Did someone do a driveby on Stephanie via Wikipedia? If not, congratulations... I think?

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I often rely on Wikipedia for information and definitions when I'm writing my blogposts. Why is this being noted? Well tonight, it looks like someone might have done a driveby on Congresswoman Herseth.

It wouldn't be the first time that someone falsified information on Wikipedia regarding a public figure. Buzzwebster, an on-line website of political information notes:
Over the past few months, there have been reports alerting the public that Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia which allows its users to edit its content, has seen an influx of entries with potentially false and misleading information. With little surprise, the biggest targets are political candidates.
So why am I pointing this out? Congresswoman Herseth, seems to have a few... interesting facts on her Wikipedia profile that if true, aren't widely known. And then, there's just one little claim that seems.. Well it seems rather incredible:
....In both elections, Herseth campaigned as an "independent voice" and is generally considered to be a moderate Democrat. She opposes abortion rights, citing her new found change of heart after announcing her pregnancy with fiancee Ajay Bruno's baby. (my emphasis added)
Huh? Congresswoman Herseth is engaged, AND pregnant? Sorry, without further information, I'm not buying it. And I'd go beyond that statement. It's crap. As in, that was an excrable thing to do.

From the evidence at hand, it looks like this Wikipedia Entry was changed tonight by someone at the IP address of 67.82.48.187. Now, from looking, it traces out to a location in the Bronx and is part of Optimum Online (Cablevision Systems). So, you've got me on who has that address, why they updated her profile (several times, I might add) and what they hope to accomplish.

The closest guess I can find as to who is utilizing that internet address is registered are posts to a website utilizing that same internet IP. Of course, the name attached to that IP is a moniker from a science fiction movie. The more I look, the more I'm thinking it's a dynamic IP address that they had for a few days, and then it was gone forever.

So, if someone is out there messing with Wikipedia profiles, knock it off. It is beneath the process.

I'm pretty doubtful that we'd hear about such an event via Wikipedia. If it's true (which I don't believe) I doubt we'd even hear about it on KCCR tomorrow morning.

If it's true, somehow I doubt it matters in the big scheme of things in politics. At least I hope not. Because it should be about issues and voting records and campaigns. Not her marital status, nor her reproductive status, and certainly not her hair.

Trust me when I say this - whomever did this did not do Republicans any favors.

*11:30 pm update*

Someone at IP address 216.254.232.211 (Madison, SD area) has gone in and removed many of the things out there on Herseth in question, including the goofyness on the engagement, and pregnancy. Actually, I note this contributor has also updated my long ignored election wiki once or twice.

Anyway, for the morbidly curious, You can track the history on her profile's updates here with what information is out there and *was* out there.

I'm going to bed in the interim.

Comments

Anonymous said…
It didn't take Sibby long to buy it. By the way did you know that Wiki was a far-left web site?
7:30 AM
Anonymous said…
A far-left website? That probably explains why the RCJ bloggers cite it so much. :-)
8:52 AM
Haggs said…
I cringe when people cite a Wikipedia page as their information source. Yes it can be a great place for information, but it can also be a place for misinformation to thrive. I always make sure to have a second source that can back-up the Wikipedia info.
9:47 AM
Anonymous said…
There was a study done last year that showed Wikipedia had about the same amount of misinformation as a number of traditional encyclopedias. The thing that makes Wikipedia better than traditional encyclopedias (besides the breadth of the topics it covers) is that people don't assume that everything they read there is gospel truth, so they tend to do a little more research than they would on something they got out of the Britannica. People do put up misinformation, but it's usually taken down/corrected in a matter of minutes.
10:29 AM
Anonymous said…
Bruno is an old Daschle hack, just fyi....i thought The Princess was "independent" ... good one
11:43 PM
Anonymous said…
"Bruno is an old Daschle hack" -- bernard, where did you find that? I can't seem to find anything about the guy...
12:41 PM
Anonymous said…
The kid in question, Ajay Bruno, has been wreaking havoc on MySpace for about a year now. He is a nutty high school kid who appears to be a parody of some kind of right wing religious extremist obsessed with abortion. (I think that the lefties are paying him to make us look bad. Egads.) Not sure, but he seems to be a rather "special" child.
4:06 PM
Anonymous said…
He is very special! I know him personally! You are just jealous that you didn't think of it first...muahahah!
8:09 PM
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