Tasmanian Government employees go to work on Wikipedia tweaks

From the history of saveloys to the height of a department secretary, State Government employees have broad interests when it comes to Wikipedia edits.

From the history of saveloys to the height of a department secretary, State Government employees have broad interests when it comes to Wikipedia edits.

A search of the internet domain name tas.gov.au on the WikiWatchdog website reveals 140 articles have been edited by people purportedly using the Government’s computer network.

The breadth of edits range from the bizarre to the satirical to the largely innocuous.

At 2am on September 9 a person using a Government network appeared to alter the title of the landmark Tasmanian show TheKettering Incident on Wikipedia.

“The Kmart Incident is an Australian television drama series screening on Foxtel,” the budding comedian wrote.

The edit was reversed an hour later by an application designed to deal “with vandalism and other unconstructive edits” on Wikipedia.

Another employee decided to add the concept of “Bigfoot” to the Wikipedia page covering North American culture.

The most prolific government Wiki editor appeared to be an employee with a penchant for military topics.

Their work included edits regarding a Yugoslav fighter jet known as Soko G-4 Super Galeb, the Croatian, Montenegrin and Bulgarian air forces along with the obscure 1870 Battle of Gravelotte during the Franco Prussian War.

One public servant short-changed Justice Department Secretary Simon Overland stating on his Wikipedia page that he was only four foot and one inch (125cm) tall.

Mr Overland is understood to be at least six foot (183cm).

One edit replaced the word “Nazi” with “German” in a reference to what Nazi Party leader Hermann Göring did with the scrap metal from a Zeppelin aircraft.

This pales in comparison to reports by Fairfax Media that someone in the Defence Department altered a Wikipedia page to state the Nazi SS was “justified” in killing Jews.

The Federal Government has launched a review.

WikiWatchdog uncovers anonymous edits and says it aims at revealing hidden aspects of Wikipedia articles and improving transparency.

The State Government declined to comment.

Originally published as Tasmanian Government employees go to work on Wikipedia tweaks