Wikipedia at Center of Murder Mystery

Technocrat

Wikipedia at Center of Murder Mystery

bill_mcgonigle

Thu Jun 28 19:13:06 -0700 2007

Computers.

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How did the Wikipedia article about wrestler Chris Benoit get updated with news of his wife's death fourteen hours before the bodies of his family were discovered?

From the article:

The phrase "stemming from the death of his wife Nancy" was added to the English Wikipedia's "Chris Benoit" article at 12:01 a.m. EDT on June 25, whereas the Fayette County police reportedly discovered the bodies of the Benoit family at 2:30 p.m. EDT (14 hours, 29 minutes later). The IP address of the editor was traced to Stamford, Connecticut, which is also the location of WWE headquarters.

Whether this means anything or not largely depends on how good the clocks are at Wikipedia and if their logs are accurate and tamper-proof. As computers become more integrated with society, the accuracy of the information they tell us has to be very high if it's to be used in the criminal justice system. Also in the news today is a story about a pedophilia sting where charges were dropped because the sting was poorly conducted by amateurs who can't guarantee the accuracy and completeness of their logs.

Wikipedia at Center of Murder Mystery

Verteiron

Thu Jun 28 19:40:54 -0700 2007
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This would not be the first time the WWE has staged a death...

Wikipedia at Center of Murder Mystery

Charles E Hill

Fri Jun 29 08:46:57 -0700 2007
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If this is staged, it will be the end of WWE as they will get sued into oblivion.

This isn't a "Mr. McMahon's car was blown up but he is missing!" stunt. You can tell that was BS instantly. This is a real murder-suicide.

Wikipedia at Center of Murder Mystery

proletariat

Thu Jun 28 20:22:16 -0700 2007
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It looks like WWE has been doing extensive editing and updating of this guy's profile in Wikipedia. There's lots of fako drama about feuds with other wrestlers and lots of serious discussion about his matches and his wrestling moves such as the "spinebuster pinfall" and the "crippler crossface". He could have called in to headquarters with some story about his wife dying and they put it up on Wikipedia while meanwhile he killed himself. Wikipedia says the deaths were at least a day apart.

Wikipedia at Center of Murder Mystery

Philip Hunt

Fri Jun 29 11:13:28 -0700 2007
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Perhaps Wikipedia's terms of use should include a provision that either the editor is not being paid to do the edits, or if they are they should have to say so.

Wikipedia at Center of Murder Mystery

maethorechannen

Fri Jun 29 04:17:27 -0700 2007
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Looking at that report on the botched pedophile sting, I'm more concerned by news companies manufacturing news in concert with the police than I am about log accuracy. Manufacturing news just seems wrong on so many levels whereas logs and log accuracy is mostly a technical issue (though I have my doubts if they should be treated as little more than hearsay).

One other thing about that botched sting - the group of amateurs helping NBC and the police were called "Perverted Justice", which seems surprisingly apt.

wikipedia user says he made entry based on rumor and speculation

rubycodez

Fri Jun 29 10:46:20 -0700 2007
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http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/06/29/wrestler.ap/index.html

wikipedia user

turtledawn

Fri Jun 29 11:13:36 -0700 2007
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That was my first suspicion; after all, anyone can edit wikipedia and the articles aren't fact-checked.

wikipedia user

rubycodez

Fri Sep 07 09:01:58 -0700 2007
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over time they get refined, it's the "thousands of eyeballs" thing. for pop culture events in the last couple days who even really cares? I find wikipedia very useful for serious topics and have done some correcting and writing there myself, there is more in-depth knowledge there on many topics than normal encyclopedia provides (compare a general article on computers with wikipedia's model-specific articles including specs, instruction set, etc.)