Mike Harvey, Technology Correspondent
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The Wikipedia entry for Sarah Palin was overhauled substantially for the better in the 24 hours before the surprise announcement of her selection as Republican vice-presidential nominee.
A mystery Wikipedia user — under the name Young Trigg — put in about 30 edits to the biographical article on the website.
The additions included the fact that the 44-year-old Alaskan Governor “earned the nickname ‘Sarah Barracuda’ because of her intense play” for her high school basketball team and that she and her father “would sometimes wake at 3am to hunt moose before school”.
It is possible to track the changes made by Young Trigg because Wikipedia keeps an open log of all edits to its articles.
Many details were culled from, and footnoted to, the book Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska’s Political Establishment on its Ear, by Kaylene Johnson, The New York Times reported.
Young Trigg also notes how the Governor had high approval ratings and kept her campaign pledges. A profile in the conservative Weekly Standard magazine was used as a source of details about how Mrs Palin was willing to “take on oil companies” and that she had “eye-popping integrity”.
All this took place before the Republican candidate John McCain announced Sarah Palin as his running mate in the presidential elections.
The blogosphere has been full of speculation about who Young Trigg might be — some guessing that he or she was a member of the Palin family (Mrs Palin’s baby son is called Trig) or a McCain campaign staffer.
Wikipedia has become another important internet tool in presenting politicians to voters. Few would be surprised if a campaign worker had been given the task of putting positive spin on Mrs Palin’s entry in preparation for last week's announcement. A tracking site estimated that the page was viewed more than 2 million times on Friday.
Since the announcement the Sarah Palin page has been edited many hundreds of times more and Wikipedia has now put in place a partial block so that only established editors can change the entry. Some of Young Trigg’s entries have been amended or toned down.
Young Trigg made his or her last edits hours before the announcement and the unusual activity was noted first by National Public Radio. Arguments raged among Wikipedia editors about the alleged bias of Young Trigg’s entries and whether he or she was a “sock puppet”, an alternative anonymous account name taken on by the user to deceive.
Over the weekend YoungTrigg responded to the controversy on his or her Wikipedia user page: “I edited for a couple of hours over a five-hour span while I was reading the internet. I finished reading the Palin biography that day, went to her page, and saw a lot of "cite needed" places and thought I should improve the article and created an account to do so.
“I am not Sarah Palin. I am not a member of Sarah Palin’s family, or even Michael Palin’s family," he or she wrote.
“I will acknowledge that I volunteer for the McCain campaign, one of thousands of people nationwide who are working to elect the best candidate for the job. Palin was not the nominee when I made my edits, though I am certainly excited about the selection. I don’t believe I have a conflict of interest problem.”
Young Trigg then retired from being an active user.
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When was intelligence a necessary qualification for high office in the US? The leaders role is to be a symbol (Obama = change, etc) while the real work is done by the connected guys further down the food chain. How much thinking does George W do on policy? Not much - he has people to do it for him.
Dean Hallett, Basingstoke, UK
How can somebody who believes that the entire foundation of all modern science is wrong be described as 'intelligent'?
T Norie, Kirkwall, UK
The Left hates Sarah Palin (and is going to excessive lengths to try to demean her, even those who support her) because she IS experienced & a decent, intelligent, capable Conservative - also a heterosexual Christian female. All those things, the Left reviles. Palin is more capable than Obama.
Barker, Telluride, USA
I read in Wikipedia that she has a degree in what we, we would call media(meeja) studies- now with a towering intellect like that on the team, how can they fail?
peter c, Devizes, Wessex
Look at what disapproving people said about the film "Juno", how terrible, it "glamorises teen pregnancy". Then compare how Juno was treated and behaved with how Bristol is doing!
Andy Dyer, London, UK,
The thing about integrity is this ..
Integrity is the concept of basing of one's actions on an internally consistent framework of principles
They may not be acceptable to anyone else but that doesn't matter
huxley, bradford, united kingdom
I noticed that sometime yesterday someone remove the direct reference to her activity and belonging to the Alaskan Independence Party and their platform of suceeding Alaska from the United States.
Gary, Cleveland, USA
John, Cleggan, Ireland
What you say is true except, of course, Bush was not elected. He got in after his cousin 'organised' the Florida election. It was high in the news at the time, remember?
Ian, Solihull, UK
She is the most luckiest person since who knows she might even be the next President of USA considering Mccain's age!!
Tikiri Kobbekaduwa, Kandy, Sri Lanka
Young Trigg is a non de plume using the name of Palin's infant son, Trig.
Dave Brown, Bedford Falls, MA
I find it extremely scary that John McCain would choose someone who is not qualified on any level except her age. When FOX news reported that "she has international experience because Alaska is next to Russia", I got the spin. Trouble ahead!!!!
martha allen, eugene, us
@Stanley Kolt,
The way I read it is 1 year of experience 116 times.
There's nobody home in either McCain or Palin. The lights are on, that's about all.
Rex, olympia wa, USA
Since Bush was elected, he has devastated a sovereign country that posed no threat to the US, killed and maimed thousands of troops, devastated what was a healthy US economy, and turned a budget surplus into a huge deficit.
I think anyone who voted for him is too dumb to be allowed to vote again
John, Cleggan, Ireland
It might be useful and perhaps even therapeutic for OS from Scottsdale to reread his recent post with a view to correcting the math involved therein. Yes, the US public debt is overly large and clearly worrisome - the interest on the debt, however, is not 70% of the GDP. Let's be careful and clear
Harold Kyte, Sydney, Canada
72 is 72. A 44 year adds to the 72 and gives 116 year of experience in life . Neither one of them is running for the olympics. Their intelligence is their strength.
Stanley Kolt, Mamaroneck, Westchester
Despite all of the negative comments I feel so happy and excited to have Sara Palin as our Vice President. She brings new life into the Republican Party. I feel confident that she will be an asset to many new changes in Washington, D.C. She has answers, not empty words that afflict the Democrats.
Doreen Kolot, Mamaroneck, Westchester
I would like to see the Republican party edit the American debt. America is paying 70% of GDP every single year just on the INTEREST on America's public debt, estimated to be $10trillion by the time Bush leaves office. Neither party can promise spending as America is bankrupt.
OS, Scottsdale, Arizona
The revision history shows lots of edits daily for a whole week before anything by 'Young Trigg' appeared. Mike Harvey seems to have singled out one (well-sourced) contribution from many, presumably because it seems favourable to Palin rather than malicious vandalism. Who did all the others?
John B, Middlesbrough, UK
When Sarah Palin stands beside John McCain on the podium, she makes McCain look like the tired, faded old man he really is.
Barbara, TN, USA
Clutching at straws, aren't we? These additions are stuff that has been widely reported in newspapers in recent days, so they should be included. Anyone can add material to Wikipedia so long as it comes from a referenced source and they haven't just made it up themselves.
John B, Middlesbrough, UK