Lies, damn lies and Wikipedia: Murder suspect NOT a Plaxo founder – ex-staffer

News reports which claim that Minh Nguyen, who has been arrested for murder, was one of the founders of the address-book-in-the-cloud, Plaxo, appear to be based on an erroneous Wikipedia entry that had been repeatedly edited. The story was reported in The MailOnline (screenshot here), techcrunch (which seems to have modified …

[Daedalus]

The trouble with journalists and foreign names

They get them wrong anyway, and the problem is compounded when the name is the equivalent of John Smith. They don't know that, so they jump on the first example they find.

[Irongut]

Re: The trouble with journalists and foreign names

The trouble with commentards is they just don't read the article before posting.

This has nothing to do with getting foriegn names wrong or mistaken identity and everything to do with the fact that anyone can edit Wikipedia to say they were part of anything. If I were so inclined I could be part of the Apollo 11 crew according to Wikipedia. (hopefully that would be corrected pretty quick)

[asdf]

Re: The trouble with journalists and foreign names

Yes it never gets old seeing what must be high school jocks inserting some poor schlub's name repeatedly in Wikipedia entries.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: The trouble with journalists...

...is that they get their info from disgusting vats of lying shit like Wikipedia.

Bunch of shit-mongers, all of them.

[Champ]

Re: The trouble with journalists...

There are some very good journalists. I'd go so far as to say that the majority, like most people, try to do a decent job to the best of their ability.

And Wikipedia is a phenomenally useful resource. Not, as you would have it, a "disgusting vat of lying shit".

I'm tempted to file you under "troll".

[Daedalus]

Re: The trouble with journalists and foreign names

Regardless of Wikipedia, a journo who does not double check facts, especially when the name involved is so common, is the problem. That and short tempered trolls.

[Crisp]

The Daily Mail got their facts wrong?

<sarcasm style="dripping">

Well colour me surprised!

</sarcasm>

[Oninoshiko]

Re: The Daily Mail got their facts wrong?

Wikipedia got their facts wrong?

FTFY

This is not a serious source of information, and shouldn't be considered for anything more important then a drunken bar bet.

[Pax681]

ah but you see...

he was just trying to make Plaxo know as a killer app!

[asdf]

see icon

>Ironically, if Nguyen weren’t currently being detained by Loudoun County Sheriff, he could use the major, generally reputable news sources in a citation to back that claim on Wikipedia.

[Alistair]

Re: see icon

asdf I think this perhaps makes a better 'irony' icon.

Sadly, having seen a couple of events of the sort pass through Jimbo's Excellent HTML Store, such no longer merits a chuckle.

[Shady]

Re: see icon

Maybe we need an Alanis Morisette icon. To be doubly ironic.

[Anonymous Coward]

[....]generally reputable news sources in a citation to back that claim on Wikipedia

The number this time is 978.

[John H Woods]

We worked with some Vietnamese ...

(actually they were very good, but that's by-the-by)

... most of them were called Nguyen! I think some estimates are one third to forty percent. For comparison the top British surnames (Smith, Jones, Taylor, Brown) together make up about 3% of the total.

[Anonymous Coward]

Wikipedia Leftist Bias

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Suggested_sources

Totally biased far two many left wing publications compared to right wing ones. (To try and reduce bias surely best thing would be to look at both).

The truth is probably somewhere in-between but if there is no right wing source that is allowed then basically Wikipedia is leftist propaganda.

[Destroy All Monsters]

Re: Wikipedia Leftist Bias

You seem to be ready to do some editing as "anonymous user"?

[edge_e]

Re: Wikipedia Leftist Bias

Is this a complaint about fox news not being on the list?

They're so reliable after all

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11338985/Fox-News-terror-expert-says-everyone-in-Birmingham-is-a-Muslim.html

[Mark 85]

Re: Wikipedia Leftist Bias

There's just two things to remember about Fox: News and Reliable aren't part of that company.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Wikipedia Leftist Bias

> They're so reliable after all

> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11338985/Fox-News-terror-expert-says-everyone-in-Birmingham-is-a-Muslim.html

OK, we know that's not true but besides, so fucking what if it were? Last I heard this still was a free country after all and people had a right to have whatever beliefs they fancied. If an entire city decided to go Muslim/Zoroastrian/Zen Buddhist that's still none else's business.

[Sir Barry]

Nothing new

I'm not surprised, since when did the press let the facts get in the way of a story?

[Alan Denman]

Wikipedia is just another war zone...

It is full of conmen and fanboys disgracing the truth.

Post there at you peril, it may end up being a war !