Anonymous Wikipedia edits from the Norwegian parliament and government offices

raziel2p wrote: post #3

Looking through the first 20 or so, all I can find are added links, cross-references and improved grammar. Someone's lunch pastime maybe :)

Right -- this is one of the few cases where I'd rather see a link to a blog post (providing some analysis of the raw data) rather than just the link to the data.

Government-IP updates can be either completely innocuous (someone's lunch break habit, or possible goofing off during working hours... in which case this might get someone in hot water), or seriously ominous, if "re-writing history" is someone's paid job.

The former case isn't news-worthy, is it?

Re: Anonymous Wikipedia edits from the Norwegian parliament and government offices

#5

Post by lars » Sat, Jul 12, 2014, 1:54 PM UTC

Interesting data, but I fail to see anything sinister going on here. Skimming through the list, it looks like 90% of the articles fall into one of three categories: Streets in Oslo, embassies in Oslo and people I mostly haven't heard of (i.e. not politically controversial characters). I don't see any edits intended to sway public opinion.

Re: Anonymous Wikipedia edits from the Norwegian parliament and government offices

#6

Post by userbinator » Sat, Jul 12, 2014, 1:54 PM UTC

raziel2p wrote: post #3

Looking through the first 20 or so, all I can find are added links, cross-references and improved grammar. Someone's lunch pastime maybe :)

I randomly scanned through the list and found the same thing, nothing suspicious.

If the government was really determined to change history, you would think they wouldn't be doing it from their own IP ranges...

Re: Anonymous Wikipedia edits from the Norwegian parliament and government offices

#7

Post by guhcampos » Sat, Jul 12, 2014, 2:07 PM UTC

userbinator wrote: post #6

raziel2p wrote: post #3

Looking through the first 20 or so, all I can find are added links, cross-references and improved grammar. Someone's lunch pastime maybe :)

I randomly scanned through the list and found the same thing, nothing suspicious. If the government was really determined to change history, you would think they wouldn't be doing it from their own IP ranges...

The thing is we are conditioned to believe that anything the government does, especially anonymously, is necessarily bad.

From what I've seem on the list, this has been some kind of an effort to actually improve the arcticles, and update government related information, like embassy addresses and websites.

It looks like there is a bunch of responsible, well intentioned and helpful people in the government - at lealst in Norway.

Re: Anonymous Wikipedia edits from the Norwegian parliament and government offices

#8

Post by JacobAldridge » Sat, Jul 12, 2014, 2:07 PM UTC

This is one of those cases where the changed Title on HN misleads [1]. These aren't changes from the 'government' they are changes from 'parliament and government offices'. Occams Razor would suggest they are more likely to be staffers and the occasional Patsy Cline-loving MP, rather than cabinet policies being enacted.

[1] Title as I write is "10 years of anonymous Wikipedia edits from the Norwegian government"

Re: Anonymous Wikipedia edits from the Norwegian parliament and government offices

#9

Post by Kiro » Sat, Jul 12, 2014, 2:19 PM UTC

It's phrased like this is some big evil scheme going on but looking at the edits it's exactly the kind of stuff I believe the government should keep up to date on Wikipedia.

Re: Anonymous Wikipedia edits from the Norwegian parliament and government offices

#10

Post by skwirl » Sat, Jul 12, 2014, 2:27 PM UTC

guhcampos wrote: post #7

userbinator wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I randomly scanned through the list and found the same thing, nothing suspicious. If the government was really determined to change history, you would think they wouldn't be doing it from their own IP ranges...

The thing is we are conditioned to believe that anything the government does, especially anonymously, is necessarily bad. From what I've seem on the list, this has been some kind of an effort to actually improve the arcticles, and update government related information, like embassy addresses and websites. It looks like there is a bunch of responsible, well intentioned and helpful people in the government - at lealst…

Are you Norwegian? Because my understanding is that Scandinavians tend to be the most trusting of their governments and have the least corrupt and most transparent governments (perhaps excluding Iceland). It would strike me as odd to hear someone from Norway say they are conditioned to believe anything government does is necessarily bad.