Betsy's Page

Sunday, January 29, 2006

This is just too, too funny. Paul Geary at The New Editor links to this report in the Boston papers that staffers for Congressman Martin Meehan of Lowell Massachusetts (D) went into Meehan's Wikipedia entry and edited out references to Meehan's breaking a term limits pledge.
Meehan's chief of staff Matt Vogel told the newspaper that he oversaw the removal last July of information, which was replaced with a staff-written biography.

Meehan, a Lowell Democrat, pledged to serve just four terms -- eight years -- but he later broke that campaign promise. He's currently serving his seventh term.

"Meehan first ran for Congress in 1992 on a platform of reform," the pre-edited entry said, according to the Sun. "As part of that platform Meehan made a pledge to not serve more than four terms, a central part of his campaign. This breaking of the pledge has been a controversial issue in the 5th Congressional district of Massachusetts."

The new entry read in part: "Meehan was elected to Congress in 1992 on a plan to eliminate the deficit. His fiscally responsible voting record since then has earned him praise from citizen watchdog groups."
Here is the story from the Lowell, Massachusetts paper. But the Wikipedia guys caught the editing, traced it back to Meehan's staff and then blocked anonymous editing for that page. Since then, they have found that there have been dozens and dozens of edits from the House of Representatives IP address to all sorts of pages on Wikipedia. If they keep tracing back the edits, all sorts of people from both parties will have omelettes on their faces. So be it.

Once again, if you're getting your information from Wikipedia, caveat lector. And I'm glad to have one more example to give my students struggling with their research papers of why they shouldn't depend on Wikipedia as a source.

posted by Betsy Newmark permalink 2:18 PM

		Betsy's Page

HOME Betsy neither necessarily uses, nor endorses, the products advertised on this site. Comments from an AP history and government teacher in Raleigh, NC. e-mail betsynewmark AT gmail.com Site Feed Wikio Your Market Research Here		Sunday, January 29, 2006 This is just too, too funny. Paul Geary at The New Editor links to this report in the Boston papers that staffers for Congressman Martin Meehan of Lowell Massachusetts (D) went into Meehan's Wikipedia entry and edited out references to Meehan's breaking a term limits pledge. Meehan's chief of staff Matt Vogel told the newspaper that he oversaw the removal last July of information, which was replaced with a staff-written biography. Meehan, a Lowell Democrat, pledged to serve just four terms -- eight years -- but he later broke that campaign promise. He's currently serving his seventh term. "Meehan first ran for Congress in 1992 on a platform of reform," the pre-edited entry said, according to the Sun. "As part of that platform Meehan made a pledge to not serve more than four terms, a central part of his campaign. This breaking of the pledge has been a controversial issue in the 5th Congressional district of Massachusetts." The new entry read in part: "Meehan was elected to Congress in 1992 on a plan to eliminate the deficit. His fiscally responsible voting record since then has earned him praise from citizen watchdog groups." Here is the story from the Lowell, Massachusetts paper. But the Wikipedia guys caught the editing, traced it back to Meehan's staff and then blocked anonymous editing for that page. Since then, they have found that there have been dozens and dozens of edits from the House of Representatives IP address to all sorts of pages on Wikipedia. If they keep tracing back the edits, all sorts of people from both parties will have omelettes on their faces. So be it. Once again, if you're getting your information from Wikipedia, caveat lector. And I'm glad to have one more example to give my students struggling with their research papers of why they shouldn't depend on Wikipedia as a source. posted by Betsy Newmark permalink 2:18 PM \|

Wikio

Sunday, January 29, 2006