Wikipedia.gov
More fun with Wikipedia:
We all have thought Congress toys with the truth at times. Now, there appears to be proof of it at Wikipedia.
The publicly edited online encyclopedia says it has instituted a one-week ban on Congress from making additions or changes to the site. The ban follows discovery that a senior staff for a Massachusetts congressman authorized changes to his Wikipedia biography that distorted facts.
According to a newspaper investigation, staff for Democratic Rep. Marty Meehan made changes to Meehan’s biography that replaced negative yet accurate information with content having a more positive slant. Among the changes: removing references to Meehan’s promise to serve only eight years.
Further review uncovered thousands of changes made to other Wikipedia entries by House and Senate staffers since last summer. Unlike the Meehan edits, however, some changes weren’t complementary. In one instance, someone from the House wrote that Republican Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia “smells like cow dung.” In another, someone removed criticism of Democratic Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware from his Wikipedia page.
I have never personally smelled Rep. Cantor and cannot comment on the veracity of that entry.
- In other Wikipedia news, the front page of the site was vandalized the other night, but in another example that not all community input is considered equal, all proof of the deed has been removed from the page history.
