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"DonorGate" Is Latest Scandal To Hit Wikipedia

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the who-to-believe dept.

MSTCrow5429 writes "In the latest of a long train of scandals to hit Wikipedia, the Sydney Morning Herald reports on an accusation that founder and Wikia President Jimmy Wales traded a multi-thousand dollar donation for an article re-write. Jeff Merkey, formerly of Novell, claims that Wales approached him in 2006 and said that for a fee, Wales would personally see to it that the article on Merkey, which had cast him in a negative light, would be re-written in Merkey's favor. Merkey claims that after he donated $5,000, Wales followed through on this quid pro quo. The Wikipedia edit history does indicate that Wales wiped out the article on Merkey, and then personally re-wrote it. The SMH reports that Wales has called the allegation 'nonsense.'" Merkey filed a harassment lawsuit in 2005 against a number of people and organizations, including Slashdot. Slashdot was removed from the suit on 2005-07-20.

Update: 03/12 00:39 GMT by KD : Wikimedia Foundation spokesman Jay Walsh provided this official statement: "Current allegations relating to Jimmy Wales soliciting donations for the Wikimedia Foundation in order to protect or edit Wikipedia articles are completely false. The Wikimedia Foundation has never accepted nor solicited donations in order to protect or make edits to a Wikipedia article — nor has Jimmy Wales. This is a practice the Wikimedia Foundation would never condone."

12 of 274 comments (clear)

  1. Dinner is on me! by RingDev · · Score: 5, Funny

    Slashdot was removed from the suit on 2005-07-20. Turns out Taco just had to take him out for an evening of dining and dancing, followed up with a night of naval gazing.

    -Rick
    --
    "Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
    1. Re:Dinner is on me! by displaced80 · · Score: 5, Funny

      followed up with a night of naval gazing.


      They dressed up in sailor outfits? Terrifying.

      --
      What's the frequency, Kenneth?
  2. Re:donorgate... by georgewilliamherbert · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's a conspiracy by gate manufacturers to get everyone so sick of it that we stop using it.

    Gate-gate!

  3. Re:Where there is smoke.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    there is fire. It seems that Mr. Jimmy Wales is the subject of a lot of news articles that don't paint him in a positive light.

    [Citation needed]
  4. Re:donorgate... by insertwackynamehere · · Score: 5, Funny

    What like Bill-Gates? Watch the positive moderation flow...

  5. Re:Sounds about right, to me. by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 4, Funny

    So, instead of hearing from the horse's mouth, you'd rather hear from the other end of the horse?

    --
    Bruce Perens.
  6. Re:He also tried to buy Linux, didn't he? by moderatorrater · · Score: 2, Funny

    He vastly underestimated the value of the code It's a common mistake. They are giving it out for free, after all.
  7. Re:Sounds about right, to me. by rucs_hack · · Score: 2, Funny

    I mentioned sucking, and you retort with 'the other end of a horse'.

    Urk.. the resultant mental association doesn't make me feel too well, I think I need to go lie down for a while.

  8. DonorGate? by v3xt0r · · Score: 3, Funny

    Is this a sperm-bank conspiracy?

    Who comes up w/ these buzzwords, anyhow?

    --
    the only permanence in existence, is the impermanence of existence.
  9. Re:Where there is smoke.... by A+nonymous+Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    That's spelled H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-T-E

    Nah, it's spelled S-T-I-F-F-I-N-G T-H-E C-O-M-P-E-T-I-T-I-O-N.

    --
    Infuriate left and right
  10. Re:Where there is smoke.... by SeaFox · · Score: 3, Funny

    It seems that Mr. Jimmy Wales is the subject of a lot of news articles that don't paint him in a positive light.


    And unfortunately these are some articles he can't easily edit.
  11. Re:Where there is smoke... there is smoke & mi by jgoemat · · Score: 4, Funny

    Why does Jeff Merkey rate a Wikipedia page at all? I know him as a guy who makes wild drunken posts to lkml from time to time.

    Because people might read one of his wild crazy posts about buying the Linux Kernel under a commercial license and want to know who that crackpot is :) Then they can find out that he used to work at Novell, allegedly stole trade secrets to form his own company, spent $4 million in the ensuing litigation, and founded his own Native American church in Utah so people can smoke peyote legally.