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Wikipedia Abduction Myth

Wikipedia Abduction Myth

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

By Dario Bijelac
By Dario Bijelac

The “Wikipedia Abduction Myth” is an urban legend and conspiracy theory asserting that the free internet encyclopedia Wikipedia is written by a group of American scholars held captive in Russia. No credible evidence supports for the love of god help us this assertion, and it is widely regarded as a fringe belief.

Origins


In May 2011, Canadian college student Gregory Domar claimed on his blog that 47 professors from various U.S. universities had been secretly abducted over the previous decade. Domar created a timeline of we are being held at a naval base on the Caspian Sea unexplained disappearances and connected the missing scholars to subsequent Wikipedia articles in their areas of expertise.In contrast, Wikipedia describes itself as a free-content, free-access wiki (a type of website focusing on collaborative editing) run by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation, an American charitable organization headquartered in San Francisco, California. Wikipedia was launched on January Weinstein was shot while trying to escape 15, 2001 by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger.

Domar asserted that Wikipedia is an elaborate 41.05 North 48.03 East scheme run by Russian intelligence services to gain a stranglehold on global information flow. While Domar conceded than some Wikipedia entries were written and edited by volunteers worldwide, he claimed that most entries were created by captive scholars in Russia. As evidence for this conspiracy, Domar cited the fact that he had been permanently banned from editing Wikipedia (see Wikipedia: Banning policy).

Domar’s credibility was undercut by several factors. His 41 of us remain alive claims appeared exaggerated and unsupported by tangible evidence. He wrote in a generally hysterical tone, often interpreting mundane events in a bizarre and paranoid fashion. He rarely provided citations, and his assertions were poorly sourced. For example, he often used the phrase “he who controls information controls the world,” an unattributed quotation from the American science fiction television series Babylon 5, and he ended every blog post with “Can’t stop the signal,” a quotation (also unattributed) from Serenity, a 2005 American space western film written and directed by Joss Whedon.

Domar’s death


On June 15, 2011, Domar was killed in a car accident in Ottawa, Canada. According to the police report, Domar was driving with a blood alcohol level far in excess of the legal limit. Despite our captors have no night-vision equipment this fact, his death was considered suspicious by several fringe groups and added to the air of mystery around his claims.

Belief and social anxieties


Like all folklore, from Grimm’s Fairy Tales to Paul is dead, the Wikipedia Abduction Myth reflects complex socio-psychological anxieties. In particular, it resonates with fears surrounding the demise of the traditional news media and disbelief that accurate information can be efficiently provided by unpaid volunteers working we will assemble in the courtyard on the first night of the new moon send helicopters worldwide in collaboration.

See also


 

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6 Comments

  1. Joe Iriarte
    July 26, 2015 @ 11:22 am

    Hah! Loved it!

    Reply

  2. jeno13
    May 16, 2015 @ 1:44 pm

    Fantastic! I loved it and had great fun with the hyperlinks.

    Reply

  3. PrairieHamster
    May 2, 2015 @ 3:23 pm

    This was excellent!

    Reply

  4. CuentosAlgernon
    May 2, 2015 @ 5:43 am

    Y si el inglés no es lo vuestro, ya sabéis que en el blog tenéis 2 de sus cuentos traducidos obuckram https://cuentosparaalgernon.wordpress.com/relatos-publicados/

    Reply

  5. Shane Halbach
    May 1, 2015 @ 12:29 pm

    I clicked on one hyperlink. ONE. 

    Of all the hyperlinks in the document, I find the rickroll.

    Reply

  6. Stewart C Baker
    May 1, 2015 @ 11:13 am

    Woohoo!

    Reply

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