A Wikipedia user claiming to be Liberal MP Tim Wilson has been blocked from editing the website after they suggested removing negative aspects from the article about Wilson.
On July 31, user “TimWilsonMP” created a Wikipedia account with a message: “My name is Tim Wilson and I am an elected representative in Australia. I plan to contribute to the page about me while following Wikipedia’s policies and being as neutral as possible.”
After months of the account lying dormant, the user posted a series of suggested changes to Wilson’s page, challenging the sources of the claims.
“The Wikipedia page about me seems to be designed to put me in a negative light,” the account wrote.
Shortly after, TimWilsonMP was blocked from making any new edits under the site’s policy protecting notable figures from impersonation. Tim Wilson’s office did not respond to a Crikey request about whether he or his office was behind the account.
Editing one’s own Wikipedia article is frowned upon under the site’s norms — ”Avoid writing or editing an article about yourself, other than to correct unambiguous errors of fact” says one piece of advice — but it’s not against the rules.
The user, if they are in fact the real Tim Wilson MP, someone from this his office, or otherwise, had taken the unusual step of creating a separate page suggesting edits for other editors to make in order to avoid perceptions of Wikipedia impropriety.
One user, Horse Eye’s Back, responded to TimWilsonMP’s message thanking them for their approach.
“Going through your draft there and the page I do see merit to a number of the questions you’ve raised. Thanks for taking the high road with this,” they wrote.
These recommended changes attempt to sand the edges off the harsher aspects of Wilson’s Wikipedia entry, but use the website’s rules to justify changes. The user points to Crikey, Huffington Post, Junkee and Michael West Media — “the publication has an agenda covering the rising power of corporations over democracy”, TimWilsonMP wrote — as being inappropriate for Wikipedia citations.
The account also suggested getting rid of information about the swing against Tim Wilson at the 2019 election because there was no citation.
Some of TimWilsonMP’s efforts have worked. Facts such as Wilson’s opposition to plain cigarette packaging, opposition to a carbon price, and being rebuked by Speaker Tony Smith for his antics around the franking credits inquiry, were removed, although some of those changes were later reverted.
Other changes have been noted but ultimately not changed when users found other sources to justify claims.
Wikipedia remains one of the most influential websites for shaping public perception of politicians. Tools like the Twitter account Aussie Parl&Gov WikiEdits use the known IP addresses of federal and state parliaments to track Wikipedia edits made by parliamentary users — sometimes linked to MP’s own profiles.
The man is one of the greatest spivs (a spive among equals) in history and nothing about this surprises me!
A spiv among equals – note to self – check spelling before posting
Slimeball is a good description . .
Or IPA stooge.
“I am Tim Wilson, and I am a god come amongst men. Bathe, all ye, in my divine light, and vote again and again for the Liberal Party, the rightful rulers of this fair land, and smite the Socialists and lovers of the ABC…”
“Michael West Media — “the publication has an agenda covering the rising power of corporations over democracy”, TimWilsonMP wrote”
He says that like it (the coverage) is a bad thing? I guess from his libertarian point of view, it is.
On the latter, he seems to be walking PR construct on behalf of radical right libertarian ideology or ‘freedom & liberty’ (aka visiting HK for demos), imported from the US and channeled via e.g. the IPA. his intellectual alma mater.
It remains a mystery why anyone would want to look up Wilson on Wikipedia in the first place.
Just fact checking. (or absence of)
Pity Narcissus isn’t here, we could ask him ‘why’?
Yes I agree. But my brother lives in his electorate and in order to razz him about this I have used Wilson’s Wikipedia listing to gather or check out some info.
Probably just Tim and his mum, but I bet it gets a lot of hits!
Haha well pointed out.
Possibly as a means of showing abundant caution.
Totally agree – the smarmy slime-ball
Of course the smarmy narcissistic Timmy tried to doctor his own Wikipedia page. I looked up egotist in my dictionary and lo and behold there was a pic of Timmy.
Smarmy, narcissistic spiv…. that is a good start to describe Tim Wilson. He was not very convincing on Q&A last night; defensive, pompous and outright dishonest and sleazy. Isn’t he supposed to by one of the Liberal’s rising stars??? Did not impress at all.
With the personality attributes you ascribe to him, Freedom Boy will rocket to the top of the Liberal Party.