Lies and truth, fantasy and reality, superstition and fact have now achieved parity of Wikipedic esteem, exactly as they once did in the medieval market-place. It was the printing press -- and the encyclopedia which followed -- which abolished the authority of such ignorance, by the winnowing out, over time, of the chaff of malice and gobbledegook.

But time is the one dimension missing from the internet: instantaneity is the defining feature of this age: knowledge now, friends now, sex now, music now.

But these "now" things are all bogus: and whereas little or no harm results while the fantasies are confined to the internet, real evil can result when cyber-plane intersects with corporeal reality. Every misanthropic fantasist now has an uncontrolled forum for his or her bilious ravings, which are then given a wholly spurious "encyclopedic" status on Wikipedia, causing them to be believed and even acted on by the credulous, the weak, the stupid and the violent -- of which and of whom, there are absolutely no shortages.

Lies and truth, fantasy and reality, superstition and fact have now achieved parity of Wikipedic esteem, exactly as they once did in the medieval market-place. It was the printing press -- and the encyclopedia which followed -- which abolished the authority of such ignorance, by the winnowing out, over time, of the chaff of malice and gobbledegook.

But time is the one dimension missing from the internet: instantaneity is the defining feature of this age: knowledge now, friends now, sex now, music now.

But these "now" things are all bogus: and whereas little or no harm results while the fantasies are confined to the internet, real evil can result when cyber-plane intersects with corporeal reality. Every misanthropic fantasist now has an uncontrolled forum for his or her bilious ravings, which are then given a wholly spurious "encyclopedic" status on Wikipedia, causing them to be believed and even acted on by the credulous, the weak, the stupid and the violent -- of which and of whom, there are absolutely no shortages.

It's almost as horrible as OUTLOOK.

Thus Wikipedia can give space to complete falsehood, both amiably frivolous and deeply malignant.

Lies and truth, fantasy and reality, superstition and fact have now achieved parity of Wikipedic esteem, exactly as they once did in the medieval market-place. It was the printing press -- and the encyclopedia which followed -- which abolished the authority of such ignorance, by the winnowing out, over time, of the chaff of malice and gobbledegook.

But time is the one dimension missing from the internet: instantaneity is the defining feature of this age: knowledge now, friends now, sex now, music now.

But these "now" things are all bogus: and whereas little or no harm results while the fantasies are confined to the internet, real evil can result when cyber-plane intersects with corporeal reality. Every misanthropic fantasist now has an uncontrolled forum for his or her bilious ravings, which are then given a wholly spurious "encyclopedic" status on Wikipedia, causing them to be believed and even acted on by the credulous, the weak, the stupid and the violent -- of which and of whom, there are absolutely no shortages.

Thus, at one level I can scoff at Wikipedia's preposterous allegations against me (and the very fact that 'Phoenix' magazine's poisonous vapourings are quoted as authoritative says something about the author of the Wikipedia item).

But at another level, there will inevitably be some who actually believe what they read -- and are possibly demented enough do something about it.

For I am called a sexual violator of children, a corrupter of the law, and a traitor to my country. The manifold lie is told in what masquerades as an encyclopedia, and the falsehood established in the credulous mind, and I have no comeback.

So who are the people who founded and run Wikipedia? I don't know, and nor have I any foolproof way of finding out, because the only way of doing so is by consulting Wikipedia itself: a hole-in-bucket solution to a hole-in-my-bucket problem (and if you don't understand that explanation, you're probably too young to understand anything else in this column).

And so -- do these wretched Wikipedia people ever lie awake worrying at the damage that the evil or the impressionable might inflict upon those who have been maligned in their uncontrolled and filthy internet gossip-shop, whose very power derives from the complete fiction that it is an "encyclopedia"?

I doubt it extremely: for of all the lies of our time, Wikipedia is surely the greatest.