Comments on: That Hallowed Standard of Accuracy: Oops

By: Mickey Gillmor

Mickey Gillmor — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:37:24 +0000

Better check my birth certificate, I guess!!

By: Dan Gillmor

Dan Gillmor — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 18:16:37 +0000

Joe, thanks for the info on Wikipedia.

By: Dan Gillmor

Dan Gillmor — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 18:16:09 +0000

Mickey, are you sure you’re spelling your name right? Something looks fishy to me….

By: Mickey Gillmor

Mickey Gillmor — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 17:54:00 +0000

Now come on. Dan. You know darn well people can spell Gillmor any number of other ways, even when you’re right there spelling it for them!! (Usually not with this particular variant, however.) Sloppy, sloppy!! Now the rest of it, sheesh.

By: Christopher Scollo

Christopher Scollo — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 12:12:38 +0000

I’ve seen something like this before. A few years ago a reporter from The Register interviewed me for a story about crowd-sourced information. He clearly had a problem with my suggestion that Wikipedia was an impressive accomplishment, and he spent the whole interview arguing with me that only professional journalists and authors can be trusted to inform the public. Then when the story ran, I found that he had misquoted me on every single statement in order to make me sound naive and idealistic. Stuff I never said like “Gee whiz, isn’t Wikipedia just amazing!” I doubt he saw the irony in his unreliable account.

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:08:52 +0000

You probably know this but it might be useful information for someone.

Wikipedia doesn’t like people editing their own articles and Wikipedia likes facts to be backed by a reliable source so the most Wikipedia compatible way to correct an article about yourself is to:
write a blog post on a blog which clearly belongs to you, listing the corrections.
then post a link to that blog on the “Talk” page associated with page that needs correction (click on the “Talk” tab near the top of the page; click on the “+” tab on the top of the new page (to create a new thread); fill out the form that comes up).
Some one will probably do the fix within a week or so.If they haven’t then go ahead and do it your self and note that it’s done by adding a note on the end of Talk page thread you started.

Do not post the corrections to the Talk page as no one has any way of knowing if stuff posted there is really from you or from some troll pretending.

Personal blogs are not generally considered to be Reliable Sources by wikipedia but the are acceptable for non-controversial information about the blog’s author.

By: csrster

csrster — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 07:20:54 +0000

Shouldn’t it be:

“If your mother tells you she loves you, check it out, and then print whatever will sell most copy anyway.”

By: Zaine Ridling

Zaine Ridling — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 06:05:38 +0000

Brilliant retort, Dan. One thing blogs have shown us is how shallow and insufficient traditional paper media have been over the decades. Grumpy guys like Murdoch and Mort Zuckerman are currently doing their imitations of the “Wicked Witch” in ‘Wizard of Oz.’

By: Mark Drapeau

Mark Drapeau — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 02:25:31 +0000

Ouch. Burn. Rip. Sting.

By: sherifffruitfly

sherifffruitfly — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 01:34:39 +0000

Just more bitter tears from the losers who continue to throw away their own racket due to their stupidity, incompetence, and malfeasance.

I’m ok with that.