Wikipedia's greatest flaw ? The ability to edit wikipedia has been abused by corporations, politicians and most recently departments of defense and members of the government in Australia. But the ability to edit wikipedia is often regarded as one of its greatest assets. and added to its rising popularity, makes it an interesting information medium. Should there be some safeguards against editing wikipedia other than simply recording ip addresses ? I've heard that there are ways to circumvent it by simply using a public computer. So , should there be stricter precautions/ safeguards or will that reduce its appeal ?
Well, when an entry gets edited, others taking care of it are notified and they just roll back the changes. However, it's annoying when it gets spammed all to hell, not leaving it alone, and that's usually when the entry winds up getting locked until people chill. - N
The same things have always been happening to the history books. Wikipedia is just in fast-forward. Now that there is WikiScanner, the evolution is even more turbo-charged, because the act of participating is also more charged. It's such a penetrating phenomenon that it has even prompted President Bush to wax uncharacteristically candid about the manipulations his handlers direct him to make. You don't see that every day: President tries to calm investors by making edits on Wikipedia
I see, you're saying that its whats always been done in newspapers and the media just on a larger scale ?
Geoffp got caught editing (correcting the east korean warm water current page on wikipedia and tomorrow it will be frontpage news.
"Geoffp got caught editing" To arms! 2 legs! You draw him, and I'll quarter him. challenger: "you're saying that its whats always been done in newspapers and the media just on a larger scale ?" Yes. Larger; Faster; Too small; Too slow. Events are accelerating, and we had better get extremely creative about keeping up with their implications. Wikipedia is an early step in the furious race ahead of us. Ready? Steady? Hey, where is everyone?
