Just an observation

[MikeM]

Wikipedia can be wrong?!

and how. One time a couple of my students showed me something they had changed - about a small historical incident from Australia's mid-nineteenth century (they had put their names in as the police constables involved) when they were in Year 7. They were just going into Year 10 at the time. It makes me wonder about what other "strange" things are in the wiki-verse. Probably why so many schools' IPs are banned from editing Wikipedia

[ignatius]

OMG... wikipedia is edited by a bunch of 11-12 year olds!? OK... citation needed here!!

BTW, it wasn't the one about a missing sheep by the mythical billabong was it?

[Kumaken]

Wikipedia can be wrong?!

and how. One time a couple of my students showed me something they had changed - about a small historical incident from Australia's mid-nineteenth century (they had put their names in as the police constables involved) when they were in Year 7. They were just going into Year 10 at the time. It makes me wonder about what other "strange" things are in the wiki-verse. Probably why so many schools' IPs are banned from editing Wikipedia

Are you saying the information stayed on the site for 3 years?

Recently a lad from Ireland, for his sociology class, posted a false quote in some composer's bio on Wikipedia that was supposed to be the composer's thoughts about death. He put it up on the site right after he died and just about every national news agency around the globe stole the quote and published it in their papers and magazines. Some papers retracted after he told them. But alarmingly some papers refused to believe or admit they took the info without fact checking! He did say to Wiki's credit they removed the quote several times so he had to keep posting it back.

[MikeM]

Actually one of the girl's names is still there, I just checked (that makes about 4 years it's been there now). I use it sometimes in class when looking at the perils of blindly trusting wikipedia or other sources of information on the internet. That and the perils of DHMO.

[ignatius]

DHMO?

[MikeM]

DHMO?

It stands for Dihydrogen-Monoxide
It's been associated with 100% of all cancerous tumours, yet is a common food additive.

DHMO is the direct cause of dozens of deaths each year. It has also been implicated in the greenhouse effect and global warming.

And yet we hear next to nothing about it from the authorities!

For more information, go to http://www.dhmo.org/

[Kumaken]

Dan, just a minor thing and no big deal really, but I noticed when I look at all the posts they are time stamped 1 hour earlier. I have my time zone selected but everything posts one hour early.

Must have been something with Daylight Savings time, the time stamps are normal again.