Wikipedia vs Congressional Staffers [Update]

There has been quite a bit of recent reporting on the recent troubles between Wikipedia and certain Congressional staffers. In response, abdulzis mentions that "an RFC, Wikipedia's mediation method to deal with 'disharmonious users', has been opened to take action against US Congressional staffers who repeatedly blank content and engage in revert wars and slanderous or libelous behavior which violates Wikiepdia code. The IP ranges of US Congress have been currently blocked, but only for a week until the issue can be addressed more directly."

Comments

escalation?

[usrusr]

so, does this mean the cia will sooner or later deploy botnets for distributed editwars?

wikipedia might end up as the surprisingly unglamorous battleground of the long-awaited "cyberwarfare"... i mean it's such an inviting target for groups who are out to mess with people's opinions and there's no group that fits that description as good as a gouvernment at war.

quarantine?

[nietsch]

Maybe instead of banning them outright, the ip's involved in this matter (or any serious breach of the rules) should not just be banned, but silently rerouted to a server running a different copy of wikipedia. They could make all kinds of 'mistakes' etc there, but only similarly banned ip's would ever see that content. They keep wasting time (and taxpayers money) while the rest of the world would have a chance to do without their contributions to humanity.

Does anybody know of such a system implemented in any forum/community software? I think it would be quite effective.

Re:quarantine?

[Dachannien]

vBulletin includes such a feature, called "Tachy Goes to Coventry". It lets specified users post to the forums all they want, but they're the only ones who ever see their posts. No clue where the name comes from, though.

Re:Is it just me?

[Anonymous Coward]

Am I the only person who avoids Wikipedia like the plague because of these skewed entries and slanderous edit wars? I know I'm missing out, but after an entry I collaborated was "attacked" by someone who held a different opinion (read: blanked the article until Wiki delete minions got at it) I lost faith in its general ability to harbor legitimate information. I know it's there, but I don't want to have to sift through it. That's what the internet is for.

I added a contentious bit of information to an extremely contentious article once. It was outright deleted, reverted, spell checked, deleted, grammer fixed, reverted, opened up an enormous discussion with rabid opponents on both sides. Eventually it was split into a separate article that was renamed a few times, with the original article linking to it.

The quality of the article improved quite dramatically over time, and the POV portions that I didn't even realize I was bringing to the table were quickly killed off. The facts were *heavily* cross-checked and what's left now, despite being nothing like what I originally posted, is a satisfying contribution, even though none of what I wrote exists today.

Wikipedia rules.

How best to lose one's Constitutional Rights

[Anonymous Coward]

Glad I'm not the only guy to think the blocking could back-fire. Theoretically (and I'm sure someone will correct me), now members of Congress have standing to sue Wikipedia for an equal rights violation (you give everyone rights to edit information, to even possibly slander the politicians, but do not give those people who are theoretically best able to judge the accuracy that right.)

If they don't watch out, they could find themselves in a free-speech shoot-out with Congress passing laws that wiki owners are responsible for all content posted online, or that hey have a responsibility to get rid of "slanderous" information within a certain period of time.

So far the whole ISPs being protected because they're only allowing the info to go through them protection is, AFAIK, common law and if Congress starts passing laws saying "nope, that's not true... passing along 'bad content' is just as bad as posting 'bad content', printing it in a pamphlet, going on TV and spreading false information..." and then, if you believe in slippery slopes (I don't, but some people do) then before you know it allowing pirated media to pass through your Wifi connection makes you subject to copyright infringement suits because the argument gets made that you're responsible for whatever harm you allow to go live. Yeah, right now it's got protection in the courts, but passing a law could kill that protection.

I'm not saying steps shouldn't be taken, but how about a compromise with perhaps an Official Content seal? The Congressman and his aides are able to add a little icon or whatever to indicate that their changes came from them and is accurate or at least endorsed by them. Then the burden is back on the public: Trust what 3rd parties are saying or trust what the politician says it true. It's not going to change anyone's beliefs one way or the other, but at least the politicians will be happy knowing they can put on a PR campaign warning their knowledgable constituants not to trust Wiki content without their endorsement

founding parents

[Sebastopol]

This gonna sound kinda sappy, but reading this RFC, or an EFF suit, or a book by Lessig, or even the GPL, really makes me feel like I'm observing a "Founding Fathers Moment," like when the Constitution was drafted. I'm glad there are large, DIVERSE, collectives of rational people trying to define fair rules.

Re:Every Wiki's Inherent Design Flaw

[FhnuZoag]

The trouble with wikipedia is that it only works in reality, not in theory.

I Wrote an Email to Meehan

[SwashbucklingCowboy]

One of the Congressman involved in this, expressing my displeasure. Here's the reply I got:

Thank you for writing. I appreciate your taking the time to express your views.

In July of 2005 an intern in my office responsible for updating my personal biography also updated it in my Wikipedia entry. I did not know that this change was being made at the time and only became aware of it when asked by the news media. Though the actual time spent making the update amounted to less than 11 minutes (according to our server logs), I do not consider it time well spent or approve of it. The internet is a place for the free and open exchange of ideas and opinions. Part of being an elected official is to be regularly commented on, praised, and criticized on the web. Whatever temptation there may be to get involved, this activity is best left to the general public.

Thank you again for writing. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future.

Sincerely,

Marty Meehan

I suspect they've heard a lot about this and have learned their lesson!

Re:Congress blocked :P

[fferreres]

Maybe artciles could come in versions, especially when facts are disputed, or several "biased" sources want to tell a different story. That would be good enough I believe. Especially for political or controversial facts. Wikipedia has no specific bias, so they could easily accommodate different versions of "facts"...

Just like in trials, you would be allowed to present your side of the story, but not to silence another version, ... unless (maybe) you can factually prove, and there are no opinions involved (just facts). This last I would guess would be problematic...more than one point of view would be best.