Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Busted editors

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  • Danyl Mclauchlan,

    Great, the wikiscanner site is down. Now what am I supposed to do all day?

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 927 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Great, the wikiscanner site is down. Now what am I supposed to do all day?

    Keep trying. You know you want it.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Paul Litterick,

    Well, there goes my day. This is so much fun.

    This raises Questions, of course. Is Wikipedia so important that corporations and governments are prepared to risk the humiliaton of being caught altering pages? Or are corporations and governments just very petty and vain?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1000 posts Report

  • BenWilson,

    Is Wikipedia so important that corporations and governments are prepared to risk the humiliaton of being caught altering pages?

    Absolutely. It's the world's biggest encyclopedia, and the highest ranking Google source. And every advertiser and propagandist knows that controlling access to information is vital to their business. I don't think they're being petty and vain. They looking straight at the bottom line.

    The more interesting question to me is: Can they succeed? Or is Wikipedia bigger than they are?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Paul Litterick,

    I must edit my last comment: those two possibilites are not mutually exclusive.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1000 posts Report

  • BenWilson,

    I edit mine. They are both looking at the bottom line AND petty and vain.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Lyndon Hood,

    Less sinister: Tory Party: warthogs 'smell of poo'

    On another note, I'm not really a brewer, but I can't help thinking using brewers yeast rather than growing their own sacrificed some authenticity (admittedly perhaps on the altar of non-poisonousness).

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1115 posts Report

  • JP Hansen,

    Not directly related. Not related at all actually, but The Onion couldn't have written a better story.

    Pentagon Paid $999,798 to Ship Two 19-Cent Washers to Texas

    Waitakere • Since Nov 2006 • 206 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Some more:

    BBC's initial story neglects to mention BBC-sourced edits, many of them innocuous, a few likely to bring the Beeb into disrepute.

    LGF lizards go predictably apeshit.

    BBC Interactive's editor addresses it all in quite an intelligent blog post, in which he also admits to having corrected his own entry.

    Fox News resolutely leaves itself out of the story ...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Alan Macdougall,

    Use up hours of time like this: poke the website name of your favourite organisation into a reverse DNS thingy (I use this website, but there are others).

    Take the resulting IP address, and poke it into the WHOIS form at APNIC (for Asia-Pacific addresses, you see - there are others for other parts of the world) to find out who owns the range of IP addresses that the website lives in. If the owner is the same as your original target, then you are in business - put the range into the scanner, and do a wishart on the results.

    So, let's take Air NZ - it's website (or one of them, anyway) is at www.airnz.co.nz which the IP lookup tells me is 162.112.18.131. APNIC tells me that this address is in the block 162.112.0.0 - 162.112.255.255 which is owned by Air New Zealand. Good. Now... put it into the scanner...

    ...and we find that there's nothing very interesting there. Just a Jazz fan and a Train spotter, by the looks. YMMV.

    Since Nov 2006 • 24 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Ah, thanks Alan. It was the address block trick I didn't know.

    Well, there goes my day ...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Danyl Mclauchlan,

    Well the VUW addresses all resolve to our proxy servers so I can't track down which of my co-workers is obsessed with editing the 'English Folk Music' page.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 927 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Treasury is the natural home of the pendant.

    The Reserve Bank and MCH both resolve to third parties.

    Got a result from Qantas too. Nothing scandalous that I can see, but "Changed NZ Island references around. The South Island is colder than the North," is quite funny.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    From the Lion Nathan list, vandalism of the article on Australian comic Mick Molloy.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Jason Kemp,

    Re: Music bundle

    Some interesting observations here on album downloads and a good music site generally. Is your album release strategy the right one? EMI is doing something on this at the moment as Coolfer notes.

    EMI has increased its digital album market share by 5% in the last two months, but its CD share has dropped 2.6%. EMI's total market share -- including all other formats -- has dropped 1.7%. Note that CD and digital are going in the opposite directions. Also note that the end result, the total change, is negative. EMI and iTunes have been able to get people to buy more digital albums, but total market share has dropped. Is this because of a CD-for-digital substitution or because EMI's releases were relatively weak compared to those of its competitors?

    EMI's New Digital Strategy May Have Prevented A Worse June/July Slide

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 368 posts Report

  • Deborah,

    __Treasury is the natural home of the pendant.__

    Surely you mean the natural home of the pedant.

    Yes, I did. But I'm holding out for the possibility they like pendants too ...

    New Lynn • Since Nov 2006 • 1447 posts Report

  • Don Christie,

    Great, the wikiscanner site is down. Now what am I supposed to do all day?

    That's easy, I'm editing Danyl Mclauchlan's page.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1645 posts Report

  • Lyndon Hood,

    But I'm holding out for the possibility they like pendants too ...

    Or there's a lot of danglers.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1115 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Ah - I screwed up the Fonterra search last night. There are some edits

    The include a number of edits on milk, rennet, Fonterra, etc, but they all look factually-based and uncontroversial.

    There is/was a fan of horrorcore working for the company though, and someone who's very keen on pro wrestling.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Danyl Mclauchlan,

    That's easy, I'm editing Danyl Mclauchlan's page.

    You better have a reference for that stuff about me and Chuck Norris.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 927 posts Report

  • Che Tibby,

    But I'm holding out for the possibility [the treasurers] like pendants too ...

    if they do. i'm selling a bunch at craft 2.0 tomorrow.

    </disgraceful self promotion>

    the back of an envelope • Since Nov 2006 • 2042 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Quite the variety coming out of BNZ/NAB.

    Nice to see somebody counting the rationalist, atheists and humanists though.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • andrew llewellyn,

    which of my co-workers is obsessed with editing the 'English Folk Music' page.

    Well Harry Orsman passed away already, but it's bound to be someone from Old or Middle English.

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report

  • Neil Graham,

    so...

    Wouldn't it be intriguing if such a tool existed for conservapedia. Fewer entries, I'm sure, but the strike rate would be better.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 118 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    BBC's initial story neglects to mention BBC-sourced edits, many of them innocuous, a few likely to bring the Beeb into disrepute.

    Well, with all due disrespect to the Beeb, Russell, you'd think its employees would be too busy trying to restore their own credibility to be flushing Wikipedia's down the loo.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

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