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Wikipedia Hoax Author Confesses

cmholm writes "As reported in The Seattle Times, Nashville resident Brian Chase has publically admitted that he edited a Wikipedia entry for John Seigenthaler, making appear that Mr. Seigenthaler was involved in the assassination of JFK. Mr. Chase fessed up after a cyber-sleuth tracked down the business from which he had posted to Wikipedia."

4 of 377 comments (clear)

  1. Turnabout by AndroidCat · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here's his wiki entry.

    --
    One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
  2. The irony is delicious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    I've got to love a post where someone says to look up "slander", and they never actually looked up "slander".

    You crack me up, dude.

    Slander
    1 : the utterance of false charges or misrepresentations which defame and damage another's reputation
    2 : a false and defamatory oral statement about a person -- compare libel
        -slan£der£ous \-d(-)rs\ adjective
        -slan£der£ous£ly adverb
        -slan£der£ous£ness noun

    (from Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary)

    Perhaps you meant libel?

    Again from Merriams...

    Main Entry: 1li£bel
    Pronunciation: l-bl
    Function: noun
    Etymology: Middle English, written declaration, from Middle French, from Latin libellus, diminutive of liber book
    Date: 14th century

    Libel
    1 a : a written statement in which a plaintiff in certain courts sets forth the cause of action or the relief sought b archaic : a handbill especially attacking or defaming someone
    2 a : a written or oral defamatory statement or representation that conveys an unjustly unfavorable impression b(1) : a statement or representation published without just cause and tending to expose another to public contempt (2) : defamation of a person by written or representational means (3) : the publication of blasphemous, treasonable, seditious, or obscene writings or pictures (4) : the act, tort, or crime of publishing such a libel

  3. Re:What tool did he use? by fatboy · · Score: 5, Informative

    I bet he did what I just did.

    [fatboy@localhost fatboy]$ host 65.81.97.208
    208.97.81.65.in-addr.arpa domain name pointer adsl-065-081-097-208.sip.bna.bellsouth.net.

    Bellsouth, like many ISPs, use airport city codes in the RR to show the nearest city. bna is Nashville International Airport.

    Go to the IP address in a browser. It returns the simple message "Welcome to Rush Delivery.

    Search google for "Rush Delivery" nashville, and there you have it.

    No big deal.

    --
    --fatboy
  4. I am Mr. Cyber-Sleuth by Everyman · · Score: 5, Informative

    There is a chronology of how it was traced at the bottom of this page.

    I am no genius. There was one chance in 10,000 that there would be a server on that IP address, and that it would be up when I tried it on impulse (it timed out during nightime hours during all of last week).

    Mr. Seigenthaler is very gracious in complimenting me, but I am no genius. Anyone who knows the difference between an IP address and a hot-dog with mustard could have done the same thing. That includes dozens, or maybe hundreds, of Wikipedians. But they didn't bother now, did they?

    It was a pleasure to work with Mr. Seigenthaler on this trace. He is an amazing, accomplished person, and I have a huge amount of respect for him. Before his Wikipedia story came out, I wasn't aware of him.

    He's the genius, although it is true that I know more about Internet infrastructure than he does. But I know nothing that would impress all the clever Slashdotters reading this, I'm sure.