Wikipedia.org takes its name from wiki – a website which allows users to add and edit content collectively. Most wikis are focused on particular subjects; but Wikipedia covers just about every subject. It is widely used as a source or reference point, in part due to its high visibility in search engines. It currently offers, in its English version, 862,326 articles. But there is no one person in control of the postings; instead, it is hoped that contributors, who read and amend the web pages, will eventually catch any errors.
The controversy arose when John Seigenthaler, founder of USA Today, discovered that a four-month-old entry on Wikipedia hinted that he had been a suspect in both Kennedy assassinations and had lived in the Soviet Union for 13 years.
“Nothing was ever proven,” said the posting.
In fact, Seigenthaler had worked as an administrative assistant for Robert Kennedy and had been one of his pall bearers.
Mr Seigenthaler lambasted both the reference site and the anonymous author of the posting in a November article published in the US newspaper. The offending entry was removed from Wikipedia, but it was difficult to track down the person behind the posting.
According to the BBC, that person was Brian Chase, a 38-year-old business manager with a delivery firm in Tennessee, and he has since contacted Seigenthaler directly to apologise for the entry.
He had posted the article in May as a joke, he said, to wind up a colleague who had connections with Seigenthaler. He claimed that he had not realised that the website was taken so seriously.
Chase has since resigned from his job although Seigenthaler has urged his employer, Rush Delivery, not to accept the resignation.
In the meantime, in the face of criticism over its accountability and reliability, Wikipedia has tried to tighten its rules to ensure that only registered contributors can add articles.
However, according to reports, unregistered users will still be able to edit the site, and there will be no checks on the identities of registered contributors, meaning that the site could still be open to abuse.
