# Can Wikipedia be brought down by trolls?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-wikipedia-be-brought-down-by-trolls/334919>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [December 9, 2005, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-wikipedia-be-brought-down-by-trolls/334919 "2005-12-09T18:54:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Hombre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecb155/32.png) [@Hombre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hombre)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-wikipedia-be-brought-down-by-trolls/334919/1 "2005-12-09T18:54:31Z")

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I don’t know exactly how Wiki works but I’ve been checking on [this page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Aaron_Presley) since I read the thread in GQ about Elvis changing his name to “10% Animal” as stated by the Wiki article earlier this week. It got fixed but now reads, "Elvis was a very horny man, and according to Rolling Stone magazine “it was Elvis who made rock ‘n’ roll  
the international language of pop.”

I’ve seen some good boards ruined by trolls, could this happen to Wikipedia?

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**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-wikipedia-be-brought-down-by-trolls/334919/2 "2005-12-09T19:36:25Z")

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It doesn’t say that anymore. When people do that on Wikipedia, especially on an entry for someone really famous, it tends to get fixed quickly.

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**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-wikipedia-be-brought-down-by-trolls/334919/3 "2005-12-09T19:48:35Z")

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Yeah. On the Internet, the “know-it-all” factor trumps trolls, and Wikipedia is bound to attract a lot of know-it-alls.

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**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-wikipedia-be-brought-down-by-trolls/334919/4 "2005-12-09T20:02:03Z")

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Wiki is very self-correcting and if an article changes too often it gets protected or locked down for a while.

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**Author:** ![Hombre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecb155/32.png) [@Hombre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hombre)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2005, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-wikipedia-be-brought-down-by-trolls/334919/5 "2005-12-10T07:09:11Z")

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Thanks guys!