Wikipedia, It's Time to Grow Up! (The Benoit Murder/Suicide Case)

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
Date: June 29, 2007 12:00:32 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Cc: lauren () vortex com
Subject: Wikipedia, It's Time to Grow Up! (The Benoit Murder/Suicide  
Case)



      Wikipedia, It's Time to Grow Up! (The Benoit Murder/Suicide Case)

                http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000256.html


Greetings.  After causing law enforcement and the news media to spin
their wheels uselessly, a Wikipedia user has apparently confessed to
planting a rumor as fact on the Wikipedia page for wrestler Chris
Benoit, claiming his wife was dead hours before the bodies of Benoit
and his family were found (see:
http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/story?id=3327310 ).

The ease with which this was done by a still anonymous party,
triggering investigations and consternation at a time that was
already intensely emotional for everyone involved with the Benoit
case, demonstrates once again a fundamental flaw in Wikipedia's
usually anonymous, non-moderated editing framework for most
Wikipedia pages.

The fact that such editing can usually be undone (and redone later
for that matter) doesn't change the fact that Wikipedia can never be
an authoritative source while it is subject to this kind of anonymous
abuse -- whether by jokesters out to get their kicks or well-meaning
contributors simply unwilling to check their facts.  Such events can
easily turn Wikipedia pages into rumor and defacement billboards
rather than encyclopedia-quality content.  The damage is already
done.

If Wikipedia expects to really be taken seriously in the long run, it
needs to rethink its standards for item creation, modification, and
attributions.

Wikipedia, it's time to grow up.

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren () vortex com or lauren () pfir org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
   - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, IOIC
   - International Open Internet Coalition - http://www.ioic.net
Founder, CIFIP
   - California Initiative For Internet Privacy - http://www.cifip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com





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