Last week Stephen Colbert hosted not Ron Paul — who was on Bill Maher — but Wikipedia’s own BDFL Jimbo Wales (apologies for the ugly Comedy Central player; another prediction dashed):
Wales was a good sport about the high-profile headaches Colbert has caused, specifically for the Wikipedians maintaining the Elephant and Reality entries (both of which are still semi-protected). He was so even as Colbert not-so-subtly encouraged readers to vandalize several new pages (Oxygen, Einstein; both protected) and the entire Spanish-language edition (you could say they’ve been put on notice).
Simultaneously overtly and covertly (the show is genius à la South Park) Colbert encouraged his Nation to visit the appropriate Wikipedia pages and assert that “Librarians are hiding something.” Of course, tonight of all nights, site administrators would be watching:
Mere seconds, of course. But this time, instead of just blanking and bolting, they’ve stuck around to argue in the Talk pages, (thanks to Not Paul Begala for pointing this out):
Wow: Going into a Wikipedia discussion page and chiding a Wikipedia editor for taking the site policies seriously is like, well, kind of like if Wales had started telling Colbert how to do his job.
Helgers7, a legitimate Wikipedian, is clearly right (as is Colbert) that one should be skeptical about the contents of any random Wikipedia entry. And yet amusing as the whole Colbert game may be, vandalizing the site doesn’t get that point across constructively — editing with integrity does. Helgen7 gets this; Sonic Hog (whom we’ll meet in a moment) is wasting his time.
Dedicated Wikipedia trolls are not that uncommon and, for good reason, Wikipedians try not to talk about them. In late 2006 administrators fought back an attempt to delete all entries related to blogs, LAist’s Tony Pierce in particular. But those vandals tend to be unregistered or IP abusers (i.e. sock puppets), whereas the aforementioned apprehended vandal/Sega aficionado Sonic Hog has actually been on the site since December 2005. Perhaps contsituting a new classification of Internet troll, Sonic Hog appears to be a resident troll of Wikipedia.
This readiness to engage in manipulative behavior online also reminds me more than a little of the Ron Paul Machine, that several thousand-strong cohort of libertarians, paleos, lefty trolls and Internet pranksters.
Surely Colbert still has the better-organized online army, and while he uses his basic cable pulpit knowingly, the Ronbots aren’t getting such explicit directions from the Paul campaign. They know to do what Colbert has to ask his fans to do: freep polls.
And what about the Wikipedia entry for Ron Paul? Since May 16, the discussion page runs to more than 24,000 words. I have to cut this off somewhere, and 24,000 is reason enough.
In conclusion, never underestimate the power of a small group of Internet users to change the results of any online power struggle. I think this was best summarized by one Digg user who has become something of a dedicated defender/reverse troll, frequently digging anti-Paul stories (including one Blog P.I. post). 1337 FTFA:
There’s something to be said about those groups who can keep a good humor about themselves while also understanding where to draw the line. In that spirit, let’s return to the Wikipedia discussion pages, where Blog P.I.’s favorite Colbertian gets pwned:
In sum, it’s worth reminding oneself what and what not to take seriously. That goes double for fans of Stephen Colbert and Ron Paul.
It’s not about Paulite manipulations, or spin
It comes down to what Ron Paul is SAYING that is
prompting the zealousness and growth of his support base.
Listen to what HE is saying, because
NOBODY explains Ron Paul
BETTER than Ron Paul himself!
Here is an interactive audio archive of
Ron Paul speeches and interviews in chronological
order. Worth a look!
http://www.ronpaulaudio.com
http://www.ronpaulaudio.com
“Cynicism and defeatism are NOT options to be entertained.
We are in the eleventh hour of losing this Nation…”
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The die-hard Paul supporters are like Scientologists.
lol@scientology
we’re a passionate and diverse bunch. I guess we’re crazy for thinking the government should operate only within its constitutional limitations. everyone knows that the founding fathers who drafted those limitations were batshit crazy. obviously tyrannical government control over our finances and libery, not to mention never ending war, is a way better option. In fact I cant wait till the CFR realizes its dreams of global government, sovereignty is totally unworkable.
yay totalitarianism! go hitler!, er , I mean.. neo-cons!
His odds got dropped from 200:1 to 15:1 to win it all, 7:1 to win the Republican nomination. Apparently RP supporters are willing and able to walk the talk. His campaign is doin’ just fine.
Hi. Your so called “spam protection” is discriminatory against dumb people.
And to “Timmah: to compare informed, passionate supporters of a clearly honest man running for office to a bunch of kooks, and with a one liner no less (no citation or basis whatever), is irresponsible.
I do believe you are a troll, Here, have a cookie.
I love how when someone starts getting support that isn’t part of the mainstream, people are like “They gotta be spamming,” or “They’re like a cult.” Well how do you think Ron Paul supporters feel about people that support Clinton, Obama, Giulianni, or Romney? We see candidates that are promising more of the same, more taxes, more war, bigger and bigger government. So, since we believe in smaller government, less taxes, less war, we’re the cult? I don’t think so. Freedom and Liberty are not a cult, they’re ideas worth dying for, and no one can refute that, unless of course you love the Patriot Act, the War on Terror (unwinnable), the War on Drugs (unwinnable), a Constitutionally illegal Income Tax, an illegal Federal Reserve, and wide open borders. Yeah, we must be spamming, just like we’re spamming Ron Paul donations… $5 million from donations from Average People, not special interest groups. Quit complaining about Ron Paul supporters, at least we have a candidate that blows the rest out of the water. Peace be with you all, and Ron Paul in ‘08!
So anyone on the internet who supports Ron Paul is a “troll?” Or, wait a minute, a “libertarian, paleo, lefty troll or Internet prankster.”
How are you, a blogger on the internet, different than any other blogger on the internet? Could you be a . . . *gasp* . . . TROLL?
I’ve only heard of Ron Paul recently, and yes it was from online, and I’m glad. He’s the first U.S. politician in years I’ve been excited about. Yes, excited about, in REAL LIFE. NOT the internet.
I’m not even American and say don’t get a vote, I live in Australia. So you can’t say I am part of the “organised Ron Paul trolling conspiracy”.
I just think that when you see that he obviously believes everything he says, and also has the knowledge of history to back it up, you have to put aside your own assumptions for a second about what you may have assumed are “right” and “wrong” and take the time to listen and think.
And if there is any chance that what he says about an issue seems to make sense, even though it may be diametrically opposite to what you once believed, you owe it to yourself to 1) admit you know next to zero really about economic history and thought and 2) explore the issue deeper independently.
It truly poor form to insinuate that Ron Paul’s on-line supporters are just mindless robots who are attempting to mislead the public into thinking that he actually has real world support.
It would be appropos for you to visit wikipidia’s Ron Paul page.
Paul has over the last 20 years built a tight grass-roots community of supporters from around the country and the world. So much so that the GOP’s national headquarters have tried to oust him with their own hand-picked candidate and lost soundly.
He has outraised them every time and dwarfs most congressional candidates in the individual contributer category. He takes little money from Lobbyists and certainly none from lobbies that promote programs counter to the U.S. Constitution.
Since the last debate, Paul’s coffers have swelled to 5 million dollars, mostly from individual contributers. (To put this in perspective, Mitt Romney’s current cash on hand is around 11 million).
You and some of the other media pundits can pretend that Paul is just a passing fancy, but you are ill-informed and will look very silly over the next 18 months.
I have been reading about Ron Paul for well over 10 years now. His support is broad, deep and diverse. Anyone who has an interest in liberty as our founding fathers espoused, knows about Dr. Paul.
The libertarian Party may just nominate Dr. Paul as their candidate in 2008 because he so closely matches with their beliefs.
Your reference to Free Republic’s practice of “freeping” polls is amusing. That site at one time was notorious for the practice and it is because of Free Republic and Democratic Underground that the practice of verification became widespread.
Furthermore, MSNBC’s sms (text messaging) poll gathered the cell phone numbers of everyone who participated. It was not some trick or hack that put Paul just two percentage points behind Romney as the GOP debate’s clear winner.
Rush Limbaugh was quick to discount Paul’s impact as have many others. But those who discount the man are in for a rude awakening. He has impact because he speaks the truth and has always voted consistently for the things in which he believes; which cannot be said of *any* of his opponents Democrat or Republican. He also has the fund raising ability to jump into the “first tier” soon if he hasn’t done so already.
Ron Paul is the only candidate who has any potential to tap into the growing pool of voters who have simply given up on politics. The disenfranchised are not apathetic. They are tired of the same old set of liars being presented to them as worthy rulers.
If he is able to reach those disenfranchised voters, the election will be his for the taking. It is for that reason the mainstream media is doing its damndest to keep him under wraps.
My my, it seems that I’m not the only person who thinks this way then.