Jeff Merkey and Wikipedia
This entry was posted on 03-11-2008 and is filed under uncategorized.
"Jeff Merkey, a former computer scientist at Novell, claims Wales told him in 2006 that in exchange for a substantial donation from Merkey, he would edit his uncomplimentary Wikipedia entry to make it more favourable.
Merkey made a $US5000 ($5455) donation in 2006 and the edit history for his Wikipedia entry showed that, around the same time, Wales personally made changes to the entry after wiping it out completely and ordering editors to start over." More
I think this situation shows a downside of relying too much on one person for success. As far as crimes go, this doesn't seem that terrible. Wikipedia will write a bit more about itself and its problems, and Wales learned something important we hope. I'd even guess that Wikipedia will fix itself here. We perhaps have an interesting case study for the future, with Wales once again a featured actor in it.
