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blog or the pop-up laden
Geocities pages of the past), which threatens their hegemony. In very controversial articles, it is almost impossible for any strong POV to emerge, because there a thousand eyes of all motivations looking at it, ready to remove it. I don't usually get involved with such contentious topics, because they are outside of my field, but I have the greatest respect for those who genuinely seek objectivity in those minefields. As for forcing professors to edit, maybe they would be more comfortable over on Citizendium.-
314:(2005), were assigned the task of adding to a Knowledge article the history of such racist discrimination to the article for a particular town. The student who chose Edina added the information about its past as a sundown town numerous times last year, but it was repeatedly removed. While the edit contained citations to a number of primary sources that were clearly inappropriate for Knowledge, such as an interview and an email message, other sources such as Loewen's book and webpage were removed as well.
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352:, did not participate in any talk page discussion and may not have even known that any discussion existed. Beyond brief edit summaries, it does not appear there was any attempt at further discussion between Juno and the student, such as links to or explanations of relevant policies or dispute resolution procedures. The student told the
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actually believe anyone could edit
Knowledge only to discover theyâre barred from correcting even the simplest factual inaccuracies. Try adding a footnoted fact or correcting a fact error on one of these monitored Knowledge pages and poof! sometimes within a matter of seconds youâll find your edit is reversed.
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founded in 1984. Wilson concludes "To go along with the liberal assumption that new technologies lead us only in the direction of collaboration and consensus is not only to deny this history, but the lived experience of those who are pursued by reactionary culture warriors. The left should affirm the
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article. But, he concludes: "This perseverance comes at an emotional cost, measured in stress and fear: stress felt by the editors who are willing to log the hours reverting the trolls who attempt to insert clauses that cast doubt and skew the content towards the pro-GamerGate position; and fear and
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It's no surprise that academics largely dislike
Knowledge; they used to be the sole arbiters of knowledge on many topics, to which they could add their own biases and inflections. Now, they are faced with the prospect of complete objectivity on a generally reliable website (as opposed to some random
1002:
Selwyn says
Knowledge editing is âan incredibly closed shopâ, with hundreds of millions of viewers but active editors numbering only in their thousands. âThey tend to be white, North American, of a certain age, (and) male. Which is why, when you look at things like comic books or computer games, the
261:). Auerbach writes that "Knowledge is dragging us all down to its level" through its propagation of "bad facts". While Knowledge certainly has issues to address with accuracy and verification, he fails to make a case that journalistic errors in reporting and fact checking can be laid at its door.
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That she considers vaccines to cause autism is not surprising given the rest of the inaccuracies in her talk. It is obvious that she either never read the article looking at the accuracy of
Knowledge's medical content in JAOA or simply does not understand science. I wonder if she realizes that the
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Anonymous
Knowledge editors control and co-opt pages on behalf of special interests, they forbid and reverse edits that go against their agenda, they skew and delete information in blatant violation of Knowledge's own established policies with impunity, always superior to the poor schlubs who
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in 2012. Alessi, currently a
Whittlesea councillor, said of the vandalism "If people get their kicks by changing people's stuff, well that's fine by them. It doesn't mean anything to me." The same day as the story was published, Alessi's article, created in 2008, was
544:(February 11) that the investigation narrowed down the source of the edits, which labeled Del Mastro a "Dealer of Used Cars with Bent Frames" who "formerly sold crippled mules" and a "perjurer", to a small number of computers, some used by visitors to the
616:" (February 11). He writes that the Gamergate dispute on Knowledge is important because "Knowledge possesses considerable cultural authority", citing poll results that 64 percent of Britons trusted Knowledge entries more than any media outlet and a
345:". Another editor supported Juno's assessment in 2009, but it is disputed in a current talk page discussion with other editors writing that he is "a well known, respected, and successful writer/scholar" and "a very reliable source on the subject".
236:,' which means that citations, even wrong citations, trump all else." WP:VNT is an essay, not a policy, and Knowledge policy does not require editors to cite information known to be inaccurate. Auerbach brings up the frequently cited example of
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Is
Knowledge eating itself?: Edina edit war illustrates disconnect between new and experienced editors; Knowledge is "astroturf's dream come true"; Canadian government investigating even more Knowledge editing; academics on Gamergate as "clash of
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996:"He says that if Education ÂMinister Christopher Pyne wants Australians universities to have real impact, the best way would be to force professors to spend a week editing Knowledge pages in their areas of expertise.
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which appear to attempt to cast doubt on her alleged sexual assault and subsequent suicide. Parsons' 2013 suicide at the age of 17, which her parents blame on
Internet harassment following her alleged
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Did anyone else gain the same level of amusement during their morning coffee as I did, when discovering that the second article on this page contains a perfect refutation of the claims in the first?
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788:" (February 5), calling Giraffedata a "super-pedant" and disputing a number of his arguments against the phrase. He concludes that "there is no absolute measure of correctness in language." In
590:, other than to try to control the message on that page." He notes that despite the "failure of the system" to address off-Wiki behavior, "peer-production seems to manage to persevere" at the
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360:"I probably should have reached out to one of the ips or pushed for dispute resolution but I honestly thought it was just the same person" who had been inserting the material since 2009.
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652:: Numerous news outlets are reporting that beaming the entire contents of Knowledge into space is one of the ideas that will be considered at a scientific discussion devoted to the
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article attracted the interest of other
Knowledge editors and some of the information the student attempted to add has been restored to the article in modified form. A March
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and is the author of eight books. Juno noted that editors have attempted to enter references to Loewen's work as early as 2009, well before the class discussed by the
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which actually concluded that nine out of ten Knowledge articles on the costliest medical conditions had factual errors. This conclusion was disputed by editors from
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that he "was not the first or only editor to deal with this". The center of the dispute appears to be the work of Professor Loewen, who has a PhD in sociology from
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survey that the more educated a person, the more likely they are to use Knowledge. Wilson connects Gamergate to largely right-wing and male fringe groups like
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persistence and importance of political conflict online, and develop strategies for combatting the right in those places where fact and history are rendered."
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and public relations efforts by pharmaceutical companies to create the illusion of a consensus that particular medications are safe and effective. She said:
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is in place to prevent the revelation of any identifying information about Parsons, including her name, due to the fact that the criminal case involved
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and his lonely quest to rid Knowledge of the phrase "comprised of" has attracted a lot of media attention. It has also attracted some dissenters. In
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but are otherwise completely independent.) Attkisson called Knowledge "astroturf's dream come true" and alleged that Knowledge editing was part of
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paper from the Lancet has been withdrawn? It is an interesting read as one is left wonder "how did the Lancet ever agree to publish this".
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that Loewen was "not a historian" and his work was "the recipient of media criticism for sloppy research" and "can not be considered a
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210:). (Note: this author was a named party to that case and Auerbach himself had a long-running public spat with another named party,
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places where African-Americans could not live and were forced to leave before sundown or be faced with harassment, violence, or
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on her website "They monitor and edit Knowledge pages in an effort to downplay research that demonstrates associations between
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In response to the Edina article being in the news, I am proposing an edit-a-thon at the public library there. Details are on
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The most recent in a series of Canadian investigations into Knowledge editing from government IP addresses comes from the
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of her Knowledge article about citations and information in the article from critics who labeled her "anti-vaccine".
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337:. Juno disputes the accuracy of Loewen's work in general and his discussion of Edina in particular, telling the
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information on Knowledge is brilliant. And when you look at my own area of educational sociology, itâs shocking."
459:, and to disparage those who investigate the links." In 2012, an editor purporting to be Attkison complained on
552:. As a result, journalists will now be required to use a login and password to access Parliamentary computers.
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Attkison has previously alleged that the pharmaceutical industry has edited Knowledge. In 2014, she wrote in
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of incorrect information inserted into Knowledge articles. Auerbach claims that "Knowledge has a policy of '
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The editors attempting to insert the material citing Loewen, including the student interviewed by the
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that Roth wanted to remove the observations of critics instead of factual inaccuracies (see previous
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article. He inaccurately writes that Roth "tried to correct an error about one of his books", but
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999:âIn terms of making a real contribution to public knowledge, what better thing could we do? ...
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when a novice editor repeatedly attempted to insert information regarding Edina's history as a
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article, since corrected, that made some factually inaccurate claims about the recently closed
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537:). In November, Del Mastro resigned, but the fallout from the investigation continues. The
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While advocacy editing has long been a concern on Knowledge (see, for example, last week's
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Editor's note: Alessi's article was deleted as a result of this discussion on February 14.
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and notes their early adoption of technological means to spread their messages, such as a
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727:(February 6) on the growing acceptance of Knowledge in academica when used appropriately.
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she gave up her attempts at editing at the end of the course. Juno told the
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anxiety that the anonymous horde might choose them as their target next to
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Edina edit war illustrates disconnect between new and experienced editors
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By the way, credit goes to the Canadians for the most creative slander.-
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which reports on Monash University professor Neil Selwyn's research.
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193:(February 5) that "the Internet finally ate itself". He comments on
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494:(February 9) that the DND are investigating edits to the article
214:.) Auerbach engages in a lengthy discussion of the process of "
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at 15 by four teenage boys, caused a nationwide outcry against
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684:: Music and celebrity news outlets report on the vandalism of
658:"Active SETI: Is It Time To Start Transmitting to the Cosmos?"
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Canadian government investigating even more Knowledge editing
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1039:(Just adding this, and section heading, for clarification)
302:. Students in an African-American studies class at the
294:. A relic of America's racist past, sundown towns were
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Attkisson: Knowledge is "astroturf's dream come true"
660:, will be held at this year's annual meeting of the
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Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism
960:If your comment has not appeared here, you can try
688:'s Knowledge article following the surprise win of
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American Association for the Advancement of Science
574:) writes of the Gamergate dispute on Knowledge as "
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The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association
395:. (TEDx events employ the format of the renowned
586:-like group who "are not interested in Knowledge
556:Academics on Gamergate: A clash of civilizations?
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822:Jimmy Wales receives a million dollars ... again
442:Is Knowledge's medical content really 90% wrong?
286:(February 5) on an edit war on the article for
1026:"Knowledge not destroying life as we know it"
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976:. Feel free to ask me for more information.
393:astroturf and manipulation of media messages
1066:Irony is delicious, especially with coffee
835:will be one of the recipients of the 2015
786:Why Knowledge's grammar vigilante is wrong
161:Is Knowledge eating itself? Probably not.
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578:" (February 1). The Knowledge model of
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383:At a January 23 TEDx event at the
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201:Gamergate arbitration case
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234:Verifiability, not truth
716:Good news from academia
672:nine Knowledge articles
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391:delivered a talk about
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385:University of Nevada
371:will be held at the
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831:(February 10) that
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457:vaccines and autism
1033:: Higher Education
940:Discuss this story
920:WikiProject report
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742:(February 6) that
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175:In "The Knowledge
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696:Album of the Year
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768:: Last week's
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196:The Guardian
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180:
174:
69:In the media
1191:Suggestions
978:Jonathunder
947:transcluded
833:Jimmy Wales
794:, linguist
776:Giraffedata
774:profile of
563:Social Text
387:, reporter
238:Philip Roth
216:citogenesis
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296:segregated
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448:.
153:By
80:â
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