An overlooked fact about Wikiscanner

Wikiscanner does not see registered Wikipedia users. Users who have Wikipedia accounts have their IP addresses shielded from view, and thus do not show up on Wikiscanner's search results. Funnily enough, it's the anonymous users who leave the trail that Wikiscanner tracks.

So, conceivably, there could be a lot more Wiki-spin going on, from parties unknown, than appears in Wired's rogues gallery. In fairness, Virgil Griffith says as much in the header of Wikiscanner's front page: "List anonymous wikipedia edits from interesting organizations". But most of the bloggage I've seen has overlooked this potentially crucial fact. Is Fox News really monkeying with Wikipedia more than other news outlets? Or do the other outlets just have more users with Wikipedia accounts? It's impossible to say, but it's something to think about.

NPR has no space to report liberals' abuse of Wikipedia...

...but plenty of space to hang their favorite dartboards: Wal-Mart, Foxnews, etc., in connection with that new Wikipedia scanner tool. There's nary a murmur about a jerk at United Nations slandering the late Oriana Falacci, the ACLU slagging the pope, and oh, a whole slew of monkeying around, from all sides. But, trust the group good-think at Morning Edition to whittle it down to corporations, conservatives, conservative corporations, and corporate conservatives.

The template, the template, semper et ubique, the template...

I look forward to playing with Wikiscanner, once its Greece-based server recovers from the traffic tsunami.