This Wikipedia page needs to be updated. The reason given is: Recent vandalism by Congressional staffers as revealed by CongressEdits. Please help update this Wikipedia page to reflect recent events or newly available information. Relevant discussion may be found on
the talk page. (December 2017)
On January 27, 2006, the Lowell Sun of
Massachusetts published
an article entitled "Rewriting history under the dome". This story unveiled the editing by Congressional staff members of Congressman
Marty Meehan's Wikipedia entry.
"Matt Vogel, Meehan's chief of staff, said he authorized an intern in July to replace existing Wikipedia content with a staff-written biography of the lawmaker."
- Already blocked. The original IP address, possibly used by staff of Congressman Meehan and possibly other House of Representatives staff members, registering over 1000 edits over hundreds of articles.
The block was lifted January 30, 2006. A new block for additional vandalism was enforced for three hours February 1, 2006 at 14:59.
A further block for "linkspamming after many warnings" was enforced for three hours on April 10, 2007 at 15:59.
Yesterday's story, "Rewriting history under the dome," accurately reported that in July of 2005 an intern in my office responsible for updating my biography also updated my online Wikipedia entry. I did not know that this change was being made at the time and was only made aware of it yesterday when informed that The Sun had inquired about it. Though the actual time spent on this issue amounted to 11 minutes, according to server logs, I do not consider it time well spent or approve of it in any way.
Part of being an elected official is to be regularly commented on, praised, and criticized on the Web. For example, one of the many anonymous users who have edited my own Wikipedia entry also updated Sen. Tom Daschle's entry by adding that Daschle is a "professional hack" and that "his brain was significantly altered" after his office was targeted by terrorists in the anthrax attacks on the Capitol in 2001. This is a predictable and unavoidable part of being in public life and, tempting as it may be to get involved, we should not. The Internet is a place for the free and open exchange of ideas and opinions. It was a waste of energy and an error in judgment on the part of my staff to have allowed any time to be spent on updating my Wikipedia entry. I thank The Sun for bringing it to my attention.'
This list contains 175 IPs that originated from this range and edited Wikipedia. This list is complete. One IP is included that had all its edits deleted.
156.33.4.19 (
talk •
contribs •
count) - GT - Good faith editor. A few edits (including a self reverted test) to
Jeannette Island, mentioning an agreement between the US and USSR. July 05.
156.33.30.37 (
talk •
contribs •
count) - GV - Blanked an unflattering paragraph on the article about Senator
Tom Harkin, and later removed another legitimate paragraph over a month later. Good faith edit to Senator
Chuck Grassley. Warned. Nov 05-Jan 06.
156.33.46.154 (
talk •
contribs •
count) - P - Major POV revisions to article on Senator
Norm Coleman. Made another POV edit after these previous revisions were discovered. Warned. Jan 06.
156.33.56.17 (
talk •
contribs •
count) - P - Added anti-Bush POV to single sentence on article about Senator
Harry Reid, and created unusually poor stub for
Richard Ziser, Reid's opponent in 2004. Appears to have been acting in concert with 156.33.56.67 below; the two IP's edits of Reid all took place within 24 hours of each other. May 05.
156.33.56.67 (
talk •
contribs •
count) - P - Pro POV edits and revert war on Senator
Harry Reid. Appears to have been acting in concert with 156.33.56.17 above; the two IP's edits of Reid all took place within 24 hours of each other. Warned. May 05.
156.33.96.28 (
talk •
contribs •
count) - G - Good faith edits to college football and Alabama related articles. Warned for unexplained blankings of a section in
Jay Rockefeller, which was later identified as false information. Dec 05-Jan 06.
156.33.150.38 (
talk •
contribs •
count) - P - Attempted to remove references to controversial statements made by
Corrine Brown, and replace with a more positive statement. July 04.
Emily Lawrimore Communications Director Congressman
Joe Wilson
as represented by her
entry creating a talk page for
Joe Wilson, listing a request for someone to "update his bio with information from the following official bio too?"
Important note from Jimbo: this was an 'excellent' edit to a Talk page, after this staffer emailed me to ask about the appropriate way to request an update to Wikipedia. I suggested that she post information to the talk page, and she did so. After she did so, she blanked herself and emailed me again, essentially not REALLY sure this was ok. Her actions were 100% perfect in every respect, treating us appropriately. — Preceding
unsigned comment added by
Jimbo Wales (
talk •
contribs)
This Wikipedia page needs to be updated. The reason given is: Recent vandalism by Congressional staffers as revealed by CongressEdits. Please help update this Wikipedia page to reflect recent events or newly available information. Relevant discussion may be found on
the talk page. (December 2017)
On January 27, 2006, the Lowell Sun of
Massachusetts published
an article entitled "Rewriting history under the dome". This story unveiled the editing by Congressional staff members of Congressman
Marty Meehan's Wikipedia entry.
"Matt Vogel, Meehan's chief of staff, said he authorized an intern in July to replace existing Wikipedia content with a staff-written biography of the lawmaker."
- Already blocked. The original IP address, possibly used by staff of Congressman Meehan and possibly other House of Representatives staff members, registering over 1000 edits over hundreds of articles.
The block was lifted January 30, 2006. A new block for additional vandalism was enforced for three hours February 1, 2006 at 14:59.
A further block for "linkspamming after many warnings" was enforced for three hours on April 10, 2007 at 15:59.
Yesterday's story, "Rewriting history under the dome," accurately reported that in July of 2005 an intern in my office responsible for updating my biography also updated my online Wikipedia entry. I did not know that this change was being made at the time and was only made aware of it yesterday when informed that The Sun had inquired about it. Though the actual time spent on this issue amounted to 11 minutes, according to server logs, I do not consider it time well spent or approve of it in any way.
Part of being an elected official is to be regularly commented on, praised, and criticized on the Web. For example, one of the many anonymous users who have edited my own Wikipedia entry also updated Sen. Tom Daschle's entry by adding that Daschle is a "professional hack" and that "his brain was significantly altered" after his office was targeted by terrorists in the anthrax attacks on the Capitol in 2001. This is a predictable and unavoidable part of being in public life and, tempting as it may be to get involved, we should not. The Internet is a place for the free and open exchange of ideas and opinions. It was a waste of energy and an error in judgment on the part of my staff to have allowed any time to be spent on updating my Wikipedia entry. I thank The Sun for bringing it to my attention.'
This list contains 175 IPs that originated from this range and edited Wikipedia. This list is complete. One IP is included that had all its edits deleted.
156.33.4.19 (
talk •
contribs •
count) - GT - Good faith editor. A few edits (including a self reverted test) to
Jeannette Island, mentioning an agreement between the US and USSR. July 05.
156.33.30.37 (
talk •
contribs •
count) - GV - Blanked an unflattering paragraph on the article about Senator
Tom Harkin, and later removed another legitimate paragraph over a month later. Good faith edit to Senator
Chuck Grassley. Warned. Nov 05-Jan 06.
156.33.46.154 (
talk •
contribs •
count) - P - Major POV revisions to article on Senator
Norm Coleman. Made another POV edit after these previous revisions were discovered. Warned. Jan 06.
156.33.56.17 (
talk •
contribs •
count) - P - Added anti-Bush POV to single sentence on article about Senator
Harry Reid, and created unusually poor stub for
Richard Ziser, Reid's opponent in 2004. Appears to have been acting in concert with 156.33.56.67 below; the two IP's edits of Reid all took place within 24 hours of each other. May 05.
156.33.56.67 (
talk •
contribs •
count) - P - Pro POV edits and revert war on Senator
Harry Reid. Appears to have been acting in concert with 156.33.56.17 above; the two IP's edits of Reid all took place within 24 hours of each other. Warned. May 05.
156.33.96.28 (
talk •
contribs •
count) - G - Good faith edits to college football and Alabama related articles. Warned for unexplained blankings of a section in
Jay Rockefeller, which was later identified as false information. Dec 05-Jan 06.
156.33.150.38 (
talk •
contribs •
count) - P - Attempted to remove references to controversial statements made by
Corrine Brown, and replace with a more positive statement. July 04.
Emily Lawrimore Communications Director Congressman
Joe Wilson
as represented by her
entry creating a talk page for
Joe Wilson, listing a request for someone to "update his bio with information from the following official bio too?"
Important note from Jimbo: this was an 'excellent' edit to a Talk page, after this staffer emailed me to ask about the appropriate way to request an update to Wikipedia. I suggested that she post information to the talk page, and she did so. After she did so, she blanked herself and emailed me again, essentially not REALLY sure this was ok. Her actions were 100% perfect in every respect, treating us appropriately. — Preceding
unsigned comment added by
Jimbo Wales (
talk •
contribs)