[P2P-F] Fwd: The Rise and Fall of Wikipedia

Tue Feb 9 09:04:32 CET 2016

Begin forwarded message:

*From: *"Orthomolecular News" <omns at orthomolecular.org>
*Subject: **The Rise and Fall of Wikipedia*
*Date: *8 February 2016 at 22:18:05 GMT-1
*To: *"Sepp Hasslberger" <sepp at lastrega.com>

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*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*
*Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, February 8, 2016*
The Rise and Fall of Wikipedia
First in Internet Searches; Last in Reliability Commentary by Howard Straus

(OMNS, Feb 8, 2016) Anyone who uses the Internet to search for information
is very likely to be familiar with the Wikipedia site. Wikipedia is very
often among the first results that pop up on queries like, "What is the
population of Kazakhstan?" or "How many French speakers are there in the
United States?" To questions like this, with little or no commercial
impact, and no scientific or political controversy surrounding them,
Wikipedia sometimes offers decent answers.

But venture into natural healing or alternative medicine and the answers
become totally skewed in favor of corporate medicine. Naturally, Big Pharma
is one of those entities willing to pay to control the flow of information.
Those pages are not identified as being advertising or propaganda.

This phenomenon is not limited to health topics. Here is a link to one of
the "Pay for Play" controversies:
http://www.cnet.com/news/corruption-in-wikiland-paid-pr-scandal-erupts-at-wikipedia/
<http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89&i=30A34A1A714>

And another one:
http://royaldutchshellplc.com/2011/12/18/integrity-of-wikipedia-corporate-articles-corrupted-by-editing-scandal/
<http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89&i=30A34A1A715>

Wikipedia's credibility among serious researchers has always been very low.
It is hardly surprising that college professors across the board disallow
citations from Wikipedia in students' papers.

Years ago, the NY Times reported that Middlebury College had banned
Wikipedia references:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/education/21wikipedia.html?_r=0
<http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89&i=30A34A1A716>

A list of links to articles about schools and colleges banning Wikipedia
for unreliability:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Schools_and_colleges_banned_WP_in_2007-2008
<http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89&i=30A34A1A717>
Isn't it ironic that this entry is found at Wikipedia . . . and information
about orthomolecular physician Robert F. Cathcart, MD, has been deleted?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Robert_Cathcart
<http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89&i=30A34A1A718>

Other nutritional physicians have also gotten the ax at Wikipedia:
http://www.orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v06n18.shtml
<http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89&i=30A34A1A719>

This writer and many others in the field of alternative medicine and
natural healing have experienced Wikipedia bias personally when
contributing well-documented, carefully researched articles to the site,
only to have them be radically altered and deleted, by anonymous "editors,"
then being banned from further editing or contributions. This is impossible
to reconcile with a free flow of information.

And it can be verified. At Wikipedia, all past history of page edits are
saved. Edits can be viewed by clicking on a tab on the page in question
called "View History" right near the top of the page. It also shows the
name of the person making the edit, if he was logged in. Each page has its
own history attached to it, and that can be viewed.
Toeing the line

It did not take long for corporate America to wake up to the fact that the
Internet was a powerful and democratic source of information, and large
numbers of users were using it to research questions that were not
addressed by the advertising-funded mainstream media. As people turned more
and more to the Internet for this information, Wikipedia grew like
wildfire.

At first, it was interesting to see uncensored information flow through the
site, and even contribute to it. Then corporate America realized that
Wikipedia, and similar sites, were distributing information they had
carefully and thoroughly suppressed in the media, and set about correcting
that omission. Soon, Wikipedia entries about natural healing, holistic
medicine, and other subjects began to resemble publicity blurbs from
Monsanto, or Merck, or the NIH. Contributors are supposed to be anonymous,
"volunteer" editors were supposed to be both anonymous and neutral. But it
was clear that for certain sensitive subjects, this was far from the case.

Additions to articles at Wikipedia that went against the corporate line
were swiftly edited out, and replaced by corporate-friendly advertising
blurbs. Writers who posted the offending material have been banned by the
ostensibly neutral and unbiased editors, and the information reverted to
the bad old days of censorship.
Wikipedia's way or the highway

Wikipedia's founder ridiculed a petition by 8,000 people to have a more
robust discussion of alternative medicine, saying in part: *"No, you have
to be kidding me. Every single person who signed this petition needs to go
back to check their premises and think harder about what it means to be
honest, factual, truthful. What we won't do is pretend that the work of
lunatic charlatans is the equivalent of 'true scientific discourse'. It
isn't."* http://www.businessinsider.com/jimmy-wales-petition-response-2014-3
<http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89&i=30A34A1A720>

Other comment on unethical use of Wikipedia and suppression of reportage:
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/10/13/wikipedias-dark-side/#gref
<http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89&i=30A34A1A721>

Numerous examples of Wikipedia bias and hypocrisy:
http://drleonardcoldwell.com/2015/03/24/total-hypocrisy-wikipedia-sues-nsa-while-censoring-truth-and-promoting-corporate-propaganda/
<http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89&i=30A34A1A722>

Readers used to be permitted to rate a Wikipedia page as to whether it was
"trustworthy," "objective," "complete" or "well-written." A "Rate This
Page" survey box was to be found at the bottom of each page. This option
appears to have been removed.
http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v07n06.shtml
<http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89&i=30A34A1A723>
Whitewashing the drugs

Here is Wikipedia's page on chemo:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemotherapy
<http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89&i=30A34A1A724>
. Note that it minimizes negative results; never mentions the Fred
Hutchinson Cancer Research Center's study that finds that chemotherapy
makes cancer much worse; doesn't get into negative effects until far down
in the article; nowhere in the article does it mention the word "safety";
and "effectiveness" is almost glossed over. It does, however, list the
revenues from the top ten chemotherapeutic agents from 2013: they total
$37.47 billion dollars. That is just in one year.

Here is Wikipedia's page on Lipitor:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atorvastatin
<http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89&i=30A34A1A725>
There is no mention of improved survival (of course, there is *no increase*
in survival) in the article; the word "effectiveness" does not appear, and
the word "efficacy" refers only to the drug's cholesterol-lowering
property. Nothing on increased longevity; liver damage is mentioned
lightly; but the economics are noted to be "sales of over $125 billion over
14.5 years." This made it the best-selling drug ever, with no long-term
survival improvement shown. Why is this not mentioned?

Wikipedia has frequently appealed for funding from its readers. Due to its
increasing uselessness as a reliable information source, I believe the
major contributors are sure to be the corporations that corrupted the
information flow in the first place. After my experiences with the site,
and that of other contributors with information about controversial
subjects, I would never use it as a resource for any but the most mundane
queries. And I'd be suspicious even of those.

*(Howard Straus, grandson of Max Gerson, MD, is the doctor's principal
biographer and author of* Dr. Max Gerson: Healing the Hopeless. *The book
was reviewed in the* Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine *2002, 17:2, p
122-124.
http://orthomolecular.org/library/jom/2002/pdf/2002-v17n02-p120.pdf
<http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89&i=30A34A1A726>
or http://www.doctoryourself.com/gersonbio.htm
<http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89&i=30A34A1A727>
)*
OMNS readers' comments on Wikipedia bias:

http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v06n16.shtml
<http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89&i=30A34A1A728>

Please feel free to submit your own comments to the OMNS Editorial contact
email, further below.

To learn more:

Azer SA, AlSwaidan NM, Alshwairikh LA, AlShammari JM. (2015) Accuracy and
readability of cardiovascular entries on Wikipedia: are they reliable
learning resources for medical students? BMJ Open. 2015 Oct
6;5(10):e008187. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2015-008187. (
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26443650
<http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89&i=30A34A1A729>
) *Explains that Wikipedia entries on cardiovascular diseases lacked
important detail on pathophysiology, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment,
and should not be recommended for use in education. In other articles, the
same author states that similar problems exist for Wikipedia entries on
gastroenterology, hepatology, and respiratory topics. *

Wilson AM,Likens GE. (2015) Content Volatility of Scientific Topics in
Wikipedia: A Cautionary Tale. PLoS One.10(8):e0134454. doi:
10.1371/journal.pone.0134454. ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26275058
<http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89&i=30A34A1A730>
) *Politically controversial topics on Wikipedia change constantly and
therefore are unsuitable as an authoritative source of scientific
information.*

Kräenbring J, Monzon Penza T, Gutmann J, Muehlich S, Zolk O, Wojnowski L,
Maas R, Engelhardt S, Sarikas A. (2014) Accuracy and completeness of drug
information in Wikipedia: a comparison with standard textbooks of
pharmacology. PLoS One. 9(9):e106930. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0106930. (
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25250889
<http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89&i=30A34A1A731>
) *Wikipedia entries on drug-related information are accurate and suitable
for education.*

Hasty RT, Garbalosa RC, Barbato VA, Valdes PJ Jr, Powers DW, Hernandez E,
John JS, Suciu G, Qureshi F, Popa-Radu M, San Jose S, Drexler N, Patankar
R, Paz JR, King CW, Gerber HN, Valladares MG, Somji AA. (2014) Wikipedia vs
peer-reviewed medical literature for information about the 10 most costly
medical conditions. J Am Osteopath Assoc. 114(5):368-73. doi:
10.7556/jaoa.2014.035. ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24778001
<http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89&i=30A34A1A732>
) *Peer-reviewed articles are more accurate than Wikipedia entries on
common questions about patient care. However, reader comments on this
article point out that medical doctors and researchers (e.g. the authors of
this study) are often not sufficiently skeptical of the peer-reviewed
medical literature, so the problem is not limited to Wikipedia.*

Edwards KL, Salvo MC, Ward KE, Attridge RT, Kiser K, Pinner NA, Gallegos
PJ, Kesteloot LL, Hylton A, Bookstaver PB. (2014) Assessment and revision
of clinical pharmacy practice internet web sites. Ann Pharmacother.
48(2):258-67. doi: 10.1177/1060028013510899. (
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24259640
<http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89&i=30A34A1A733>
) *Suggests that Wikipedia is the most common website found in searches by
medical professionals, students, and patients, but contains inaccurate
information that cannot always be easily updated.*

Leithner A, Maurer-Ertl W, Glehr M, Friesenbichler J, Leithner K, Windhager
R. (2010) Wikipedia and osteosarcoma: a trustworthy patients' information?
J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2010 Jul-Aug;17(4):373-4. doi:
10.1136/jamia.2010.004507. ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20595302
<http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89&i=30A34A1A734>
). *The quality of Wikipedia entries on cancer are inferior to patient
information provided by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Additional
external links to definitive sources such as NCI should be added and these
should be checked often to confirm quality and accuracy.*

Koo M. (2014) Complementary and alternative medicine on wikipedia:
opportunities for improvement. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med.
2014:105186. doi: 10.1155/2014/105186. (
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24864148
<http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89&i=30A34A1A735>
) *Although Wikipedia is a popular source of information, articles on
complementary and alternative medicine are shorter with fewer references
than conventional medicine, and most are inaccurate.*

Volsky PG, Baldassari CM, Mushti S, Derkay CS. (2012) Quality of Internet
information in pediatric otolaryngology: a comparison of three most
referenced websites. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 76(9):1312-6. doi:
10.1016/j.ijporl.2012.05.026. *Wikipedia lags behind eMedicine in content
accuracy and errors.* ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22770592
<http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89&i=30A34A1A736>
)

Nutritional Medicine is Orthomolecular Medicine

Orthomolecular medicine uses safe, effective nutritional therapy to fight
illness. For more information: http://www.orthomolecular.org
<http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89&i=30A34A1A704>

Find a Doctor

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http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v06n09.shtml
<http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89&i=30A34A1A705>

The peer-reviewed Orthomolecular Medicine News Service is a non-profit and
non-commercial informational resource.

Editorial Review Board:

Ian Brighthope, M.D. (Australia)
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Robert G. Smith, Ph.D. (USA), Assistant Editor
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Michael S. Stewart, B.Sc.C.S. (USA), Technology Editor

*Andrew W. Saul, Ph.D. (USA), Editor and contact person. Email:
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