Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2007-04-16/News and notes

News and notes

News and notes

Wikipedia television mention makes news

Following Wikipedia's mention on United States television series, The Office, this article, published by the Associated Press, mentioned the edits made, and the semi-protection of the article. It also referenced previous vandalism to Stephen Colbert and John Seigenthaler Sr.

On the 5 April, 2007 episode of the United States television series The Office, entitled "The Negotiation," Wikipedia ("the best thing ever") was extensively used by Michael Scott, who printed out a list of raise negotiations during salary negotiations. He explained his reasoning for using the article, stating "anybody in the world can write anything they want, about any subject, so you know you are getting the best possible information." This was the second time that The Office has mentioned Wikipedia (see archived story), and the third time it has been mentioned on an NBC sitcom.

After the article was mentioned on the show, Negotiation (process) was semi-protected multiple times due to the vandalism it received in the thirty minutes following the mention -- immediately after the mention, 50 edits were recorded in a little over a half hour, from 9 anonymous and 2 newly-registered users.

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