Wikipedia has really gone too far!

Dear Friends,

I would seldom even consider doing something like this, but I've been driven to it. I'm asking that we ALL stop using Wikipedia. You may think I'm exaggerating, but they are setting back Migraine DISEASE advocacy by years in the minds of anyone who takes them seriously.

Somewhere along the line, some misguided soul decided that the experts who had worked on the Migraine page and added many, many valid references were wrong; that Migraine is a disorder, NOT a disease. For proof, they went to the NINDS site, which most of us realize is always years behind current science. They also went to the NHF site. Now, on the NHF site, there are places were Migraine is referred to as a disease and some where it's referred to as a disorder. The "discussion" went into their dispute resolution process, and they will hear no more discussion on it, even from some of the world's leading experts in the field.

My blunt and honest opinion -- what started out as a good idea has turned into a site that sucks. There are all these "editors" who don't know their butt from a hole in the ground who think they're experts because they know how to go read a couple of web sites. They don't care how old the data is that they find; they only care about winning their point.

So, let's just stay away from Wikipedia. There are plenty of good sites. Wikipedia is no longer among them, and I see little hope for their return to sense and good information.

The Demise of Wikipedia's Migraine and Headache Pages

It's sad, really. The Wikipedia pages about Migraine disease and various forms of headaches such as tension-type and cluster headaches were, at one time, excellent resources. What they've become is just more flotsam on a sea of questionable Web content.

Wikipedia is a good concept -- a sort of online encyclopedia that anyone can edit. And therein lies the problem. Anyone can edit. The "policing" of editing isn't well monitored by anyone other than those doing the editing. On the Migraine and headache pages, some editors have become quite territorial. God forbid that you add an external link or make a minor edit if you don't have a long history of edits to your name. God forbid that you be new or an actual expert in the field with limited time. The more territorial (and bitch) of the editors will rip you to shreds on the "Talk" pages or worse -- accuse you of spamming and plaster it all over the talk pages to ruin your reputation.

Point in case: I noticed that author, advocate, and lay expert Teri Robert has a modest list of edits to these pages as well as having created the Hemicrania continua page. At some point, she added a link to some content on HelpForHeadaches.com. That offended a nurse who edits under the ID THB, who proceded to post to more than one page, "Teri Robert spamming book." Even when Teri apologized to this ahem, person, she continued to quite rudely berate Teri. Now, a civil human being would have accepted her apology and offered to help her work better within the poory communicated "rules." Of course, a civil human being wouldn't have been so pissy about it in the first place.

As a cluster headache sufferer, I took a look at that page today. A new statement has been added, "Sluder's neuralgia(syndrome) and cluster pain can often be temporarily stopped with nasal lidocaine spray. If successful, outpatient nasal septoplasty and splinting can resolve the condition." There is no citation for this asertion of fact. Where is THB now? It will be interesting to see if anyone does add a citation for this supposed fact as I've talked with two headache specialists about it. The more polite of their responses was, "That's BS if ever I've seen it. There's just no way that treatment could "resolve" the condition."

I feel rather sorry for the many people who have earnestly and diligently worked on Wikipedia pages. The way Wikipedia is run moves it from my list of "dependable content" to "questionable content to be read for amusement value only."

Oh, and to THB, I'm really sorry that you're so unhappy that you take it out on other people the way you do. Miserable circumstances don't have to make you act like a miserable person. That's a choice.

Shalom,
Abi

Wikipedia, a great concept runied by jerks

I used to love Wikipedia. Even when idiots messed up the "articles," someone would come along and fix them, and I always found something interesting and maybe even unusual about it.

Wikipedia was such a lofty concept — articles that anyone could contribute to, collaboration in fine form indeed. It seemed to me to be a concept and site that had a brilliant future.

The wiki concept is in the process of living up to its potential, but not — I fear — on Wikipedia. The problem is that there is too little oversight and control on Wikipedia, and people just can't help themselves. When nobody is watching the store, someone always has to come along and be a jerk.

I'm not going to mention names because I don't want to embarrass the friend whose experience I'm writing about. Let's just call my friend Mary Jane. Mary Jane is probably the kindest, gentlest person I know. She has a web site that has a few Google ads on it, but I doubt that they bring in enough to even cover the expenses of keeping her site running. She also works for an online information service, but I know she doesn't make much at it, and what she does make is spent helping people who have less than she does.

When I talked to Mary Jane earlier today, she was nearly in tears. She had been working on several articles on Wikipedia, all of them interrelated. Someone had edited a few of the pages and removed links to both of her sites. Not only that, but this person (who had not contributed to those pages in recent history) went on to attack her on the "talk pages" for those articles, calling her a spammer. Excuse me, but what a bitch! I went to Wikipedia and read the exchange for myself. The Bitch said that Mary Jane had been warned about spamming before. Not true. I read all the appropriate pages to see for myself. Mary Jane had indeed had some conversations with other people about links, but there was absolutely no mention of the links that were removed today. None.

So what ever happened to common courtesy? I'm proud of Mary Jane that she had the self control and professionalism not to tell the Bitch to where to get off. I don't think I could or would have had that much self control. But then, Mary Jane is a class act. The Bitch obviously isn't.

Yes, it was great concept. Now it's just a huge public failure. Not just for this reason, but for many, not the least of which is the plagiarism which has run rampant there for too long and now the virus attack on the German Wikipedia. Sad, but a failure on too many levels to list.

Yes, Wikipedia was a great concept. But then again, so was the Roman Empire.

Shalom,
Abi