Wikipedia entry had fake data on Yarmuth

[ridgerunner]

Web site unlikely to identify vandal

By Kay Stewart
[e-mail]
The Courier-Journal

The information posted last week on Wikipedia -- a free, popular online encyclopedia -- was so absurd that John Yarmuth initially thought of ignoring it.

"While charges have never been formally filed, Yarmuth has been widely linked to the disappearance of Chandra Levy. D.C. Police have continued to call him a person of interest."

Yarmuth, a Democratic candidate for Louisville's 3rd Congressional District seat, decided yesterday to try to delete the statements falsely linking him to Levy, a former federal intern whose 2001 murder in Washington, D.C., remains unsolved.

But before he had a chance, someone else went to wikipedia.org and deleted the information, adding an editing note on the site that it was a "blatant smear."

more:http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060214/NEWS01/602140385/1008/NEWS01

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This article goes on to talk about how Wikipedia can be edited by anyone. WTF? I never knew that. Reckon I'll have to stop using it as a point of reference.

[stevietheman]

1. That's exactly *why* I *use* Wikipedia

Because:

1) Everyone can enhance articles, therefore each article asymptotically reaches the complete overview of knowledge on a topic.

2) Since everyone can edit, mistakes get removed fairly quickly in most instances.

Cheers to Wikipedia!

Also note that if you're using Wikipedia as a final reference rather than a starting point for research, you're not doing real research anyway.