Comments on: Former Bachmann Political Director may have vandalized Democrat’s Wikipedia Entry

By: Canadian Curmudgeon

Canadian Curmudgeon — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 00:32:32 +0000

In our little Canadian province of Prince Edward island about 2 elections ago, two people took it upon themselves to update the then premier’s Wikipedia entry. Each one represented a differing opinion of the politician. The bio was changed about a dozen times in 3 days causing the Wikipedia admins to shut the editing process off until after the elections.

It was the first time many people here had heard of Wikipedia.

By: Pinky

Pinky — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 06:20:55 +0000

What was the dealio with Hellier changing Jim Meffert’s surname to a hyphenated one on Meffert’s Wikipedia page? Was it a misguided effort to make Meffert appear aristocratic and therefore one of those dreaded elites?

By: Art

Art — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 21:33:37 +0000

Pretty standard “ratfucker” methodology:
Screw a reference to the intended victim up. This gives the victim a choice of leaving the reference screwed, a tacit agreement the slur is warranted, or change it back, which will be interpreted as either a coverup or an attempt to censor the free speech rights of the person who is doing the screwing.

By alternating playing of the various cards (victim, unbiased inquirer, free-speech, nonpartisan investigator, reporter being the most popular) the ratfucker can keep the game going and confuse the issue enough that they can extract themselves and avoid blame.