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Fox, NYT Play With Wikipedia
No one can claim innocence on either side of the political spectrum when it comes to playing with Wikipedia entries. The online encyclopedia that anyone can edit sometimes suffers from that openness.
The debut of an automated Wikipedia edit tracker - Wikipedia Scanner - from CalTech grad student Virgil Griffith made it easier for people to see the connections between anonymous edits and the netblocks of IP addresses from which they originate.
Big organizations tend to own blocks of IP addresses to suit their Internet communication needs. It’s unlikely a random person would be using an address that is part of a netblock. That makes it easier to find out who has been playing fast and loose with Wikipedia entries.
Both Fox News and the New York Times have been caught being naughty with certain entries. The Geeks Are Sexy blog has a long list of Fox News edits. Here’s an example:
…you’ll find changes that were made by IP address 12.167.224.228, which resolves to Fox News. Changes are to the articles “Keith Olbermann”, “Chris Wallace”, “Carl Cameron”, “Brit Hume”, “Shepard Smith”, “Al Franken”, “Brian Wilson”, “CNN”, and “Greta Van Susteren”.
From
O’Reilly’s show, ”[[The O’Reilly Factor]]”, airs on the Fox News Channel at the same time as Olbermann’s show on MSNBC, garnering ratings six times higher than Olbermann’s.
To
O’Reilly’s show, ”[[The O’Reilly Factor]]”, airs on the Fox News Channel at the same time as Olbermann’s show on MSNBC, garnering ratings ten times higher than Olbermann’s.
Little Green Footballs said the New York Times edits they found “graphically illustrated” their biases. One NYT edit to the entry for George W. Bush added the word ‘jerk’ 12 times.
Another NYT edit “changed a description of Tom Delay from ‘a prominent member of the Republican Party’ to ‘a Grand Dragon of the Republican Party.’”
Other noteworthy edits to Wikipedia entries in the past have been made by controversial voting machine maker Diebold, as well as numerous tweaks made from US Congress addresses.
– By David A. Utter
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9 Responses to “Fox, NYT Play With Wikipedia”
Posted on 16 Aug 2007 at 9:38 pm by RLO
Wikipedia reminds me of that old joke about the encyclopedias in the Soviet Union with the loose leaf pages.
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Posted on 17 Aug 2007 at 4:51 pm by Cord;ey Coit
Wiki is a sad joke I just read the Bio on Siqueiros the accurate was cut to pieces and Wiki requires one to be a geek to protest deliberate inaccuracies. Sort of process oriented thinking going against the truth. We are drowning in a sea of lies laughed at by corporate-state paid shills. “And they call democracy”
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Posted on 26 Sep 2007 at 12:56 am by jacobroder
Want to start your private office arms race?
I just got my own USB rocket launcher :-) Awsome thing.
Plug into your computer and you got a remote controlled office missile launcher with 360 degrees horizontal and 45 degree vertival rotation with a range of more than 6 meters - which gives you a coverage of 113 square meters round your workplace.
You can get the gadget here: http://tinyurl.com/2qul3c
Check out the video they have on the page.
Cheers
Jacob Roder
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Posted on 02 Oct 2007 at 3:41 am by markofando
Want to start your private office arms race right now?
I just got my own USB rocket launcher :-) Awsome thing.
Plug into your computer and you got a remote controlled office missile launcher with 360 degrees horizontal and 45 degree vertival rotation with a range of more than 6 meters - which gives you a coverage of 113 square meters round your workplace.
You can get the gadget here: http://tinyurl.com/2qul3c
Check out the video they have on the page.
Cheers
Marko Fando
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Posted on 04 Oct 2007 at 11:09 pm by darveTrereida
I’ve got an Amazon gift certificate burning holes in my pocket,
and I want to get the most bang for my buck.
Enter the Secret Amazon Web Pages:
This is where you’re going to find the “latest sales, rebates, and limited-time offers” from
Amazon, and you can score some pretty deep discounts if you’re a savvy shopper.
Next, there’s the special Sale link. This is open every Friday, and ONLY on Fridays.
You can find the same good discounts here as you would in hidden Deals, although some
Fridays you can really get lucky and make off like an Amazon bandit - I’ve seen discounts
there as low as 75% off sticker price.
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Posted on 05 Oct 2007 at 6:33 pm by kakAffogy
There’s one special secret Sale link on Amazon:
This is open every Friday and ONLY on Fridays!
You can find very good discounts here, although some Fridays you can really get
lucky and make off like an Amazon bandit - I´ve seen discounts there as low as 75%
off sticker Price.
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Posted on 12 Oct 2007 at 5:36 pm by BepLepeHack
Hi I’m Sonja,
As you may have guessed, I am mad about bargains.
I am a wife, a mother and I have run my own recruitment business for over twenty years.
I make my living by giving the best value for money so when I spend it I expect to get the same.
I love quality items, five star cruises and generally the good things in life and I have found
that I can afford more of them if I get them at bargain prices.
This Blog http://bargains-hunter.blogspot.com is for bargain hunters to share information
so we can all get the best value for our hard-earned money.
Cheers
Sonja
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Posted on 15 Oct 2007 at 4:51 pm by WredossyNor
There’s some special secret Sale link on Amazon, EBay, etc. where you can find very good discounts:
http://bargains-hunter.blogspot.com
I’ve seen discounts there as low as 75% off sticker Price.
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Posted on 19 Oct 2007 at 11:07 pm by HowncoercecaW
A man is trying a very unusual way to propose to his girlfriend. He wants people to forward an email to as many people as possible and he hopes that it will eventually get to his girlfriend. Details here: http://www.proposal-to-mary.com
Here is what he wants people to send by email:
You could help me a lot to spread my proposal to Mary – it is important that it is distributed as widely as possible so that it eventually reaches Mary. If you would like to support my proposal to Mary, please send the following text by email to a lot of people :-)
————- SNIP (email text end) —————
WHEN YOU RECEIVE THIS, PLEASE HELP TO DISTRIBUTE IT TO OTHER PEOPLE!
For a long time I have tried to find a special way to propose marriage to my girlfriend Mary, whom I know for five years now. I wanted it very special, romantic and memorable, something our grandchildren would still remember.
And here is my idea: I will send out the proposal to Mary to 50 complete strangers, people I don’t know - hoping, that they will forward my proposal to as many people as possible, which in turn forward it etc. And some day, I hope, it will reach Mary, after it has travelled a very long way. I know, it will take a long time and I am quite nervous…
From the poem MY Mary will know immediately that the proposal is for her.
I have created a homepage ( http://www.proposal-to-mary.com ) where you can find the current status of my quest. You can use the homepage to check if the proposal has already reached Mary (in that case it is not necessary anymore to forward the mail).
Once the proposal has reached Mary, I will put a note on these pages. Also I will publish there how many people have read the proposal so that everybody can see how far it has spread and that it is getting closer to Mary.
And of course you will find there what I am waiting for most: Mary’s answer! I can’t tell you, how nervous I am… Will she accept my proposal? Will she like the unusual way how she got it, through the hands of thousands of messengers all over the world?
Please cross your fingers for me! And please - help me by sending the mail to as many people as possible, to help it spread, so that it eventually reaches Mary.
And here is my proposal:
Mary, please forgive me, as you know English is not my native language. And I am not a poet. But I mean it from my heart.
My angel,
Five years ago, I will always remember the day When fate made us meet, blissful Alaskan moments in May Earth spun around us and a journey began Love, warmth, happiness, enough the years to span.
The longer it lasts the more grows our bond And with 80 still - of you I will be fond Whatever happens, I will stay at your side Through good and bad, together let us stride
No second with you was ever wasted
You are the sweetest I have ever tasted
We have spent so many years - why not a life?
Mary, will you marry me - and become my wife?
Mary, if you have received that and have recognized me, then give me a sign so that I can continue with the romantic part of my proposal…
————- SNIP (email text end) —————
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