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The Wikipedia sideshow continues

Unlike Dave Winer, Adam Curry, Robert Scoble and other stars of the blogosphere, I don’t have an entry at wikipedia.org, so I don’t have to worry about how I would handle it if someone kept editing it to downplay something I did (as Adam Curry caught hell for doing). And I don’t have to worry about editing it myself to downplay something someone else did, as Wikipedia founder (cofounder?) Jimmy Wales is accused of doing.

Ironically — or maybe not — one of the places to find out more about Adam Curry’s misbehaviour is at the Wikipedia itself, where there is a note about his editing of the entry on podcasting, and links to more information. Someone who has been helping to dig out details about the editing by both Curry and Wales is Roger Cadenhead. He noticed that Wales had repeatedly edited the entry on Wikipedia itself to remove references to another early staffer, and to change descriptions of an earlier venture into erotica.

I have to say that I think a lot of this — particularly the Curry stuff — is kind of petty and irrelevant. Curry said he made a mistake, and whether anyone believes him or not is up to them. Maybe it’s just fun to slam him because he’s a former MTV video jock and movie star — whatever. The Wales incident is more troubling because he’s the public face of wikipedia.org and what he has done raises questions about who gets to edit what — even more so than the Siegenthaler affair. In that sense, I think Roger is doing a public service by pointing out what’s going on — and at the same time showing how the blogosphere can be a self-regulating exercise.