Civic News

‘Political spam’: Wikipedia editors cutting Philly politician’s page

The politician's Wikipedia entry was more than 15,000 words long, the City Paper reported, before editors started slashing it a few days into 2014. The bulk of the Wikipedia page was written by one user, whom Cohen told the City Paper he knows personally.

Code. (Photo by Attribution Engine user Daniel H, used under a Creative Commons license)

Wikipedia editors are cleaning up State Rep. Mark Cohen‘s Wikipedia page.

“Vacuous…section as a whole is vacuous,” editor “JesseRafe” wrote to explain a change. He deleted other parts, dubbing them “family bravado” and “quotation fluff.”

The politician’s Wikipedia entry was more than 15,000 words long, the City Paper reported, before editors started slashing it a few days into 2014. The page, which editors called “political spam,” included information like a list of all the Harrisburg legislators who are older than Cohen and social media stats. The bulk of the Wikipedia page was written by one user, whom Cohen told the Daily News he know personally.

Cohen, who has held his congressional seat since 1974, is being challenged by Jared Solomon, a Northeast Philadelphia lawyer and community activist, the Daily News reported.

Read more on the City Paper.

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