Become a fan of Slashdot on Facebook

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×
Politics Government News IT

Congress Made Wikipedia Changes 277

Dr Occult writes "BBC news is reporting misuse of Wikipedia by politicians for 'polishing' their images. The article on President Bush has been altered so many times - not just from within Congress - that Wikipedia's volunteer monitors have had to block further 'editing'." From the article: "Wikipedia says the controversy raises questions about whether it is ethical for those with a vested interest in the subject to edit entries about it. It said the Congressional computer network has been blocked from editing for brief periods on a number of occasions in the last six months due to the inappropriate contributions."
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Congress Made Wikipedia Changes

Comments Filter:
  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 09, 2006 @09:10AM (#14676367)
    Damn politicians! I blame society!
  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 09, 2006 @09:12AM (#14676379)
    Of course.
    Slashdot.
  • Politicians (Score:5, Funny)

    by antic ( 29198 ) on Thursday February 09, 2006 @09:15AM (#14676388)
    Ahhh, politicians. Can't live with them, can't legally hack them apart with a cleaver and create interesting patterns with segments of their intestines...
  • by Artie_Effim ( 700781 ) on Thursday February 09, 2006 @09:19AM (#14676407)
    The popular Internert site slashdot.org has entered a time slipstream which deters the site from posting news less than 7 days old. CmdrTaco is quoted as saying "haha, that is the best depection of the Prophet that I've ever seen. Let's hope it doesn't cause a row !"
  • by meringuoid ( 568297 ) on Thursday February 09, 2006 @09:27AM (#14676432)
    We salute revisionist government and it's retro-active position on history.

    What is the past? It does not exist, in any physical sense. It is only what people remember, and what the records show. But memories are pliable, people are prone to forgetfulness and false recollection, and of course the records show what we want them to show.

    Really, it's quite a simple system. You don't seem to understand. History is never rewritten, because once rewritten it always was that way - unless you believe, rather unscientifically, in a past world that somehow exists in 'reality', independent of the evidence in the present.

    Perhaps you could use a little time in the Ministry of Love? They're very good at educating people to understand this kind of thing.

  • by cj7wilson ( 940286 ) on Thursday February 09, 2006 @09:27AM (#14676433)
    Read on Wikipedia: CowboyNeal is the online nickname ("handle") on Slashdot [slashdot.org] and other websites [slashdot.org] of Slashdot editor Jon Pater. His handle was inspired by a Grateful Dead [slashdot.org] tribute to Neal Cassady [slashdot.org] in their song, That's It for The Other One, the lyrics of which run:
    Skippin' through the lily fields I came across an empty space,
    It trembled and exploded, left a bus stop in its place.
    The bus came by and I got on, that's when it all began,
    There was Cowboy Neal behind the wheel of a bus to never never land.

    He is best known as the target of the usual comic option on Slashdot's poll.^H^H^H^H^H^H for his promise to serve only two terms as a Slashdot Editor ^H^H^H^H^H^H for his boyish good looks and many acts of selfless kindness to hungry children throughout the world.

  • by jettoki ( 894493 ) on Thursday February 09, 2006 @09:30AM (#14676453)
    How do you tell the propaganda from the objective information?

    Simple! Just use this handy checklist!

    1.) Adjectives such as 'moderate', 'vocal', and 'punctual' are generally safe and objective. Adjectives such as 'mind-blowing', 'god-like', or 'sexilicious' probably deserve further research.
    2.) Allegations of embezzlement or abuse of public trust are typically more credible than allegations of bestiality or autoerotic asphyxiation.
    3.) You may safely ignore photographs which seem to depict interaction between the politician in question and any the following historical personas: Jesus, Mohammed, Abraham Lincoln, Hitler, or Charles Manson.
    4.) Treat any debate over penis size with a healthy amount of skepticism.
  • Re:duh (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 09, 2006 @09:39AM (#14676488)
    Any liberal arts major can tell you that.
    Yep...just ask them when they're handing you the fries...
  • by digitaldc ( 879047 ) * on Thursday February 09, 2006 @09:44AM (#14676516)
    It's not like the Politicians have anything to hide?
  • by splutty ( 43475 ) on Thursday February 09, 2006 @10:17AM (#14676729)
    ...

    At a guess that's the 5th time this appears on /.
  • For Sale (Score:5, Funny)

    by MobyDisk ( 75490 ) on Thursday February 09, 2006 @10:18AM (#14676731) Homepage
    For Sale: One Wikipedia account with excellent karma. This account is useful for editing articles on politicians, controversial "scientific" theories, or adding goatse entries. As a bonus I will throw in an anonymizer account to hide your IP address as well.

    $1000 OBO.
  • by Supercrunch ( 797557 ) on Thursday February 09, 2006 @10:31AM (#14676820)
    You're right, the politicians ARE doing a good job editing Wikipedia. I mean, it says it right there in WikiNews, the news source that anyone can edit...hey wait a minute!
  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 09, 2006 @11:16AM (#14677217)
    Unfortunately, it also filters out voices of reason when it disagrees with both parties. There are a LOT of issues that the 2 parties agree on 99% of the time that are nevertheless wrong-headed and disagree with the opinions of most of their constituents. It means these issues are simply never discussed.

    There is no difference between the two major political parties. They're both as stupid, evil, and greedy as the Republican Party.

"I've seen it. It's rubbish." -- Marvin the Paranoid Android

Working...