RESPECTFUL INSOLENCE

"A statement of fact cannot be insolent." The miscellaneous ramblings of a surgeon/scientist on medicine, quackery, science, and pseudoscience (and anything else that interests him).

Anti-Semitism Computers and social media

How to destroy Wikipedia?

Post author By Orac
Post date May 14, 2007
44 Comments on How to destroy Wikipedia?

While trolling the deepest, darkest, most vile racist parts of the Internet, as I am wont to do looking around for new Holocaust denial idiocy to take down, I came across something unexpected, so unexpected that it made me curious. Basically, Bill White, Commander of the American National Socialist Workers’ Party, apparently annoyed that he can’t edit Wikipedia pages to conform to his racist views, proposed a strategy for “destroying” Wikipedia. Apparently, according to white racists, Wikipedia is full of “Jewish bias,” whatever that means.

I’m sure there must be Wikipedians out there. (Heck, I’ve thought of starting to help out editing Wikipedia pages on cancer and alternative medicine myself, although I admit that, in the case of alternative medicine, keeping the neutral voice might be difficult; I can do it, though.) Is there anything to this idea? Could it work? My tendency was to think that it probably wouldn’t work and that White probably isn’t the first one to have thought of this.

It just goes to show, though, that there are cranks, even dangerous cranks, always out there trying to undermine Wikipedia, which is just one reason that I’ve always cast a very skeptical eye at Wikipedia articles involving anything but the most straighforward, uncontroversial information.

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By Orac

Orac is the nom de blog of a humble surgeon/scientist who has an ego just big enough to delude himself that someone, somewhere might actually give a rodent's posterior about his copious verbal meanderings, but just barely small enough to admit to himself that few probably will. That surgeon is otherwise known as David Gorski.

That this particular surgeon has chosen his nom de blog based on a rather cranky and arrogant computer shaped like a clear box of blinking lights that he originally encountered when he became a fan of a 35 year old British SF television show whose special effects were renowned for their BBC/Doctor Who-style low budget look, but whose stories nonetheless resulted in some of the best, most innovative science fiction ever televised, should tell you nearly all that you need to know about Orac. (That, and the length of the preceding sentence.)

DISCLAIMER:: The various written meanderings here are the opinions of Orac and Orac alone, written on his own time. They should never be construed as representing the opinions of any other person or entity, especially Orac's cancer center, department of surgery, medical school, or university. Also note that Orac is nonpartisan; he is more than willing to criticize the statements of anyone, regardless of of political leanings, if that anyone advocates pseudoscience or quackery. Finally, medical commentary is not to be construed in any way as medical advice.

To contact Orac: [email protected]

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