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In the media

Solving crime; editing out violence allegations

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By Eddie891 and Lane Rasberry

On the use of images

This donated image of a 2009 Toyota Camry helped to solve a crime.

A bicyclist was hit. The driver fled the scene. Left in critical condition, a Reddit user by the name of YoungSalt desperately posted on several forums with a picture of the bumper. "Help identify this piece of a bumper from a hit and run with a cyclist now in critical condition." Using, among other sources, an image from Wikipedia (File:2009 Toyota Camry (ACV40R) Ateva sedan (2015-05-29) 01 (cropped).jpg) other users from Reddit were able to determine that the bumper fragment came from a 2009 Toyota Camry, and the previously unknown attacker was caught. Free culture is valuable for its own sake but even mundane pictures of cars can make a tangible difference in the world.

NFL coach's wife is editing out violence allegations on Wikipedia

Ccable62, at a glance would appear to be a very obsessive fan of Tom Cable, removing allegations of violence against the football coach repeatedly. However, it turns out that, as The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post reported, Ccable62 is in fact Carol Cable, Tom's wife. Clearly, they felt that the allegations were unfounded, writing "ALL ACCUSATIONS AGAINST COACH CABLE WERE ORICRN VIA NFL. DA. AND POKICE TO BR ABSOLUTELY FALSE. THEY SHOULD NOT LIST LIES AND FALSR ACCUSATIONS IN THIS WIKIPEDIA AS IT IS SLANDER" in an edit summary. For now the allegations remain up, and Ccable62 has not edited since January 5.

Did UCF really win?

Sports Illustrated noted fierce editing at 2017 UCF Knights football team and related pages

When the University of Central Florida football team went undefeated for 13 games, everyone knew that controversy would ensue. As College football national championships in NCAA Division I FBS do not have a championship, there is no defined winner other than who has the best record. Many, however were and are of the opinion that Alabama truly won the division, and those people edited as such. Edit wars broke out across the spectrum, with an edit every 97 seconds on the 2017 UCF Knights football team page. Discussions broke out as to the color of the 2017 season at pages including coach Scott Frost, UCF Knights football, and the 2017 Alabama Crimson Tide football team (That page underwent 252 edits from mid-November to mid-January; of those, 124 came on January 8 and 9). (Originally reported in Sports Illustrated.)

In brief

"Wikipedia Rabbit Hole" discussed at Engadget



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Am I the only one struggling to understand the UCF section? Lepricavark (talk) 21:34, 5 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Nutshell: (un)remarkable edit war about unverifiable original research relating to US university sports teams. This uninvolved editor would like to know, was there a Presidential tweet on the topic? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.205.251.56 (talk) 00:20, 6 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]
I got the basic idea. The problem is that the section is confusingly worded and seemingly inaccurate. Lepricavark (talk) 02:51, 6 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]
What's "seemingly inaccurate" about it. Let us know, so we can fix it. Eddie891 Talk Work 13:49, 6 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]
As College football national championships in NCAA Division I FBS do not have a championship, there is no defined winner other than who has the best record. That sentence is confusingly worded and also inaccurate, as the FBS does have a championship: College Football Playoff. Therefore, the following sentence about Alabama is also incorrect. Officially, Alabama did win the championship; it is not a matter of opinion. Lepricavark (talk) 15:43, 6 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]
The College Football Playoff is a [[M "A mythical national championship (sometimes abbreviated MNC) is national championship recognition that is not explicitly competitive. This phrase has often been invoked in reference to American college football, because the NCAA does not sponsor a playoff-style tournament or recognize official national champions for the Football Bowl Subdivision." Eddie891 Talk Work 16:36, 6 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]
(Minor point: the "[[M" fragment in the 16:36, 6 February (UTC) post above may have been intended to link Mythical national championship.) – Athaenara 20:02, 6 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Yup. Eddie891 Talk Work 20:18, 6 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Technically speaking, you may be correct, but, the vast majority of the sports world regards the CFP winner as the national champion. At any rate, the sentence is still worded very poorly, and I'm not sure how the 'best record' part is relevant if you're really going to make the argument that there is no official champion. Any sports fan reading that paragraph will gain a lower opinion of Wikipedia's credibility. Lepricavark (talk) 17:58, 6 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]
I understand your point, and there is certainly validity in it, but what I did was based on a Sports Illustrated piece, which regardless of what many people think says "Outside of Orlando, people largely consider Alabama the national champion and UCF a delightful or exasperating footnote." So yes, it may have been poorly worded, but on the other hand, I based it solely on the article in Sports Illustrated, which hardly mentions CFP. Eddie891 Talk Work 20:18, 6 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]
I mean no offense, and it certainly was poorly worded, But I do not feel it was incorrect completely. Eddie891 Talk Work 20:21, 6 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]



       

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