Posted by
Andrews on Wednesday, May 13, 2009 5:32:20 PM
I have long been harping on the worthlessness of Wikipedia, mentioning several reasons that its model is inherently flawed, but making most of one point. Even if the best intentioned people produce a perfectly accurate Wikipedia, you can't be sure that the minute before you looked some dolt didn't deface the entry you're reading.
And now
Best of the Web cites an article proving my point:
You Can't Trust Reporters, Reporter Reports
"One could say my life itself has been one long soundtrack," composer
Maurice Jarre, who died in March at 84, once said. "Music was my life,
music brought me to life, and music is how I will be remembered long
after I leave this life. When I die there will be a final waltz playing
in my head that only I can hear."
Correction! Jarre did not say this, although the quote has been
attributed to him. The source of these words was actually Shane
Fitzgerald, a 22-year-old university student in Dublin, and the
Associated Press says it was an experiment of sorts.
Just after Jarre died, Fitzgerald made up the quote, which was
"calculated to appeal to obituary writers without distorting Jarre's
actual life experiences." He inserted it into Jarre's entry on
Wikipedia, the user-edited online encyclopedia, whose "listing on Jarre
did not have any other strong quotes." Mission accomplished: "Many
blogs and several newspapers used the quotes at the start or finish of
their obituaries."
In the month after Jarre's death, "nobody noticed the editorial
fraud. So Fitzgerald told several media outlets they'd swallowed his
baloney whole." Meanwhile, the quote disappeared from Wikipedia,
because "nobody noticed the editorial fraud. So Fitzgerald told several
media outlets they'd swallowed his baloney whole."
Here is how the AP's Shawn Pogatchnik sums up these results:
"Wikipedia passed. Journalism flunked." There is an obvious logical
problem here: How can Wikipedia have "passed" when the reason
journalism "flunked" is precisely because it relied on Wikipedia?
Then again, Pogatchnik is just a journalist. As we've seen, his ilk
can't be trusted when they vouch for Wikipedia's reliability.
You can read my many complaints about Wikipedia in the following articles:
Stop Confusing Me With The Facts!
Mystery Quotes
Wikipedia?
The Failure of Wikipedia
Opinion Masquerading as Fact
Funny Numbers
What is Wrong with Wikipedia?
Endangered Species
Sterility of Formal Economics
Deceiving Themselves?
A Question About Language
Why People Don't Take Academics Seriously
A Request for Rush Fans
Wikipedia Absurdities
Proof Positive
Some Libertarian Analogies
Have to Love Wikipedia
Wikipedia Syndrome
Yet Another Wikirant
Final Comment on Wikipedia (For Now, Anyway)
Wikipedia Absurdity, Or How To Create Your Own Citation
Now I know Why
Rush Debate
As you can see, this has been a bit of a crusade, and it is nice to finally get some confirmation.