[WikiEN-l] Bruce McMahan

[Gwern Branwen]

Guy Chapman aka JzG <guy.chapman at 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." 
`----

-- 
Gwern
Inquiring minds want to know.