Hey readers, I made it good as a Wikipedia editor. The pay is lousy but the prestige is fine … well, maybe.
Here’s the background. About a month ago, I wrote a post on the incident of Mitt Romney and his Irish Setter, Seamus. The basic story is that Romney, then a presidential contender, was criticized for having two decades earlier put his dog, Seamus, in a dog carrier and strapped it to the top of his car for a 12-hour drive from Massachusetts to Canada. I was bothered by a few details left out of the incident’s Wikipedia page, so I added two sentences to the mix in different paragraphs. One sentence (in red) When interviewed by Chris Wallace of Fox News, Romney stated that Seamus enjoyed being in the dog carrier, an “air-tight kennel”, and that he was not aware of any violations of Massachusetts law,[8] even though the state’s animal cruelty laws specifically prohibit anyone from carrying an animal “in or upon a vehicle, or otherwise, in an unnecessarily cruel or inhuman manner.”[
And the second paragraph (in red) The website Dogs Against Romney (www.dogsagainstromney.com), founded by Scott Crider in June 2007, launched an anti-Romney, pro-animal-welfare campaign, moving to Facebook in 2011 and building an audience of 96,000 followers.
This morning I checked back and, amazingly, they are both still there. However, in my source links at the bottom of the page there are red alerts that say “Missing or Empty[Title]”:
Now I don’t know what will eventually happen here and if my additions will ultimately survive further scrutiny. Nobody has edited the pages since June 12, when I added my comments. But fellow bloggers have let it be known that their entries in Wikipedia on various topics have been deleted. The whole process intrigued me, so I found this on Wikipedia: Criticism of Wikipedia.
Before anyone gets too agitated about being deleted from the site, they may want to read it.
In the meantime, I am especially glad that the incident on Seamus, the Irish Setter, has the added context of Romney having likely broken the law when he put the dog on the outside of the car to travel. Many dog owners can be confused, or some uncaring, when they take their dogs traveling. For some dog travel tips, Cesar Milan’s post is a good start.
Very informative update, Janet. I learned a great deal by following the "Criticism of Wikipedia" hyperlink. Perhaps next time—Seamus could get behind the wheel while Mr. Romney enjoys the comfort of the cramped carrier, strapped atop the fast moving vehicle, for hours on end.
Thank you, Matthew, for reading my post. Who would have thought all that drama would be going on behind-the-scenes of Wikipedia?