Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2015-12-30/In the media
Wikipedia plagued by a "Basket of Deception"
At Gawker, Ashley Feinberg writes the first in what is hopefully a long-running series called "Wikipedia Watch". The first installment features "The 10 Best Articles Wikipedia Deleted This Week".
For more documentation of the Warren Chaney series of hoaxes (Magic Mansion etc.), see User:Tokyogirl79/Warren_Chaney.
Fraudulent data abounds on Wikipedia articles for southeast Asian football
At Vocativ, Jack Kerr writes "Meet Wikipedia's Soccer Scammers", the latest in a series of articles on various websites he's written about Wikipedia and southeast Asian football. Kerr writes that players from South American countries, primarily Brazil, are obtaining citizenship from East Timor and using that as a way to avoid limits on the number of foreign players in Asian football teams. Kerr notes that information on these players is hard to come by for teams: "In a region where few countries even share the same alphabet, accurate soccer data can be hard to find. Even clubs—which are frequently under-resourced—sometimes have to turn to Wikipedia to find out more about potential signees". Naturally, Wikipedia is an irresistible target for resume inflation, backed up by fraudulent blogs and sockpuppet accounts. Over the years, a number of sockpuppet investigations have resulted in the blocks of numerous accounts. Some of that fake information has made its way into usually reputable sources, such as the Opta Sports database, which was found to contain a fake team logo posted on Wikipedia. (Dec. 25)
In brief
- Fundraising watch: Annalisa Merelli of Quartz writes "You take so much from Wikipedia and it asks for so little in return". (Dec. 28) Nate Swanner of The Next Web declared "I’m donating to Wikipedia this year, and so should you". (Dec. 20)
- Traffic rankings: Search Engine Land reported on the domains that got the most Google visibility in 2015. Wikipedia tops the list with a 5.12% share, but also had the second largest drop of 0.36%. "Wikipedia still dominates by far, even with reports that Wikipedia has taken a dive in the Google search results this year." (Dec. 23)
- Important questions: The New York Observer observes "Someone at Congress Raises Questions About Rudolph’s Existence on Wikipedia". (Dec. 23)
- Cinematic inspiration: Dread Central interviewed David S. Goyer, director of the upcoming horror film The Forest. Goyer said he was inspired after reading the Wikipedia article about the infamous "suicide forest" of Aokigahara. (Dec. 22)
- Data mining: MedCityNews asks "Can data mining improve health information on Wikipedia?" (Dec. 22)
- Historic images: The Press and Journal reports on how Braemar Castle in Scotland is using Wikimedia Commons to disseminate its images and heritage. (Dec. 21)
- Indian ecology: Following government inaction regarding the results of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel, The Hindu reports that ecologist Madhav Gadgil is turning to Wikipedia to disseminate the results and potential solutions. (Dec. 21)
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