2 Responses to Wikipedia Revert War: Wallace Beery vs. Ted Healy, Round 9

1. James Zeruk says:

   May 15, 2013 at 10:56 am

   It’s unlikely the “Revert War” will have an Armistice anytime soon. For a time several years ago I was in a very heated battle with contributors and Wiki administrators regarding the Peg Entwistle article. There was constant disputing of her career, personal life, and, of course, her infamous suicide off of the Hollywood(land) Sign in 1932. The fact that I am her only real biographer to date and have a book coming out this year (McFarland) did not sway the powers that be when I explained why I kept clicking the “undo” button on other’s undo’s that I had undone … they simply reverted. Yes, it is as silly as it sounds.

   Wiki does not–so they say–allow “original research” to be added to articles, and so I had pointed out the irony that I cannot make Peg Entwistle’s article accurate with my research, but when my book comes out a person can freely add the exact same info (my original research) into the article by quoting and sourcing me and my book. For a time Wiki put a “watch” on the page, meaning that an administrator would be alerted to any change. Finally, the article was not allowed to be edited in an way. (This has since changed, and now vandalism is often anonymously edited in.)

   And this all is part of the reason I never use Wikipedia as a source while researching my other projects. More irony: Google Wikipedia and you get a Wikipedia article about Wikipedia….

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   • James Zeruk says:

     May 15, 2013 at 11:02 am

     Oh, by the way, the person know as “Pinkadelica” is a senior administrator/editor of Wikipedia. She (I assume this is a woman based on my correspondences) was the one who eventually banned me from Wikipedia. What a small world it is.

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