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British Politicians Delete Negative Wikipedia Descriptions Before Election

EwanPalmer writes: The Wikipedia pages of dozens of UK politicians had references to sex scandals, fraud and opposition to same sex marriage removed in the run up to the UK general election. Dozens of MPs had negative aspects of their online biographies removed or altered prior to the election in a bid to make them more electable. The changes include several instances of MPs' expense claim scandals being removed, as well as details of arrests and the use of 'chauffeur-driven cars.' The edits were made using computers with IP addresses registered from inside Parliament.

24 of 121 comments (clear)

  1. Re:bunch of naggers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    You assholes re-elected the torie menace David Cameron, and he is going to COMPLETELY destroy your country.

  2. Surprised those edits weren't reverted by rockout · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I've noticed in the past that most of those white-washing edits, especially when they're done by anonymous IPs, tend to get reverted by registered editors, so that the white-washing isn't that much of an issue.

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    1. Re:Surprised those edits weren't reverted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Even if they were immediately reverted, that the edits were done is a cause for concern on its own basis.

      Me, if I were a politician, I'd tell my staff to have NOTHING to do with any Wikipedia pages on me EXCEPT post comments to the talk page clearly established as being from them, and requesting any errors or clarifications be made. Well, I suppose commenting to BLP or other places would be ok too.

      But that's why I'd never be a politician, I'm too honest and earnest.

    2. Re:Surprised those edits weren't reverted by MickyTheIdiot · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Politicians are in such a bubble these days and are so self-righteous and self-involved I wonder if the actual office holder even has Wikipedia on their map. Here in the US we have politicians that proudly say they don't use email or have never used the web. It wouldn't surprise me if many staffers receive no guidelines at all about their online usage, and if they do it might come ignorance of how the Internet works.

    3. Re:Surprised those edits weren't reverted by squiggleslash · · Score: 4, Informative

      I think there's a sense of defeat amongst most Wikipedia editors right now, that if they revert the removal of sourced, no-BLP-problems, negative information from Wikipedia, they're going to end up in a fight that leaves them banned for "edit warring" or "incivility" by admins and arbs more keen on the appearance of dealing with conflict than on resolving real issues with off-site organizing of vandalism and harassment.

      I wouldn't recommend anyone get involved in that hole for a while, and as such I reluctantly discourage anyone from reading Wikipedia for anything but the least controversial articles - unless they're also willing to put the work in and examine page histories, checking references, etc.

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    4. Re:Surprised those edits weren't reverted by mwvdlee · · Score: 5, Interesting

      It's an issue in that these politicians are wasting the precious time of honest, taxpaying volunteers.

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    5. Re:Surprised those edits weren't reverted by RDW · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Me, if I were a politician, I'd tell my staff to have NOTHING to do with any Wikipedia pages

      Personally, I'd have my staff whitewash my opponent's page, then leak that somebody had done this...

    6. Re:Surprised those edits weren't reverted by rockout · · Score: 5, Informative

      Well, that may be true if an editor gets involved in a protracted edit war with another editor. For anon IPs, such as the ones doing the edits described in the summary, it's trivial to revert the edit, and if anon IPs continue to remove sourced material, the IP addresses tend to get blocked for a few days, or a week, or a month, depending on the individual circumstances surrounding the edit war. An administrator is going to back a registered editor over an anon IP pretty much every time, so there's no danger of getting banned.

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    7. Re:Surprised those edits weren't reverted by TheCarp · · Score: 2

      Nah, you pay someone to deface his page with slander and lies, and have your staffer fix it immediately and release that you have no connection to such underhanded tactics as to spread ....insert reference to slander and lies.

      That way, you have a legitimate reason to speak your slander and lies, while making it someone else's fault; and take credit for being fair.

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    8. Re:Surprised those edits weren't reverted by AntiAntagonist · · Score: 2

      There have been some Congress critters caught having their aides edit their wiki pages. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U...

    9. Re:Surprised those edits weren't reverted by rockout · · Score: 2
      Maybe. It would be even easier to just ban IP edits entirely. Of course, that's not the idea that drives Wikipedia -

      Anyone with Internet access can write and make changes to Wikipedia articles, except in limited cases where editing is restricted to prevent disruption or vandalism. Users can contribute anonymously, under a pseudonym, or, if they choose to, with their real identity.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

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    10. Re:Surprised those edits weren't reverted by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 2

      Even if they were immediately reverted, that the edits were done is a cause for concern on its own basis.

      I'm more concerned with voters who decide based on info on wiki pages. A sad state of affairs if it really makes a difference.

  3. Last minute voting researchers? by rmdingler · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Sure it's scandalous, but mostly because candidates with this many flaws are still running at all.

    Access to information is the greatest threat to rule of crooks and despots, which is why it is frowned upon in so many closed counties.

    In the West? Chances are very few people will be reseacrhing online inside the voting booth. Do your homework before election day.

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    Ernest Hemingway

  4. Obilg Orwell by seven+of+five · · Score: 5, Informative

    'There is a Party slogan dealing with the control of the past,' he said. 'Repeat it, if you please.'
    '"Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past,"' repeated Winston obediently.

    1. Re:Obilg Orwell by HornWumpus · · Score: 2

      So you point us to a book of propaganda?

      It is a good example of someone trying just what you describe.

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  5. Re:bunch of naggers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Note: The general people in the UK don't vote for the Prime Minister - they vote for their local Member of Parliament (MP).
    The MPs collectively vote for the Prime Minister.
    So 'You assholes' is presumably only referring to the 650 (minus the Sinn Fein folk) MPs?

  6. Re:bunch of naggers by MightyMartian · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The alternative being a weak Labour government with its balls firmly in the Nats hands.

    If there was ever an election that was a choice of the lesser evil, the 2015 UK general election was it.

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  7. The edits aren't the problem by Iamthecheese · · Score: 2

    The root of the problem is people using Wikipedia as a research resource in its own right. It's very helpful for uncontroversial facts but horrible for anything even slightly politically charged. Wikipedia is filled with power hungry POV pushing scum in denial. The solution isn't to fix Wikipedia, it's far beyond fixing. The solution is to take anything you read on Wikipedia with a whole shaker of salt. Do real research.

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  8. Re: bunch of naggers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    The US voters have had the dilemma of having to pick the lesser of two evils for awhile now. It's all downhill from here. May God have mercy on you.

  9. Re:bunch of naggers by jeremyp · · Score: 2

    I'm not convinced we got the lesser evil though.

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  10. Re:bunch of naggers by MightyMartian · · Score: 2

    First of all, I'm not British, so I only meant this as an outside observation. I'm Canadian, so certainly well versed in the realities of Westminster politics.

    Second of all, as much as Cameron may be far from ideal, I don't think he's any kind of Palpatine. As much as anything, he's been delivered the fruits of the Labour meltdown in Scotland which began in 2010 and now appears to be permanent.

    I do think that the specter of a Labour government reliant on the SNP disturbed a good many English, and I think there are reasonable grounds to argue that, for England, the idea of a Devo-maxed Scotland still able to push English MPs around on matters of largely English concern demonstrates fundamental inequities. And before we all forget, it is Labour, as much as anyone, who created this dilemma by dealing with the Scottish question, and going out of its way not to deal with English question.

    At any rate, British voters had their chance to pick a new electoral system that would have made the ability of any party to form government with less than even a 40% share of the popular vote far less likely. They rejected that. Coupled with what looks to be a permanent break with Labour in Scotland, and the phenomena of UKIP actually stealing more Labour votes than Conservative votes in the North, the Tories probably have a good chance of repeating the 2015 election again, providing they don't go completely off the rails. And that will moderate them as much as anything. Their first majority in 23 years is not something they're going to be keen to throw away on a pack of Thatcheresque exploits.

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  11. Re:bunch of naggers by samjam · · Score: 2

    No, in the UK you vote for a candidate, not a party, and the candidate may be independent of parties.

    A party candidate may choose to leave his party after the election and this does not trigger a by-election, he retains his seat.

  12. Re: bunch of naggers by garyisabusyguy · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If you think that a choice between Dems, who have shown themselves to be centrist, fiscally responsible and more likely to support the working class than not, and the gop, which has become a raft of radical nutjobs who want to waste the country's money on foreign wars while reducing taxes on the wealthy effectively bleeding the middle class to death... is the lesser of two evils, then you are just plain silly

    Keep in mind, who put the right wingers on the Supreme Court which upheld corporate money as 'free speech' - The GOP
    Who put us into two foreign wars with no long range plan resulting in trillions in debt and thousands of dead Americans - The GOP
    Who left our guard down while ignoring repeated warnings and allowing the 9/11 attacks on their watch - The GOP
    Who deregulated markets and created a boom/bust scenario resulting in the largest recession in 80 years - the GOP
    Who reduced taxes on the wealthy resulting in deficits and long term problems like a rotting infrastructure - the GOP

    And just to balance the scale, who recovered from the last two Bush-driven recessions - The Dems

    If you think that is the choice between two evils, then you are drinking the gop cool-aid and need to wake the fuck up

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  13. Re: bunch of naggers by garyisabusyguy · · Score: 2

    Don't just put me down, provide a logical counter argument

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