Ok, sure it’s a challenge for some web masters to get past Wikipedia in search engine rankings for specific terms, and the information isn’t always spot on.. heck, sometimes it’s totally incorrect; but I’ve found it to be a really valuable resource. It’s a shame to see a class action being brought against the site by a group on Long Island, NY.

The site’s founder and President, Jimmy Wales, states the group is taking steps to ensure a reoccurrence of a recent incident doesn’t happen. In that particular incident, a prank biographical entry that linked former USA Today Editor John Seigenthaler Sr. with the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy sparked off a furor.

It’s always such a shame to see such a community-minded online project being abused. I guess it’s just the nature of the beast - quite sad. It also just goes to show that while the web contains a treasure trove of information, you do need to check sources and cross-reference.

The other lesson for the rest of us who publish news stories and reviews online is that you do need to be careful of what you write. As I mentioned in a previous post relating to toxic blogging, the somewhat anonymous nature of the web doesn’t give us license to put up whatever we want without consequence. Freedom has a great responsibility. Freedom without responsibility is just anarchy.

I wish the team at Wikipedia all the best with their current legal challenges and wish them continued success in continuing to publish what is overall very useful content!

Learn more about Wikipedia’s current woes