Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sat 30th May 2009 19:17 UTC
Even though we make fun of Wikipedia, and even though any serious scientific piece shouldn't cite Wikipedia, fact remains that the community-created and maintained encyclopaedia has turned into an impressive database of knowledge. Even though I don't think you should trust it blindly, it's usually an excellent starting point for information, especially when used in a casual setting. Still, its open nature is also a threat to Wikipedia, this week exemplified by the Wikipedia Arbitration Committee banning Scientology from editing Wikipedia pages.
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Member since:
2005-10-19
It's strange that the Wikipedia are taking such drastic measures with this.
This to me is reminiscent of the elephant page vandalism fiasco. For those that don't know, there was (is) a movement going to prove the ineffectiveness of Wikipedia by continuously vandalising the elephant page (I notice the page is still locked), by writing that the numbers of elephants had grown by ridiculous numbers in the last few years.
If you look at the average time one of these vandalism attempts lasts on the history page, it's very low, mostly only a couple of minutes.
Looks to me like the Wiki guys are either losing their patience or they have something particular against Scientology, which would be understandable.
I have noticed that Wikipedia does seem to have a pretty low tolerance for anything that doesn't push the standard lines of the major religions though.