On Sept. 17, James “Jimbo” Wales,
founder of the popular online encyclopedia
Wikipedia, posted this one-sentence
article:
“Mzoli’s Meats is a butcher shop and
restaurant located in Guguletu township
near Cape Town, South Africa.”
What happened next made the online
world stand still. Twenty-two minutes
after Wales put up his article, Chad
Horohoe, a VCU student who serves as a
Wikipedia administrator, took it down.
Wikipedia is not usually associated
with gatekeeping. But, in fact, Horohoe
is among 1,500 administrators who have
the task of reviewing article contributions
for factual errors or copyright issues.
His action caused controversy among
other Wikipedia administrators – and
made headlines in newspapers around
the world. Horohoe, who goes by the
online handle, “^demon,” firmly thinks
no one, not even the “almighty” Wales,
is exempt from having articles screened
and possibly deleted.
“I don’t care if it was Jimbo Wales or
Johnny Something in North Dakota,”
Horohoe said. “If the article is not relevant
or (it’s) pointless, it will get deleted.”
Such a bold move elevated Horohoe
to celebrity-like status. Within a few
days, the Los Angeles Times contacted
Horohoe for an article. Then, he went
international in the The Telegraph
(United Kingdom) and Der Spiegel
(Germany). The outspoken Wikipedia
community had mixed opinions about
Horohoe’s move.
“People were either with me in my
decision to delete the article, while others
felt this was an attempt to publicly
humiliate Wales,” Horohoe said. “This
is completely untrue.”
Horohoe has been in contact with
Wales and said there are “no hard
feelings.”
The episode revealed a little-known
side of Wikipedia. Whenever a new
article is posted, an administrator must
review it and decide whether it’s worthy
of inclusion. The administrators also
try to make sure the initial articles are
accurate.
Horohoe, 19, deals directly with
public relations representatives who
usually contact him if a particular article
has a negative spin on a celebrity or
business. Horohoe was unable to disclose
what companies he deals with, but he
said he has been in touch with movie
studios.
“I deal primarily with copyright or
false contributions,” Horohoe said. “If
someone were to write ‘Ben Affleck has
been married eight times and has 38
children,’ I would be in charge of making
sure that was deleted.”
Wikipedia plays an integral role to
businesses and how people view them,
said Marcus Messner, an associate
professor in the School of Mass Communications.
He said Wikipedia’s effect
on businesses can’t be ignored.
“Wikipedia has a huge impact on
corporate image,” Messner said. “If you
were to read an entry about Wal-Mart on
Britannica and then on Wikipedia, they
would be completely different. Wikipedia
has most of the negative information not
found on Britannica, such as employee
treatment.”
With more than 2 million articles
in English and millions more in other
languages, Wikipedia provides information
for free on almost every subject
possible. But since anyone can post
or edit an article, how reliable is the
information?
“You should take everything you
read on Wikipedia with a grain of
salt,” Horohoe said. “Anybody can say
anything on there. I would never use it
as a primary source.”
Messner agrees, but he said Wikipedia
still is valuable.
“If I go to a place that I have never
been to before, I would go to Wikipedia
to get a quick overview,” Messner said.
“Wikipedia is useful if you want to get a
quick overview, not a primary source.”