WIKIPEDIA, and its trustworthiness, has become a topic of considerable discussion. This entry on InstaPundit does little to inspire confidence. Okay, the picture with the “I had an abortion” t-shirt and the reference to blended puppies might be humor (is Wikipedia a Frank J. production now?) but InstaPundit was never hosted on UT servers, and I don’t know where anyone would get that idea. [LATER: The entry has been changed; screenshot of original version here].

UPDATE: Hmm. In the discussion section are unsupported (and false) suggestions that I took money from Nick Denton to push Wonkette, thus paying for my sports car. Actually, Nick never gave me a dime to push Wonkette, nor did anyone else. (Wonkette, however, is married to somebody I know, and I like Nick, who’s visited us in Knoxville.)

I didn’t mean for the original post to be a big slam on Wikipedia, just a comment on a not-very-reliable post. And I realize that a wiki needs this “backstage” space for discussion, and that other posters cast doubt on these allegations. Still, I’m not pleased, or terribly impressed, with this treatment, which seems rather juvenile. I mean, it’s not as bad as Frank J.’s filthy lies, and I’d certainly ignore stuff like this if it appeared on a blog somewhere, but on the other hand, it’s not exactly encyclopedia material, either. Presumably it will be corrected in time, but unlike a blog, users are unlikely to engage in repeat visits to the same entry. In my case that’s not terribly significant, I suppose, but still . . . .