Three
weeks after the oft-cited TheFederalist.com accused a popular scientist
of making up quotes and numbers in a speech, Wikipedia has moved to
eliminate the conservative news site.
“The
science-loving censors at Wikipedia, not content with memory-holing
unassailable facts about Neil Tyson’s history of fabricating quotes,
are now trying to completely erase the Federalist from Wikipedia”
In a surprise move, the hugely-trafficked Wikipedia posted a notice
that the Federalist was “being considered for deletion” after an
unknown critic said it “does not pass the threshold for notability.”
Wikipedia asked users to comment on the decision, though it in the end
it will not be made on a “majority vote.”
The claim shocked the new site’s staff, especially since the Federalist
has been featured in mainstream media such as MSNBC and CNN.
The website is blaming the attack on its credibility for its criticism
of astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson earlier this month. Armed with
photographs of a recent Tyson presentation in Seattle, the site accused
him of a “habit of using bad math and fabricated quotes in his
presentations.”
Now, they said that Wikipedia is retaliating.
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