USATODAY.com - A false Wikipedia ‘biography’
A cautionary tale. But not the end of it — Google caches all web sites, regardless of content, and so libellous material can easily spread even after it’s been corrected. Moreover, if Wikipedia content indeed gets taken up by Yahoo there will be even wider dissemination of untruths.
This is the flip side to privacy — the ‘anonymous coward’ contributor to Slashdot. Wales and cohorts should take a strong stand on this by insisting on associating authenticated email addresses with contributors to the system. Most, if not all, SocialSoftware sites insist on this (you know the form — you submit a valid email address when joining and your subscription is confirmed when you reply from that address).
How many ruined reputations will it take before the Wikipedia management tighten up on authentication?