False information posted by volunteer gets Wales in more trouble.

NEW YORK, NY -- Untrue information posted to Wikipedia, as fact, by an anonymous 'volunteer' (Brian Chase, 38, a resident of Nashville, TN was later exposed as the person behind the lie) suggesting that John Seigenthaler had been involved in the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy was eventually removed by Wikipedia's co-founder Jimbo Wales, but only after more than four months anguish and hard work by Seigenthaler.

"There is a problem with the structure of Wikipedia. The basic problem is that no one, neither the Trustees of Wikimedia Foundation, nor the volunteers who are connected with Wikipedia, consider themselves responsible for the content," said Daniel Brandt, the man credited with helping to expose Chase. Brandt is a founder of Wikipedia-Watch and is a frequent critic of the online encyclopedia.

Now another story suggesting that Wikipedia is out of control emerges....

Some months ago, OfficialWire published an article about untrue postings on Wikipedia, by Christian Wirth also known as RaDMan. Shortly after the devastating earthquake and tsunamis on December 26, 2004 in the Indian Ocean, Wirth took upon himself to wage a war against QuakeAID Foundation, Inc. Wirth's arsenal consisted of untrue, libelous writings that he and Wikipedia published as fact. All attempts, by QuakeAID's founder, to correct the untrue comments were re-edited, blocked or labelled as 'untrue' by a group of volunteers, who hold themselves untouchable and above the law.

John Seigenthaler and QuakeAID are not alone. Wikipedia cannot hold itself out as quintessential authority and deny responsibility and accountability. Likewise, to accept postings without vetting or cross-checking the material (not merely searching Google as Wikipedia's volunteers do) opens Wales and his 'Foundation' up to legal action, regardless of their published disclaimer. Indeed, to suggest that such a disclaimer affords any protection at all is nonsense. The first line of their disclaimer says it all: "General disclaimer – Use Wikipedia at your own risk". Until Seigenthaler learned of the untrue statements about him, he was not a user.

As a direct result of the most recent debacle, Wikipedia has stopped "Anonymous" users from creating new articles. That's a start, but registration on the website can consist of providing an email address and false name, so they have a great deal of work to do before anyone should consider the content found on Wikipedia credible.

In the meantime, QuakeAID has written once again to Jimbo Wales, demanding the untrue and libelous information be removed from Wikipedia, while a group of interested parties have joined together and plan to initiate legal proceedings against Wales and Wikipedia Foundation, Inc., and numerous others—the so-called anonymous 'volunteers'—who they believe should be held responsible for the content they publish.

For more information, visit www.WikipediaClassAction.org.