Dutch Justice Ministry Bans Wikipedia; But Not For The Reason You Were Probably Expecting

from the it's-the-edits,-not-the-content dept

When you hear of someone banning Wikipedia, you might naturally assume it's because they're worried about the accuracy or reliability of the content (as misguided as that might be). However, it's a bit surprising to learn that the Dutch justice ministry has decided to ban Wikipedia because its employees were a little too eager to edit the site. Ever since people started outing who was behind what Wikipedia edits, there have been some amusing stories about how people adjust entries in their own favor -- and apparently, a few of those edits came from Dutch justice ministry employees, who are all now banned from using the site, at least temporarily. It's not clear from the article why the ban is temporary or under what conditions it will be lifted. The group admits that most of the edits weren't objectionable (though, a few were). However, no one seems to indicate how this ban could possibly be effective. Those who are likely to adjust Wikipedia entries for political gain are just going to do so from home, making it even harder to pick up the biased entries -- while at the same time, decreasing the likelihood that the more honest corrections can happen at a reasonable pace from those justice ministry employees who actually can make Wikipedia articles more accurate.

Filed Under: dutch justice ministry, netherlands