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Wednesday, November 10
 
Weird (Al) News: The Onion article inspires real change
An article from today's Onion, ostensibly from a die-hard
Weird Al fan who was banned from Wikipedia for flaming,
called for major changes in the Weird Al Wikipedia entry.
The Onion is known for fake news, taking the real news
a bit further - its Top Story this week quoted Karl Rove
as telling the working poor that voted for Bush "You
have acted beyond the call of duty—or, for that matter,
good sense."

But the changes prescribed for the Weird Al Wikipedia
entry really needed to be made, and they were. Within
hours of the Onion's article going online, the Wikipedia
entry was under heavy construction and discussion,
with users adding information about Weird Al's directorial
experience, his album's B-sides which have been traded
on the Internet, and the recurring characters on his
short-lived TV show.

btw, how nerdy am I for writing a completely serious blog
post about Wikipedia, The Onion, and Weird Al? I'm
actually listening to a chapter from Lawrence Lessig's
e-book right now because it came up on random on my
playlist. OK, I'll stop now, I'm scaring the children.


:: Posted by salas
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