【sky news】Wikipedia To Block Edits By Scientologists

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Wikipedia To Block Edits By Scientologists
http://www.capitalradio.co.uk/news-travel/world/wikipedia-to-block-edits-by-scientologists/

Saturday, 30 May 2009 03:17



Wikipedia has banned the Church of Scientology from editing its online encyclopaedia after a long-running dispute between the group and its critics.

Any computer addresses "owned or operated" by the Church or associates linked to it have been blocked by the popular site.

It follows attempts by supporters and those opposed to the group to "slant" the Scientology page, according to Wikipedia editors.

The group are legally classified as a religion in the United States and have a slew of celebrity followers, including actors Tom Cruise and Will Smith.

But others have used the Wikipedia site to allege Scientology is a cult.

Some of those critics are also now barred from changing the group's page.

"Each side wishes the articles within this topic to reflect their point of view and have resorted to battlefield editing tactics," a committee of senior Wikipedia editors said.

"The worst casualties have been biographies of living people, where attempts have been repeatedly made to slant the article either towards or against the subject, depending on the point of view of the contributing editor."

The committee voted to support the ban after a six-month arbitration process.

A spokeswoman for Scientology, Karin Pouw, described some online entries as "hateful and erroneous".

She added: "We hope all this will result in more accurate and useful articles on Wikipedia."

Wikipedia is a free, multi-lingual online encyclopaedia which can be edited and added to by the public。