The administrators of the collaborative encyclopedia imposed a 10-day ban on edits being made by an anonymous troublemaker (or troublemakers) using a House of Representatives IP address.
The edits were first unearthed by @congressedits, an automated Twitter account that linked to all changes made to Wikipedia articles originating from congressional IP addresses (presumably, by Senate and House staffers, although no one has definitively ruled out an elected official doing the editing for his or herself). Following a considerable amount of media coverage, @congressedits has amassed 24,000 followers.
Among @congressedits’ most amusing discoveries: the time someone on Capitol Hill implicated the Cuban government in spreading conspiracy theories about the moon landing on the “moon landing conspiracy theories page,” the time that an anonymous user labeled BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith “a Smirnoff enthusiast,” or the time that an edit suggested that the blog Mediaite was a “sexist transphobic” news organization “that automatically assumes that someone is male without any evidence,” after Mediaite wrote a post on @congressedits.
The 10-day ban, made by the volunteer editors overseeing Wikipedia, only applies to a single IP address making a number of “disruptive edits,” which could affect a number of users, since multiple congressional officers often uses one IP address.
One congressional user anonymously made his displeasure known on the Wikipedia page for the blocked IP address.
“Out of over 9000 staffers in the House, should we really be banning this whole IP range based on the actions of two or three?" they said. "Some of us here are just making grammatical edits, adding information about birds in Omsk, or showing how one can patch KDE2 under FreeBSD."
There are still a few congress persons that take their job very seriously in representation of their constituents. Amash is great, if you follow him on FB not only does he vote every time, but he post his vote and explanation of why he voted that way every time. Even if I didn't agree with him most of the time, (it just so happens that on most votes, I do) I still appreciate this very much: Justin Amash and Steve Womack Just Set a New Record in Congress
Sometimes rules need to change when behavior changes. I think the overall tenor of the conduct of business in the Senate has deteriorated to the point where revisiting, and perhaps revising, the rules by which that body operates is probably long overdue.
The process by which we install people in this body is a whole nuther can of worms, of course, and desperately in need of improvement (IMHO).
So do we go back to appointment by state legislatures as was done in the past ?
I read many of the comments at your link. What a mixed bag, yet polite.
Many seemed to be confused about what the Senate really is. It is not about simple majorities. It is about the republican form of government as is a Republic, not as a Democracy or how the House functions by means of simple majoities.
But whatever. The rules have been changed. Just as Biden railed against the very thought of doing so some 8 years earlier.
Its becoming increasingly clear that to anticipate what the Democrats will do is what they campaign against. That is transparency at its finest.
Sometimes rules need to change when behavior changes. I think the overall tenor of the conduct of business in the Senate has deteriorated to the point where revisiting, and perhaps revising, the rules by which that body operates is probably long overdue.
The process by which we install people in this body is a whole nuther can of worms, of course, and desperately in need of improvement (IMHO).
Yes, the senate rules are sometimes used by both sides to exert their political will on the other party.
Glad you guys are taking the high road, and not using this as yet another excuse to bash the other party.
I read many of the comments at your link. What a mixed bag, yet polite.
Many seemed to be confused about what the Senate really is. It is not about simple majorities. It is about the republican form of government as is a Republic, not as a Democracy or how the House functions by means of simple majoities.
But whatever. The rules have been changed. Just as Biden railed against the very thought of doing so some 8 years earlier.
Its becoming increasingly clear that to anticipate what the Democrats will do is what they campaign against. That is transparency at its finest.
Oh wait a minute, they already have whined about this when the Republicans tried to do the same thing in 2005!! Listen to Biden whine about the VP (Cheney) who is now him!! Too rich!!
Clearly shopped and edited. No one can be that hypocritical.
Naw, before that happens there will be an executive order outlawing conservatives and they will be targeted by drones. Just another step closer to a one party system.
Oh wait a minute, they already have whined about this when the Republicans tried to do the same thing in 2005!! Listen to Biden whine about the VP (Cheney) who is now him!! Too rich!!
Location: No longer in a hovel in effluent Damnville, VA Gender:
Posted:
Nov 21, 2013 - 11:41am
sirdroseph wrote:
I can't wait to hear the whining and complaining when the other side takes their turn at the reigns and this works against the Democrats.
Naw, before that happens there will be an executive order outlawing conservatives and they will be targeted by drones. Just another step closer to a one party system.
Even if I didn't agree with him most of the time, (it just so happens that on most votes, I do) I still appreciate this very much: 
Listen to Biden whine about the VP (Cheney) who is now him!! Too rich!!