Guy Chapman aka JzG guy.chapman@spamcop.net writes:
That article sucks royally. More eyes, please. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_McMahan
The major problem is that the "controversy" (which I have
largely
removed now) is reported only in one local tabloid, with a
single
reprint cited. It does indeed look as if we are being used to
promote
a vendetta.
I have asked on Talk for reliable secondary sources for the significance of the allegations. A Wall Street Journal profile
would
be nice...
My Factiva subscription gives precisely zero hits on McMahan
outside
of the campaign by the Broward New Times. Not one.
Guy (JzG)
http://www.chapmancentral.co.ukhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:JzG
Amusingly, there's already an article about Wikipedia's coverage of that article:, which I found along with a a bunch of aother articles in LexisNexis Academic. From, yes, the New Times Broward-Palm Beach, February 22, 2007 Thursday:
"Daddy's Little Obfuscator; The McMahan clan tries a new way to attack our "Daddy's Girl" bombshell -- by dive-bombing Wikipedia"
Choice quotes:
"As of this writing however (it changes by the hour), Wikipedia's entry is a pathetic thing, opening with three paragraphs of pure pap. (McMahan is chief executive officer of blah blah blah, he founded the financial firm so-and-such, his charities include whatzitmatter... as if anyone were looking up McMahan for that drivel.) Finally, it gets to the point, watered down by so much editing and reediting that it reads like an afterthought:
"Linda Schutt his biological daughter, who was raised by adoptive parents through adulthood, has claimed in a lawsuit that she had a sexual relationship with him as an adult. Documents from this suit became the source of information for a series of articles in the Broward-Palm Beach New Times, with further coverage in other tabloid journals."
Ouch. The "tabloid" touch hurts so much."
Of course, the article's quote in investigating sockpuppetry is also choice:
,---- | Behind every Wikipedia entry meanwhile, there's a discussion page, which is where the war of words over McMahan's entry has really been taking place. This includes a several-thousand-words-long screed trashing Cramer and her story by "CabbageFairy," who claims to be something of a journalism expert. CabbageFairy accused New Times of the basest unethical practices in the McMahan story. | | Something about CabbageFairy's profile at the site however, made Tailpipe suspicious. Could the mysterious "researcher" be, gulp, none other than Bruce McMahan's eldest daughter, Alison? Tailpipe looked into it further and discovered that, yes, Alison McMahan is a film historian who has written a book about early film pioneer Alice Guy Blaché whose first feature film, in 1897 bore a French title that translates to - you guessed it - "The Cabbage Fairy." `----