Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2007-01-22/In the news

In the news

Vandalized entries make news

The entry on Marti Pellow, the lead singer for Scottish music group Wet Wet Wet, was briefly the subject of scrutiny after the entry was changed to state that Pellow had died. It stayed in this state for about 4 1/2 hours before being reverted. The Evening Times quoted David Gerard, who apologized for the edits. Other Irish and Scottish news sources carried this article, but the press attention given to this incident was relatively minor.

An entry of John F. Street, the mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania made news this week, when the Philadelphia Inquirer noted that the entry had been vandalized to state that Street had performed as Bozo the Clown. The vandalism was later reverted, nearly 11 hours after it was first vandalized.

Another entry, Millom, was noted by the North-West Evening Mail; the entry had contained various sexual references. The paper noted that a local rugby team had been referred to as the "oldest existing homosexual rugby league team in the world", in addition to other minor inaccuracies, but omitted some of the more vile edits made by the same IP address. The article remained vandalized for over a week before it was reverted.

The Nashville Scene also took a humorous look at a vandalous edit made to Bob Clement, a candidate for Nashville mayor, on 3 January (reverted a week later). The article has since been stubbed, as none of the claims made therein were sourced.

Ottawa Citizen examines editor SimonP

The Ottawa Citizen examined Wikipedia editor and arbitrator Simon Pulsifer. The article went extensively into Pulsifer's personal life, making light of his status as "unemployed and living with his parents" (though the article later notes that he's accepted a full-time job and plans to move into an apartment later this month).

Wikipedia referenced in American sitcom

Wikipedia was referenced in the 18 January, 2007 episode of 30 Rock, a sitcom on American television channel NBC. In the episode entitled "The Head and the Hair", comedian Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) realises he has one day left to write his autobiography. He enlists James "Toofer" Spurlock (Keith Powell) and Frank Rossitano (Judah Friedlander) to help him; Friedlander's character finds the article on Tracy Jordan, while using the Internet on his laptop. The article says that he was discovered after doing stand-up comedy at the Apollo Theater in 1984, but Jordan has no memory of this.