Wikipedia sleuthing

Wikipedia readers uncover sex offender

Young sex offender Joshua Gardner tried to pass himself off as the Duke of Cleveland in talking to students at Stillwater Area High School in Minnesota. However, edits he made to Wikipedia (as User:Earlofscooby) to bolster his claim left footprints that allowed student newspaper investigators and eventually the police to uncover his true identity. The story was reported in "Student Reporters Expose 'Royal' Sex Offender" by ABC News, and repeated in numerous other outlets.

A plagiarist dismissed

Another misdeed brought to light by Wikipedia editors (see related story) has led to the dismissal of veteran news reporter Tim Ryan from the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. The story was reported in several media sources:

• "Paper fires journalist - Borrowed too much from Wikipedia" - The Inquirer
• "Wikipedia Unmasks Plagiarism But Gets No Credit" - WebProNews
• "Aloha To Hawaiian Wikipedia Plagiarist" - WebProNews

Chinese ban

The article "Chinese ban on Wikipedia prevents research, users say" ran in The Globe and Mail on January 10. "The latest blocking of the website, the third shutdown of the site in China in the past two years, has now continued for more than 10 weeks without any explanation and without any indication whether the ban is temporary or permanent," writer Geoffrey York said. "Chinese students and intellectuals are expressing outrage at Beijing's decision to prohibit access to Wikipedia, the fast-growing on-line encyclopedia that has become a basic resource for many in China."

Israel News Agency

In "www.israelnewsagency.com/wikipediagoogleisraelleyden5580110.html Wikipedia, Google, Israel And Free Speech", Joel Leyden, head of the "Israel News Agency", interpreted the nomination to delete the article he wrote on Israel News Agency as an anti-Israeli action and a suppression of free speech.

Summary articles

• "Wikipedia puts unique spin on Memphis and everything else." - Memphis Flyer, Tennessee
• "You just can’t trust everything you read on Wikipedia.org" - Times Leader, Pennsylvania

Blog mentions

• "Can Wikipedia Survive Its Own Success?" - Knowledge@Wharton
• "A Wiki Runs Through It" The Free Liberal blog
• A passage in "Sleeping Cell" at alt.muslim uses the word "Wikipedia" as common parlance: "Again, these robotic conversations remind Muslims of no other Muslims, because no one, and I assume even terrorists, talks like a walking Wikipedia."

Citations in the news

The number of citations this week has increased again after a lull in the wake of the Seigenthaler incident. Wikipedia was cited in the last week in the following publications:

• Middle East North Africa Financial Network (Jordan), on Economy of Nepal [1]
• Times Online (United Kingdom), on wiki [2]
• North County Times (California, US), on Blue Cross [3]
• Anderson Independent Mail (South Carolina, US), on Friday the 13th [4]
• New Britain Herald (Connecticut, US), on light year [5]
• Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Wisconsin, US), on blogswarm [6] (subscription required)
• Charlotte Sun-Herald (Florida, US), on Student loan [7]
• Examiner (New Jersey, US), on John O. Bennett [8]
• Arizona Republic (Arizona, US), on frankincense [9]
• Pittsburgh Post Gazette (Pennsylvania, US), on Bill Bradley [10]
• American Thinker (Arizona, US), on Ptolemy VIII Physcon [11] ("This is according to Wikipedia, which is certainly not definitive, as we have come to learn. However, it is unlikley that the friends or enemies of Ptolemy VIII have been been altering articles there, so perhaps it approximates truth.")