I think, therefore I am notable. by Barbie Kunkelova

Respect is earned, never given. And so are the Wikipedia entries. One has to accomplish something (with a large, capital S) in order to appear in this world's largest encyclopedia. Personal profiles are not allowed, so you can not simply go ahead and flimflam your friends (after one night of praising yourself and making a breathtaking online portfolio) by saying you're the first person among them who made it to Wikipedia. That's just not how it works. Wikipedia is operated by a non-profit organization (Wikimedia Foundation). It is multilingual, but only in the English version the content is being reviewed and approved. Today it contains, according to Wikipedia itself, over 8.29 million articles! The advantages of Wikipedia over printed versions of encyclopedia are: one just plugs in the key word and gets a selection (!) of connected articles. If one doesn't understand a certain term, it is possible to click on it and do further readings. Plus, if one is not totally satisfied with article's contents, there is another feature &it is usually possible to edit it. The entries are always up-to-date because it is in the interest of 6.8 million of registered users to provide the most relevant and reliable pieces of information. However, there were many reasons for a special site, WikiScanner, to be created. Many companies, according to FOX News, for example Wal-Mart, CIA, Microsoft, ExxonMobil, AstraZeneca (a drugstore) and Vatican changed the entries in Wikipedia's articles. WikiScanner simply reveals all changes by linking them back to the intruder's computer - and getting their IP address. As the creator of WikiScanner, Virgil Griffith puts it; he created it only to "create minor PR disasters for companies and organizations he dislikes" (FOX). His "brainchild" can scan all Wikipedia's articles written since 2002. Every treasure needs a bodyguard.

related story: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20071022/tot-uk-wikipedia-people-566e283_1.html

by Barbie Kunkelova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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