Wikipedia is being thrashed by right wing propaganda!

[newthinking]

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]

1. fix it. and report it.

Wiki keeps track of changes, they've been responsive to my requests in the past.

[HiPointDem]

2. i've noticed that on certain topics too. like social security.

[blkmusclmachine]

3. They're trying to give Wikipedia the Yahoo! treatment.

Yahoo! comments are a RW cesspool.

[Fumesucker]

4. No one but a right winger would be stupid enough to use Yahoo!

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]

5. Aye, for example the complete bs of claiming that the social programs are welfare.

Just shows though that some people are incapable of being honest.

[davidpdx]

6. I used to edit on Wikipedia and I still look stuff up on it quite often

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]

7. Do the user names of the edits show?

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]

8. It's being taken over by crazies, propagandists, and reputation managers

I wouldn't trust it anymore.

[just1voice]

9. Contact them, I know some people who are contributors and they hate lies

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation

A good friend of mine was here in July: http://wikimania2012.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

[Jim Lane]

10. No, don't "contact" anyone and don't whine about it here. Just fix it!

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