This article was updated at 5:00 a.m. EDT with additional details of Stephen Colbert’s message to his viewers.
Wikipedia has blocked all edits on pages about Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s potential vice president picks, the Huffington Post reports, due to a call from comedian Stephen Colbert.
Following a report examining a trend of Wikipedia edits for potential vice presidential candidates in 2008, interest spiked on the pages of potential vice presidential candidates under consideration by Mr. Romney. Comedian Stephen Colbert joked on his Tuesday night show that his viewers should make their own edits to the Wikipedia pages of potential vice president nominees.
After the joke, Mr. Colbert proceeded to jokingly edit former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty’s Wikipedia page.
Since the show aired, Politico reported that the Wikipedia had locked the pages for Mr. Pawlenty, Ohio U.S. Senator Rob Portman, Florida U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan and CIA director General David Petraeus. The locked pages are unable to be edited by most Wikipedia users and may remain locked until Mr. Romney announces his decision.
Recent reports note that Wikipedia has not banned edits to the pages entirely, rather they are only allowing edits from certain persons, mainly those approved by Wikipedia iteself.
“Only people who have already been on Wikipedia for at least four days and previously made ten edits to other unprotected pages can edit these pages,” said TechPresident, who first reported the story.
According to the Wikipedia website, their blocking policy is instituted when users “disrupt” or “damage” the online encyclopedia. Blocks can apply to specific IP addresses or user accounts and do not always have a designated time frame.
Wikipedia blocking is not to be confused with banning. The website states that their policy on banning is a “formal revocation of editing privileges on one or more Wikipedia pages.” The ban typically extends only to specific articles or topics, but can include an entire project.
Mr. Romney has not yet announced his running mate, and speculation about possible nominees has dominated the news in recent weeks. It is presumed that he will announce his running mate at the GOP convention in Tampa later this month. As the convention draws closer, the list of speakers is being slowly released, causing even more rumors to surround Mr. Romney’s choice. It is widely assumed that his running mate will not be a convention speaker, so every name released narrows down the list.
His top choices are thought to include Mr. Pawlenty, Mr. Portman, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Jindal, Mr. Christie and Mr. Ryan. General Petraeus has already made a public announcement stating he does not ever intend to run for public office and would not consider the prospect of vice president.
Mr. Colbert was previously banned from Wikipedia after he filmed a segment of his show featuring himself purposely making incorrect changes to Wikipedia pages, and encouraging viewers to do the same.
Wikipedia representatives have not commented on the reports.
