Circulation

The development of Wikipedia is a wonderful story and splendid example of the power of community, but I am reminded of the importance of double-checking my sources, especially when referring to community-edited content. While not intentional, a Huffington Post blurb about the “Funniest Acts of Vandalism on Wikipedia Ever” calls attention to this.

Out of curiosity, I went to Bill Gates’ Wikipedia page, clicked on the ‘history‘ option to see all the revisions and then did a control-F (aka find) for “vandalism.” In the first 500 revisions, I found 22 cases of vandalism — some funny, some probably honest mistakes and some just downright mean. This is a reminder of the speed at which these pages may change and at any moment, you could be reading erroneous information… or see a mustache painted on someone’s picture.

Always double-check your sources for confirmation of information!