Cyrus Farivar

If you want to follow the Wikipedia nonsense that’s been following me since this the Slate piece was printed, check these entries. Otherwise, enjoy, and feel free to email me.

Cyrus, I have never responded to or written in a blog, so here goes. I think that what is happening with your Wikipedia entry is fantastic. First of all, I loved your article on Slate even before I discovered the arguments surrounding it. Those who are mad at you for exposing them are fools; if everyone who discovered a prank in progress played along, there would be no pranks. ThatÕs the point: pranks are difficult to do right. The ÒgreenlightingÓ…

I will be on “The Afternoon Show with Brian Smith” on WICC 600 AM Brigeport, CT today at 2:06 pm Pacific talking about the greenlighting hoax, my Slate piece, and the Wikipedia bruhaha.

Before I get to the fan mail, I find it even more amusing that Jimmy Wales himself has gotten involved. And if this further drives my “egomaniac” tendencies, so be it. Best article I’ve read in a while. Brilliant! The toothing hoax was so good that not only didn’t I know that it was a hoax, but CSI Miami Season 3 Episode 20 “Killer Date” was specifically about “toothing” and the consequences of it (in this case a cop loses…

Tomorrow, I’m going to be on the Adler On Line show on Winnipeg’s CJOB starting at 12:40 pm Pacific for about 10 minutes to talk about the greenlighting fiasco and my subsequent Slate article.

Yipee! Cyrus Farivar (born April 20, 1982 in Santa Monica, California) is an assistant editor at Macworld magazine and is a freelance technology journalist living in the city of Compton, CA. He has a B.A. in Political Economy from the University of California, Berkeley and a M.S. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Wired, Wired News, Slate, Mobile magazine, Playlist Magazine, Oakland City Magazine, Business 2.0, The San Mateo…

Check it: Cyrus Farivar * Journalist’s article is getting vandalized in a variety of ways by multiple users for exposing an Internet hoax (“greenlighting”). –Tysto 23:09, 2005 August 1 (UTC)

My Wikipedia entry now says that I’m Arnold Schoenberg.

So a new round of Wikipedia “Vote for Deletion” has been added to my entry: I’ve currently got support from Adrian Lamo and Jason Snell! Voting currently stands at 3 to keep and 2 to delete. This whole thing is really hilarious. For more on this, see the comments from the last entry. This pretty much sums up how I feel about this: I understand your concern, I just happen to disagree with it. If my entry were guilty of…

So my Slate article, not surprisingly, has drawn new attention to my Wikipedia entry, which had lay quiet for awhile. Vandalism returned, and the Wiki vigilantes have come to my rescue, and I’ve popped in to edit my own entry once or twice. I’ve drawn the attention of a few people, including one Todd Morman, who wrote in from North Carolina to say that I’d violated the Wikipedia policy of vanity pages. My response is as follows: Todd, Thanks so…