Koch Industries Employs PR Firm To Airbush Wikipedia, Gets Banned For Unethical ‘Sock Puppets’

Think Progress
Last year, Koch Industries began employing New Media Strategies (NMS), an Internet PR firm that specializes in “word-of-mouth marketing” for major corporations including Coca-Cola, Burger King, AT&T, Dodge, and Ford. …

+1 for Dayton's technique.

-1 for Medsker's technique.

Anything related to business interaction with or manipulation of Wikipedia should be on a "no comment" basis, as far as the business is concerned.

Never disclose. Never.


Furthermore... the news article seems to taunt editing such as this, yet it strikes me as rather rational and thoughtful.

Wow, I thought we were nuts here. You should see some of the comments over there.

Yeah, I always love it when Random Cowards complain about Sock Puppets.

Hey, that's pretty suckcinkt, I think I'll post it Over Dey.

Jon

WoW, if there's anyone here who is really nostalgic for the Gelding Years of Usenet, just haul yer Mäusedreck Macher over there.

Jon

Koch Brothers Paying People to Rewrite Wikipedia?

Opposing Views

• Are the Koch brothers rewriting Wikipedia?



The David Pakman Show is an internationally syndicated talk radio and television program hosted by David Pakman.

What, you haven't realized by now that WR, by comparison to most websites, is informed, intellllllligent (damn key), and not without a certain geeky charm?

Wow, that sure was a lot of angry folks over there... still, you can't deny that the Koch Brothers are totally evil, can you? I mean, it's pretty obvious.

It's unfortunate that so many people are under the false impression that Wikipedia is some sort of bastion of liberalism, free speech, and the American Way, but that probably doesn't result in the WMF getting significantly more money. Whereas, having other corporate robber-barons see the Kochs succeed in their efforts probably brings in truckloads of cash. You don't see the Kochs asking for their BLP's to be deleted, do you? It's one of the few things they can still effectively influence.

If there's anything that Wikipedia teaches it is that popular delusion knows no bounds, I mean, a lot of people still think that CPB • NPR • PBS is The Liberal Media, can you imagine? Oh well, shortness of memory is a common side-effect in young and old alike — only some of the drugs are different …

Jon

Angry? They're clearly unhinged, but political extremism tends to do that to the mind.

Today's bloggy http://ocham.blogspot.com/2011/03/there-is...-over-here.html was about this. I don't see the problem at all. Indeed I can prove it by a syllogism

Anyone can edit Wikipedia
Charles Koch [or: a paid editor] is someone
Ergo, Charles Koch [or: a paid editor] can edit Wikipedia

I don't see the problem either, your syllogism encapsulates it nicely. The truth of course is somewhat different from the mantra.

True... certainly my own mind is a good example of how bad things can get. But this whole "Tea Party" thing is really getting a lot of people seriously pissed off, now that they're actually starting to try to push through their "legislative agenda," which appears to consist almost entirely of rolling back all the reform legislation of the past two years - what little there's been of that. (Not to mention all the union-busting and local-government-busting going on at the state level.)

There's also been some fairly clear evidence of heavy corporate financing of the 2010 Tea Party candidates, including a great deal of internet-based "astroturfing." It's not just the Koch Brothers, there are all sorts of companies involved, all trying to make it look like the Tea Party is some sort of homegrown "movement," which it clearly isn't and never was.

In a way, I guess you could say that the left wing in the USA has been hoodwinked by things like Wikipedia (and to some extent, NPR) just as the right wing has been hoodwinked by "teabaggers" - all of these organizations are bought and paid for in essentially the same way(s), though the people doing the buying and paying probably aren't the same people. You keep thinking folks are going to "wake up," but it's almost like someone's been adding sleeping pills to the drinking water.