Tracking Vandals, Wikipedia Finds Some on Capitol Hill
By DAVID P. HAMILTON
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
February 2, 2006; Page B1
The political spin cycle has infiltrated a new arena -- the volunteer-maintained online encyclopedia Wikipedia. In recent months, Wikipedia editors report, anonymous users located in the House of Representatives and the Senate have "vandalized" political entries in the encyclopedia. In some cases, the changes buffed a legislator's image; in others, a user inserted derogatory information.
In December, someone using an Internet protocol address assigned to the Senate altered the Wikipedia entry on Sen. Tom Coburn to say that the Oklahoma Republican was voted "most annoying senator" by his peers and used a vulgar term to explain why. An attack on Sen. Robert Byrd added text stating that the West Virginia Democrat, the oldest senator, is "180 years old."
Wikipedia, one of the most popular sources of information on the Web, prides itself on its community-based approach to creating and editing entries. But the site takes action against vandalism, which it defines as "any addition, deletion, or change to content made in a deliberate attempt to compromise the integrity'' of the site.
Although "editwars" on political entries aren't new, the current cases are the first in which vandals have been traced to the legislative branch itself. Wikipedia editors are discussing ways to crack down on the practice. In the meantime, "we would hope the House and the Senate would conduct themselves with a little more decorum," said Jimmy Wales, founder of the online encyclopedia.
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