on what we shouldn't be laughing at rather than what we shouldn't be celebrating, as your own standard of ethics is most absolute...

(Signed, a giggling Wiki content provider/editor)

 

elmac

(4,642 posts)
26. GOP has paid cyber punks
Fri Jan 27, 2017, 02:53 PM
Jan 2017

to change many of Wiki's pages to spread their lies, revisionist history over the years. As the fascists say, fight fire with fire

 

Jim Lane

(11,175 posts)
36. I disagree on several counts
Sat Jan 28, 2017, 02:13 PM
Jan 2017

First, you say "fight fire with fire". Does that mean we should try to suppress the Republican vote? I don't think we should descend to their level.

Second, although there is paid editing of Wikipedia, both the Wikimedia Foundation and the volunteers work against that. See my elaboration in #29 in this thread.

Third, even if you disagree with both those points, and even if you think that Democrats should try to "change many of Wiki's pages to spread {our} lies {and} revisionist history", this juvenile vandalism doesn't do that. It gets promptly reverted and has no effect except to make Democrats look silly.

Fantastic Anarchist

(7,309 posts)
30. But it usual does work, other than incidents such as this.
Sat Jan 28, 2017, 02:12 AM
Jan 2017

It's a pretty valuable source of information which includes links to original sources.

The volunteers do a respectfully great job of policing themselves.

Fantastic Anarchist

(7,309 posts)
32. No, there doesn't.
Sat Jan 28, 2017, 02:21 AM
Jan 2017

While funny, we should remember that false information is bad information.

Free and fair knowledge should win the day, not falsehoods.

JDC

(10,125 posts)
33. More invertebrates listed
Sat Jan 28, 2017, 06:09 AM
Jan 2017

Not more false information. As a side note, it's a joke, you know it's a joke. I might suggest you save scolding for something more egregious and deserving. Please.

Fantastic Anarchist

(7,309 posts)
34. Who's scolding?
Sat Jan 28, 2017, 10:25 AM
Jan 2017

I know it's a joke, and even acknowledged that it was funny.

I then gave my opinion that it was also dangerous. Funny and dangerous are not mutually exclusive.

I think you may have scolded me, though. Relax.

 

Jim Lane

(11,175 posts)
37. Well, *I* for one am scolding.
Sat Jan 28, 2017, 02:18 PM
Jan 2017

In 2004 I spent a lot of time editing the bios of the major-party candidates for President. In the Democrat's article, his name was changed from "John Forbes Kerry" to "Jean Francois Kerry". In the Republican's article, the statement that he was the son of former President George H. W. Bush was changed to say that he was the son of Satan.

I suppose a lot of people think that one of these edits was a really funny joke but the other one was just silly. There would of course be disagreement about which was which.

Then there are the adults, who think both these edits were juvenile vandalism. People who made enough such "jokes" would be blocked from editing, and rightly so.

JHan

(10,173 posts)
35. Exactly. It's the most accurate description of Paul Ryan that exists......lol.
Sat Jan 28, 2017, 01:14 PM
Jan 2017

#TheyAintNeverLied

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