14 DAY TRIAL // Jimmy "Jimbo" Wales is a scandal magnet in the past days, as he managed to break up with his girlfriend via Wikipedia announcement, has been held accountable for spending some of his company's funds for personal purposes and, now, because he erased a $5,000 donor's embarrassing page history. Hold yer horses, it probably gets better.
This act on Wales' side is very disturbing, it shows that with the right amount of money, you can have your page being written all over again without the disturbing facts or those that might hurt you in the long run. What are a couple of hundred thousand dollars to a company that relies on its good name for its business? Sort of makes you wonder whether there have been similar happenings before that have been kept under the QT.
Editing your girlfriend's page is one thing (not that it was alright or anything), but the money involved in former Novell chief scientist Jeff V. Merkey's page takes the game to a whole new level. The interesting part is that the donor himself ratted Jimmy out. The post in ANtiSocialMedia.net reads that: "According to Merkely, in 2006, Wales told him that in exchange for a substantial donation, Wales could use his influence to make Merkey's article more agreeable. Merkey made a $5,000 donation and hinted at the possibility of something much larger in the future. Merkey claims, and the record confirms, that following his donation, Wales personally made several edits to the Merkey article, including a complete blanking of the article and destruction of its edit history."
What is the difference then between paid advertising and a Wikipedia entry? Should the page be altered after such a donation, none. It will only read what it would be supposed to, just that it won't pop up in certain pages and prompt you to read it, like some traditional advertising does.