Revealed: the awful truth about ‘anonymous’ airline Wikipedia edits
How badly are airlines trying to spin their version of the “truth” on the Web? When it comes to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia where edits can be anonymous, no one really knew. Until now.
A site called Wikiscanner allows you to look up Wikipedia edits by organization, and it offers a fascinating glimpse into the inner workings of the airline public-relations machine. Among the more notable changes I found:
There are tweaks to Robert Crandall’s page from American Airlines — but also changes to pages on Boeing aircraft, Mesaba Airlines’ bankruptcy filing, and a sex party.
But by far the most interesting AA amendment is this little bit of apparent 9/11 revisionism. Yeah, those planes never flew into the World Trade Center. It was all special effects, right?
Continental Airlines likes to edit its own entries, but also those of Aloha Airlines. Someone over there seems to have a thing for sex reassignment surgery.
Delta Air Lines has been busy, busy, busy. Someone hailing from its IP address has changed entries from specs on the Bombardier CRJ, Continental Airlines and Northwest Airlines, among many others. Most unusual: two edits on Rupert Murdoch’s personal life.
JetBlue gets pissy when people don’t spell its name correctly, is sensitive about its post-9/11 profitability, and it seems to have an odd fixation on Comair Flight 5191.
Northwest Airlines likes to have a say in the “declining years” of Western Pacific Airlines. Someone over there plays way too many video games, because there are extensive edits on the Nintendo Entertainment System pages. Hopefully not on company time.
United Airlines had a part in changing the Wikipedia entry for Independence Air, United Airlines Flight 173, US Airways and … a breast pump.
So what does this say about airlines?
Well, to be perfectly honest, it suggests that when airline employees aren’t worrying about their own image they are busy obsessing over the most inconsequential things (to an airline, at least).
Maybe if they spent more time worry about customer service, things wouldn’t be as bad as they are.
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Note that these could have been anyone in the company, or even a non-employee using wireless Internet access provided by that company.