Wikipedia abuse

As a teacher, my feelings on Wikipedia are mixed. I believe that it can be a great source of general information, but that students should not be citing it in their essays (and certainly not to support literary analysis). I also believe that being edited by volunteers who aren't screened, Wikipedia is prone to certain types of abuse that print encyclopedias do not experience.

For example, tonight I found myself seriously considering becoming a Wikipedia editor, all because of that filmic bane of my existience, Becoming Jane.

Out of curiosity, I had checked out the Wikipedia entry on the movie—it's surprisingly lengthy considering that the movie hasn't even been widely released in North America yet. The explanation behind the surprise becomes evident when you start reading it. The article was clearly written by someone doing PR for the movie. A choice excerpt:

Becoming Jane DVD will be launched on 10 September 2007; a month after the premiere in the United States. The Original Soundtrack, however, is already available for purchase.... This soundtrack contains many beautiful pieces from the movie. To the fans’ dismay, the track played in the ballroom scene when Jane Austen and Tom Lefroy danced for the second time (a scene hailed for the timely choreography and the intense chemistry between the couple), was not included.

And so on and so on. The article's non-neutral nature has been noted on the corresponding Talk page, but as of tonight no one has bothered to change it.

Maybe, if I finish writing chapter one this week, I'll do a serious rewrite... as a reward! Mwa-ha-ha-ha!