I Heart Regina

It would appear that election campaign mud slinging extends deeper than one expects. The online encyclopedia Wikipedia content appears to be leaning to the left.....or is it being pushed?

You can see what the Wikipedia reference to Regina Saskatchewan looked like on March 2nd, 2005 by clicking here.

Today, there is updated and expanded content with editorial. See for yourself here.

Wikipedia is a online document that accepts contributions from anyone to expland it's content. What has caught our attention is the Regina related content on Wikipedia now seems to have a distinct bias more in line with a certain campaign agenda.

It is interesting to see how the content has taken a bit of a slant with respect towards the downtown core. What’s even more interesting is how much of the change has simultaneously occurred with the election. For those interested in following the evolution of the last 500 contributions to the City of Regina information on Wikipedia: you can view the evolution here.

Now, take a look at the section entitled Urban Planning Issues.

On October 16th, Wikipedia's Regina's 'Urban Planning Issues' content showed:

"However, in recent decades the central business district has suffered. As in other Canadian cities, the disappearance of Simpson's and Eaton's retail department stores, a proliferation of shopping malls and "big box stores" on, and a steady drift of entertainment venues to, the periphery of the city have damaged the vitality of the downtown core."

To test a theory that perhaps some changes are being closely monitored, a change to content was submitted on October 17th, modifying content to reflect:

"However, in recent decades the central business district has been going through a period of change. As in other Canadian cities, the disappearance of Simpson's and Eaton's retail department stores, a proliferation of shopping malls and "big box stores" on, and a steady drift of entertainment venues to, the periphery of the city have shifted the vitality of the downtown core to other areas of this fine city."

But an hour later, the content is changed again to reflect his:

"However, in the eighties and nineties the central business district has suffered, but more recently changes are underway to increase the vitality of the area with several condo and business developments underway. As in other Canadian cities, the disappearance of the large national [[Simpsons's] and [Eaton's] retail department stores in the downtown, as well as the proliferation of shopping malls and "big box stores" on the periphery of the city, combined with a drift of entertainment venues also to the periphery have changed the look and purpose of the the city centre."

Reason given for the modification was: "This is what is called POV pushing"

Oh! Really?! In my opinion, the entire original paragraph seemed like a Point Of View Push that originated back on the 30th of August with the addition of many of the original paragraphs of Urban Planning Issues by Reginaguy.

Read the changes that have occured during the last 500 contributions to the City of Regina information on Wikipedia and judge for yourself if Wikipedia is leaning to the left, or being pushed. You can view the change log here.

Re-writing history smacks of Aryn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, doesn't it? But then again, on October 25th, the voters of Regina will have their chance to make recorded history at the ballot box. It will be even more interesting to read what Wikipedia's content will reflect then.

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