[WikiEN-l] Re: Raul's 6th law of Wikipedia confirmed

Tue Aug 30 13:28:28 UTC 2005

On 30/08/05, Mark Pellegrini <mapellegrini at comcast.net> wrote:
> I'm more than a little suprised that no one is angry about the fact that
> companies admit to subtle PR-pushing on Wikipedia. ("planting of viral
> information in entries, modification of entries to point to new
> promotional sites or 'leaks' embedded in entries to test diffusion of
> information.")  Where's the outrage? Why aren't people upset about this?

Because we had the outrage, ooh, about three weeks ago. You remember,
a week before we all got outraged either for or against
[[Wikipedia:WikiProject For Getting Everyone Wound Up]]? ;-)

I believe the general opinion was "of course it happens"; there's not
much we can do about it, *beyond what we already do*, with the caveat
that if someone finds a particularly impressive set they'd probably
have a good reason to kick up a fuss.

But, as Daniel pointed out, being able to do this is a far cry from
being able to do this on a systematic scale... or successfully.

>"I can call spirits from the vasty deep."
>
>"Why, so can I, or so can any man;
>But will they come when you do call for them?"
>
>"I can plan viral marketing in the vasty Wikipedia..."
>"Why, so can I, or so can anyone..."

-- 
- Andrew Gray
  andrew.gray at dunelm.org.uk