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On Misplaced Pages, Vandalism is the act of editing the project in a manner that is intentionally disruptive. Vandalism includes the addition, removal, or other modification of the text or other material in a manner that consists either of humor, nonsense, hoaxes, spam or promotion of a subject, or is of an offensive or degrading nature.
Vandalism is easy to commit on Misplaced Pages due to the fact that anyone can edit the site. Founder Jimmy Wales is very much aware of the fact that the open editing policy allows the addition of false information.
Most vandalism is committed on impulse. Frequent targets of vandalism include articles on hot and controversial topics and current events.
Fighting vandalism
The are various measures taken by Misplaced Pages to prevent or reduce the amount of vandalism. These include:
- Reverting the vandalism by restoring the article to the last version before the vandalism occurred
- Locking articles so only established users, or in some cases, only administrators can edit them
- Blocking and banning those who have repeatedly committed acts of vandalism from editing for a period of time or in some cases, indefinitely
In 2005, Misplaced Pages started to require those who create new articles to have a registered account in an effort to fight some vandalism. This occurred after inaccurate information was added to Misplaced Pages in which a journalist was accused of taking part in Kennedy's assassination.
In 2009, Misplaced Pages instituted a new policy in which the posting of edits to articles on living people would be delayed until they could be reviewed for inclusion of a source to verify accuracy. This was in an effort to prevent inaccurate and potentially damaging information about living people from appearing on the site.
Notable acts of vandalism
- In 2006, Rolling Stone Magazine printed a false story from which they learned the information from an act of Misplaced Pages vandalism. Their article's title stated that Halle Berry was set to ruin her reputation.
- Professional golfer Fuzzy Zoeller sued a Miami company whose IP-based edits to the Misplaced Pages site included negative information about him.
- Soon after the death of Steve Irwin in 2007, the stingray article was vandalized, stating that stingrays "hate Australian people."
References
- ^ http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn8425-wikipedia-tightens-editorial-rules-after-complaint.html
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/4502846.stm
- ^ http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10432042
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2006/jun/18/wikipedia.news
- http://news.ebrandz.com/miscellaneous/2009/2824-wikipedia-plans-to-enforce-new-editing-policy-to-thwart-vandals-.html
- http://en.wikinews.org/Rolling_Stone_prints_story_based_on_Wikipedia_vandalism
- http://www.tomshardware.com/news/golfer-sues-wikipedia-vandalism,4377.html
