Microsoft in hot water over Wikipedia edits

[onehandle]

(AP) -- Microsoft Corp. has landed in the Wikipedia doghouse after it offered to pay a blogger to change technical articles on the community-produced Web encyclopedia site.

While Wikipedia is known as the encyclopedia that anyone can tweak, founder Jimmy Wales and his cadre of volunteer editors, writers and moderators have blocked public-relations firms, campaign workers and anyone else perceived as having a conflict of interest from posting fluff or slanting entries. So paying for Wikipedia copy is considered a definite no-no.

"We were very disappointed to hear that Microsoft was taking that approach," Wales said Tuesday.

Microsoft acknowledged it had approached the writer and offered to pay him for the time it would take to correct what the company was sure were inaccuracies in Wikipedia articles on an open-source document standard and a rival format put forward by Microsoft.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/internet/01/24/microsoft.wikipedia.ap/index.html

[Warpy]

1. Flacks need to stick to the Urban Dictionary

Thousands of Wiki editors won't let the rubbish they post there stand for long.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. Huh.

I wonder how much this goes towards explaining X-box fanboys.

[Vidar]

3. Applauding Wikipedia.

[lovuian]

4. Good for Wikipedia

this is why having Books is still important
its on paper

[high density]

5. Wikipedia is a weird place IMHO

It's like loudest person wins. It works fine for "boring" and static topics, but for anything political or slightly controversial it really needs some sort of professional moderation. Take Andy Stephenson's article... They got that deleted because he supposedly wasn't "significant" enough or whatever, when Wikipedia is full of THOUSANDS of names of minor sports athletes and other vanity crap.