Topic: WorldNetDaily
As we've noted, Joseph Farah is continuing to whine about vandalism of the WorldNetDaily entry on Wikipedia, and Farah is continuing to demand an apology from Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales for something he didn't do. In his Jan. 13 column, Farah announced an "coming offensive against Wikipedia" and sought donations to WND's legal defense fund.
But let's take a look at some of those nasty things that popped on Wikipedia about Farah and WND -- and how long those remained posted:
- The lead claim in Chelsea Schilling's Dec. 30 WND article denouncing the malicious edits was a claim that Farah was described as a "Zionist Twit and Jew Loving Pig." But according to the Wikipedia archives, that statement was removed after just eight minutes.
- The statement that WND is written from a "pro-white point of view" was removed after 39 minutes.
- The statement on Farah's entry calling him "a closet homosexual and has been repeatedly criticized for his hypocrisy" was removed after 32 minutes.
- The statement on Farah's entry calling him a "known cock sucker" was flagged and deleted immediately.
At no point does Schilling or Farah note the brief amount of time these statements were actually live on the Wikipedia site.
Despite Farah's complaint about ineffective "editors and approved moderators who are presumably charged with screening out such material," it seems like the system is working pretty well for such an operation.
Meanwhile, WND itself seems to be lax in that department, allowing numerous death threats against President Obama to be posted in its forums.
Also, it's worth noting that Clark Jones had to wait more than seven years for an apology and retraction from WND for publishing numerous false and libelous claims about him -- statements WND not only did not remove in the interim but aggressively defended. One could argue that what's good for the goose is good for the gander.
(Of course, we've been libeled by Farah, and he hasn't exactly made an effort to apologize.)
One does have to wonder: Is Farah still pissed that WND and Aaron Klein got caught red-handed (by us) creating a story for the sole apparent purpose of attacking Wikipedia?
