Creative Vandalism on Wikipedia

Creative Vandalism on Wikipedia

Outer pillow pocket with filling

On 8 May, an account called Furniture 1Z makes the strange claim that the name of the Norwegian prime minister (Kjell Magne Bondevik) translates as in the IKEA product code list to 'Bar stool' (Kjell) and 'Outer pillow pocket with filling' (Magne).(12:11, 8 May 2009). The administrator Iridescent reverts two months later (19:25, 25 June 2009).

Don't know the Beatles from Beethoven

On 25 June 2009 the article Ludwig van Beethoven reads "At Pressburg he performed on a piano specifically sent from Vienna by his friend Johann Andreas Streicher, a Viennese piano builder whose instruments produced a singing tone Beethoven liked."

A naughty account called Paulatim changes this to "At Pressburg he performed on a piano specifically sent from Vienna by his friend Johann Andreas Streicher, an American piano builder whose instruments produced a singing tone Beethoven liked." (18:54, 25 June 2009). This is odd, given that Streicher was sending the piano from Vienna but, well. This is not spotted for days, at which point a very silly IP changes 'American piano builder' to gay piano builder'. 05:56, 27 June 2009. This is reverted back to 'American' within the traditional 6 minutes by the aptly named 'bong warrior' (06:01, 27 June 2009), who is too stoned to notice the error.

Soon after, the IP (who has clearly been playing a bit of a game) changes 'American' back to the original 'Austrian' (06:06, 27 June 2009). But behold, this farrago has attracted attention from editor 'Work permit', who now changes 'Austrian' to 'German', and the name 'Streicher' to 'Stein', clearly confusing the German father of Nanette Stein (who does have an article about himself in Wikipedia), who married Johann Andreas Streicher, with Streicher himself (who does not), a close friend of Beethoven from whom Beethoven purchased several instruments, as the original article correctly said, and as anyone can check here.

The IP correctly changes it back to Austrian (10:32, 27 June 2009), but forgets to change the name back from 'Stein' to 'Streicher'.

Cheeky Paulatim leaves a message on WorkPermit's page to remind him about this. WP then adds a reference showing that Stein was indeed German. (This is correct, Stein was German, but his eponymous son-in-law, the one whose pianos had a singing tone, was of course Austrian).

The IP then changes the name to 'Streicher' and gives his nationality as 'Austrian'. This is going to cause further confusion because Streicher, although he lived in Vienna, was in fact born in Stuttgart.

Gregory Peck and the Second Crusade

On 28 April 2007, some witty person changed "The French crusaders departed from Metz in June, led by Louis, Thierry of Alsace, Renaut I of Bar, Amadeus III of Savoy and his half-brother William V of Montferrat, William VII of Auvergne" to "The French crusaders departed from New York in June, led by Louis, Gregory Peck, Renaut I of Bar, Bill Cosby and his half-brother Harry Potter, William VII of Auvergne" [1].

A day later, another editor vandalized the article more obviously. Three hours later a 'recent changes' patroller came along and reverted back to the Gregory Peck, Harry Potter, Bill Cosby version. Then another day later, someone finally realized and reverted the original vandalism [2]. All told, Wikipedia showed for 42 hours that Harry Potter was a leader in the Crusades.

From [3].