A Morality WikiPlay in Four Tabulated Acts

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Act A: The Guardian's Gendale Affair

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Scene Date Source Description
1 March 10 2005 Napoli, Lisa. March 10, 2005. "A Gullible Clearinghouse and the Art of Signage" ("And Now, Fake Trivia"). ("Online Diary"). The New York Times (Technology). <http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/10/technology/circuits/10diary.html?ex=1172293200&en=19cbe6c8765db2bd&ei=5070>. Accessed February 22, 2007. Napoli introduces Gullible.info, a compendium of fabricated information, and interviews its creator, a 19 years old political communications student. Technology Columnist for The New York Times, Lisa Napoli ("Online Diary") dedicates a section of her column to Gullible.info under the heading "And Now, Fake Trivia". She interviews the site's creator, Kyle Stoneman, a 19 years old political communications major at George Washington University, who is reported saying he had started "Gullible.info in the fall as a social experiment parodying people's willingness to accept bits of information without question."
2 July 16 2005 - May 31 2006 Wikipedia (See Act B) A statement attributed to Gullible.info is alternately added and deleted from the Wikipedia article Timothy Leary by various users. According to this statement, Leary claimed to have discorved an extra primary color he referred to as "gendale".
3 April 27 2006 Europe Intelligence Wire (From Guardian Unlimited). April 27, 2006. "Miramax turns on to Leary". <http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-15033498_ITM>. Accessed February 22, 2007. Apparently, the original, uncorrected version of the Guardian article. Guardian Unlimited runs a short piece about the soon expected filming of Timothy Leary's biography. The piece reports Leary "claimed to have discovered a new primary colour - which he called gendale."
4 July 27 2006 Regret the Error, Mistakes Happen. July 27, 2006. "Guardian taps Gullible.info for a bogus Leary fact". <http://www.regrettheerror.com/2006/07/guardian_taps_g.html>. Accessed February 22, 2007. Craig Silverman's journalism bloopers blog reports the Guardian used Gullibile.info's fabricated "gendale" factoid in one of its articles. Craig Silverman's blog of journalism bloopers runs an article titled"Guardian taps Gullible.info for a bogus Leary fact"
5 December 13 2006 Silverman, Craig. December 13, 2006. "Crunks ’06: The Year in Media Errors and Corrections" ("The Check the Domain Award"). Regret the Error, Mistakes Happen. <http://www.regrettheerror.com/2006/12/crunks_06_the_y.html>. Accessed February 22, 2007. Silverman lists the Guardian "gendale" affair as one of the "best" media errors of 2006, and reports of its correction. The Guardian mistake makes Craig Silverman's list of the "best" journalism mistakes of '06. Silverman reports the Guardian has fixed the mistake.
6 Currently Staff and agencies. April 27, 2006. "Miramax turns on to Leary". Guardian Unlimited (News). <http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1762429,00.html>. Accessed February 23, 2007. The corrected Guardian article. The Guardian article as The Guardian makes it available today. The erroneous statement has been removed. The original publication date has not been modified. No mention of the mistake.
Scene Revision User Annotation Description
1 16:24 June 8 2005 60.38.51.43 There occurs in the article none of the words: "color", "colour" or "gendale".
16:24 June 8 2005 (exclusive) - 03:15 July 16 2005 (exclusive) No change.
2 03:15 July 16 2005 84.50.160.18 Added: Leary claimed to have discorved an extra primary color he referred to as "gendale".
03:15 July 16 2005 (exclusive) - 22:49 July 19 2005 (exclusive) No change to sentence.
3 22:49 July 19 2005 Ilanpi Corrected "discorved" to "discovered".
22:49 July 19 2005 (exclusive) - 22:04 August 3 2005 (exclusive) No change
4 22:04 August 3 2005 Technopilgrim deleting 'gendale' factoid, unless someone has an orig source Undid scenes 2 & 3.
5 16:46 April 24 2006 65.40.167.36 There occurs in the article none of the words: "color", "colour" or "gendale".
16:46 April 24 2006 (exclusive) - 05:30 April 25 2006 (exclusive) No change.
6 05:30 April 25 2006 MitchR Added: Leary claimed to have discovered an extra primary color he referred to as "gendale."
05:30 April 25 2006 (exclusive) - 07:04 May 19 2006 (exclusive) No change.
7 07:04 May 19 2006 71.141.127.145 removed gendale claim. Needs source if true. Google only shows this page. Undid scene 6.
07:04 May 19 2006 (exclusive) - 11:00 May 19 2006 (exclusive) No change.
8 11:00 May 19 2006 Viriditas Restore deleted content. It's true, and Google shows more than just wikipedia. Redid scene 6, appending a link to HUERTAS
11:00 May 19 2006 (exclusive) - 18:11 May 31 2006 (exclusive) No change
9 18:11 May 31 2006 Kylestoneman Undid Scene 8
Scene Revision User Annotation Description
1 14:47 August 1 2005 212.9.22.222 Created the section. Added a comment, raising a doubt regarding the validity of the "gendale" claim.
14:47 August 1 2005 (exclusive) - 23:13 May 19 2006 (exclusive) No change.
2 23:13 May 19 2006 71.141.162.115 glendale claim dubious Added a comment, doubting both the validity of the "gendale" claim as well as the reliability of the Guardian article. Comment was not signed.
23:13 May 19 2006 (exclusive)- 23:16 May 19 2006 (exclusive) No change.
23:16 May 19 2006 Snarfer glendale claim dubious Slightly modified comment and signed it by his name.
23:16 May 19 2006 (exclusive) - 18:10 31 May 2006 (exclusive) No change
3 18:10 31 May 2006 Kylestoneman Added a comment, claiming to be running an online compendium of fabricated factoids, Gullible.info, where the "gendale" claim had originated. Provided a link to HUERTAS.
18:10 May 31 2006 (exclusive) - 05:50 June 2 2006 (exclusive) No change.
4 05:50 June 2 2006 Viriditas cm Added a comment, owning to his mistake of restoring the erroneous claim.

Act D: Wikipedia Editors Repeatedly Tap Gullible.info

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Scene Revision Source Description
1 18:10 May 31 2006 Talk:Timothy Leary User Kylestoneman claims to be running a site of fabricated information called Gullible.info. He writes he has identified one of the statements in the main article as one of the factoids originating in his site.
18:11 May 31 2006 Timothy Leary User Kylestoneman deletes the said statement.
2 16:01 October 18 2006 Edgerton, Wyoming User Kylestoneman deletes a statement attributed to Gullible.info.
16:02 October 18 2006 Talk:Edgerton, Wyoming Kylestoneman explains: "I run Gullible.info, it is all fabricated information and has no place on Wikipedia."
3 01:34 October 13 2006 Venus Flytrap User Paul Haymon adds a statement, which he links to Gullible.info.
16:02 October 18 2006 User:Paul Haymon User Kylestoneman comments: "I run Gullible.info and I can confirm that everything on the site is fabricated and almost certainly not true, including that bit about the fly trap ancestors."

The End

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Moral: Writer, justify; Reader, verify, and be aware of the dangers of relying on secondary and tertiary sources.

References

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  • KYLE. July 7, 2006 (16:57). "Seven steps to the creation of truth". Legatissimo.info, the personal blog of Kyle H. Stoneman. <http://www.legatissimo.info/node/263>. Accessed February 23, 2007. "But to Wikipedia's credit, I was able to simply go in and edit the page myself, correcting the error that was mostly my fault."
  • KYLE. July 26, 2006 (12:18). "Weeks after the fact, Guardian still wrong". Legatissimo.info, the personal blog of Kyle H. Stoneman. <http://www.legatissimo.info/node/272>. Accessed February 23, 2007. "I was able to make the correction to the Wikipedia page myself."

For Further Reading

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Note: Some or all of the following references may not be considered reliable, even as primary sources.

  • HUERTAS. June 11, 2005. "LSD guru Timothy Leary claimed to have discovered an extra primary color he referred to as "gendale."". Gullible.info. <http://www.gullible.info/archive.php?m=2005-06#post326>. Accessed February 23, 2007. The original "gendale" factoid, as published in Gullible.info, namely: guru Timothy Leary claimed to have discovered an extra primary color he referred to as "gendale."
  • KYLE. "Gullible.info Boring history stuff". Legatissimo.info, the personal blog of Kyle H. Stoneman. <http://www.legatissimo.info/gullible>. Accessed February 23, 2007.
Kyle Stoneman, who runs Gullible.info's, recounts the early history of Gullible.info.
  • KYLE. October 14, 2005 (14:52). "Dealing with the moral ramifications of Gullible info". Legatissimo.info, the personal blog of Kyle H. Stoneman. <http://www.legatissimo.info/node/153>. Accessed February 23, 2007.
Stoneman's reply to an ethics critique of Gullible.info, where he advocates "teaching people how to assess the reliability of sources in an information-rich environment."
  • KYLE. July 7, 2006 (16:57). "Seven steps to the creation of truth". Legatissimo.info, the personal blog of Kyle H. Stoneman. <http://www.legatissimo.info/node/263>. Accessed February 23, 2007.
Stoneman mentions the "gendale" affair. He outlines seven steps to fabricate a truth. He urges people to verify the information they find online when its repercussions might have significant impact on their lives. Parts of this posting were quoted in (Regret the Error - July 27).
  • KYLE. July 26, 2006 (12:18). "Weeks after the fact, Guardian still wrong". Legatissimo.info, the personal blog of Kyle H. Stoneman. <http://www.legatissimo.info/node/272>. Accessed February 23, 2007.
Stoneman describes his failed attempts to point the Guardian's attention to their "gendale" error.
A pseudo-news-report satirizing Wikipedia's inaccuracies.