CNN is reporting that the great bastion of learning, Wikipedia, has decided to ban edits to pages about Scientology because Scientologists are making efforts to make those pages positive.
According to Wikipedia administrators speaking to The Register:
Multiple editors have been “openly editing [Scientology-related articles] from Church of Scientology equipment and apparently coordinating their activities.”
According to Wes Finey, the CNN webmaster said,
“The edits coming out of Church of Scientology servers were of the sort that made their organization look better. Up to a point that’s justifiable, when it comes to correcting inaccuracies or removing poorly sourced negative information. There were times when they went beyond that and deleted well sourced information that was unflattering, and there were times when they insulted other editors in a manner that would reflect poorly upon any religion.”
My problem, of course, is that Wiki could decide to do this with anyone, over anything – but, at least they started with Scientology.
May 29th, 2009 9:37 pm
I think they already do this when it happens. This just might be a more high profile instance. Some people want to use Wikipedia as their own personal marketing vehicle. This usage is generally strongly discouraged. When that doesn’t work, bans ensue.
May 29th, 2009 9:47 pm
I have tried and tried to add my bio as a page – but they reject me. Guess they don’t believe that I can leap tall buildings in a single bound! Thanks for the comment Khad.