2007-08-19

Centre edited its own Wikipedia entry

You may have heard of the new Wikipedia scanner which allows you to search for Wikipedia edits by IP address and organization. Playing around with it can be great fun. For example, I found a list of edits made by someone with a Centre Party ("Suomen Keskusta Rp") IP address.

The entity behind the address wants you to know that the Centre isn't right-wing or conservative. He apparently disapproves of (admittedly subjective) analysis of Centre's attempts to find support in cities. The user has also found time to tell Wikipedia about the positive properties of wood fuel, the usage of which the party promotes, and to note that the Estonian Centre Party is socially liberal.

The problem here is so much the content of the edits - although I think some of them were questionable - as who's doing them. The conflict of interest is obvious. It's not difficult to come to the conclusion that a Centre Party official would have political reasons to highlight the party's centrism and liberalism at the expense of its conservative side.

I also searched for edits made from IP addresses belonging to the other main parties, but didn't find anything - maybe you'll have better luck. It should also be noted that I'm not the only one to notice this (fi).

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