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Spanish TV Channels Vandalize Wikipedia

Posted by kdawson on from the setting-fire-to-a-house-to-see-how-quickly-the-firemen-arrive dept.

strider2004 writes to tell us that Barrapunto, a Spanish tech news site, has outed two TV stations in Spain, one public and the other private, for engaging in Wikipedia vandalism for the sake of a story. (The link is in Spanish; Google translation here.) The public station introduced falsehoods into the Wikipedia entry for John Lennon; the private one vandalized the Elvis Presley entry. Both stations said they were performing an "experiment" to check the reaction time of Wikipedia. Both articles were promptly corrected by other editors.
Update: 08/19 13:01 GMT by KD : Barrapunto is not affiliated with Slashdot.

8 of 182 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Need Disclaimer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    You mean like this which is linked at the bottom of every single page?

  2. The experiment was already done before by ILuvRamen · · Score: 4, Informative

    In case nobody remembers, Stephen Colbert's "experiment" proved the response time for fixing BS entries in wikipedia (that librarians are hiding something) in about 15 seconds. Why do they have to try the experiment otra ves? :P

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  3. Re:Need Disclaimer by xaosflux · · Score: 5, Informative

    The bottom of each page links to Wikipedia'a:

    General Disclaimer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:General_dis claimer/

    Which links to the specific disclaimers:

    Risk disclaimer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Risk_discla imer/

    Medical disclaimer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Medical_dis claimer/

    Legal disclaimer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Legal_discl aimer/

    and

    Content disclaimer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Content_dis claimer/

  4. Ah yes. by ta+bu+shi+da+yu · · Score: 3, Informative

    Vandalism by the media. I guess another entry for this article on Wikipedia.

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  5. Re:I'm shocked! by jynus · · Score: 2, Informative

    Actually, we usually have our own "Candyman answer". We're soooooooooo original! :-)

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  6. Re:Good Ol' Unreliable WikipediaBS by Gerzel · · Score: 2, Informative

    You know they actually did ban Steven Colbert for that and they tend to pre-emptily lock things that are brought up on the show for changing.

  7. Re:Good Ol' Unreliable WikipediaBS by tepples · · Score: 3, Informative

    Wikipedia is an online dictionary. Nit: Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, and Wiktionary is a dictionary. Otherwise, you make valid points.
  8. Re:barrapunto - not just for nerds by Flipao · · Score: 2, Informative

    nah, it's simply not a widely used term, and even if it were, the word is more associated with compulsion than mere interest (as in Freak).

    Not to mention it's also an anglicism for "Free Kick" in football.