General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWikipedia is being thrashed by right wing propaganda!
Holy crud. I just went to wikipedia to get statistics for social program spending and it is full of right wing propaganda.
Anyone here a wikipedia judge? Take a look at:
"Social programs in the United States"
It is filled with right wing talking points. 35% welfare spending? (real figure is 13%). National Review editorial as a primary reference??? Heritage Foundation for references? I have used wikipedia for a long time and while there has been contention, generally biased sources were very frowned upon.
While folks are at it take a look at the top pages on Google for the same subjects. Right wing hit shops are all over the top 10 pages.
Hamlette
(15,412 posts)Wiki keeps track of changes, they've been responsive to my requests in the past.
HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)Yahoo! comments are a RW cesspool.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)I've hated Yahoo ever since I had dial up and it took roughly forever to load, plus their search engine sucks scrofulous monkey balls.
Not to mention the fact that Jonathan Swift had Yahoos as a truly despicable human-appearing animal in Gulliver's Travels..
cstanleytech
(26,322 posts)Just shows though that some people are incapable of being honest.
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)The edit wars get ugly over there. I quit editing but still have my account and log in from time to time. The idea of Wikipedia is a good one, the problem is people think they can use it as a propaganda machine. Even with the account restrictions there is not much that can be done from stopping that stuff. It's a few small minded people ruining it for everyone else.
randome
(34,845 posts)If so, it might be a good idea to list them on a web site somewhere for reference purposes. Or maybe that wouldn't be of much use. Just an idea.
jsr
(7,712 posts)I wouldn't trust it anymore.
just1voice
(1,362 posts)A good friend of mine was here in July: http://wikimania2012.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
Jim Lane
(11,175 posts)I know that the political battles on Wikipedia can be exhausting. I'm editing less than I did in the last cycle.
Still, a comparatively small amount of effort can produce a major effect, given how many people will read a Wikipedia article. People who put time into preaching to the choir here on DU should consider directing some of their effort to Wikipedia, where they'll reach undecideds.
If any DUer wants help getting involved there, please PM me. No one needs a mentor to edit Wikipedia but if I can save you some time or help you feel more comfortable, I'll be glad to