Sarah Palin Wikipedia entry gets glowing make-over from mysterious user Young Trigg


The Wikipedia update took place only hours before Sarah Palin was presented as John McCain’s running mate
Mike Harvey, Technology Correspondent

The Wikipedia entry for Sarah Palin was overhauled substantially for the better in the 24 hours before the surprise announcement of her selection as Republican vice-presidential nominee.

A mystery Wikipedia user — under the name Young Trigg — put in about 30 edits to the biographical article on the website.

The additions included the fact that the 44-year-old Alaskan Governor “earned the nickname ‘Sarah Barracuda’ because of her intense play” for her high school basketball team and that she and her father “would sometimes wake at 3am to hunt moose before school”.

It is possible to track the changes made by Young Trigg because Wikipedia keeps an open log of all edits to its articles.

Many details were culled from, and footnoted to, the book Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska’s Political Establishment on its Ear, by Kaylene Johnson, The New York Times reported.

Young Trigg also notes how the Governor had high approval ratings and kept her campaign pledges. A profile in the conservative Weekly Standard magazine was used as a source of details about how Mrs Palin was willing to “take on oil companies” and that she had “eye-popping integrity”.

All this took place before the Republican candidate John McCain announced Sarah Palin as his running mate in the presidential elections.

The blogosphere has been full of speculation about who Young Trigg might be — some guessing that he or she was a member of the Palin family (Mrs Palin’s baby son is called Trig) or a McCain campaign staffer.

Wikipedia has become another important internet tool in presenting politicians to voters. Few would be surprised if a campaign worker had been given the task of putting positive spin on Mrs Palin’s entry in preparation for last week's announcement. A tracking site estimated that the page was viewed more than 2 million times on Friday.

Since the announcement the Sarah Palin page has been edited many hundreds of times more and Wikipedia has now put in place a partial block so that only established editors can change the entry. Some of Young Trigg’s entries have been amended or toned down.

Young Trigg made his or her last edits hours before the announcement and the unusual activity was noted first by National Public Radio. Arguments raged among Wikipedia editors about the alleged bias of Young Trigg’s entries and whether he or she was a “sock puppet”, an alternative anonymous account name taken on by the user to deceive.

Over the weekend YoungTrigg responded to the controversy on his or her Wikipedia user page: “I edited for a couple of hours over a five-hour span while I was reading the internet. I finished reading the Palin biography that day, went to her page, and saw a lot of "cite needed" places and thought I should improve the article and created an account to do so.

“I am not Sarah Palin. I am not a member of Sarah Palin’s family, or even Michael Palin’s family," he or she wrote.

“I will acknowledge that I volunteer for the McCain campaign, one of thousands of people nationwide who are working to elect the best candidate for the job. Palin was not the nominee when I made my edits, though I am certainly excited about the selection. I don’t believe I have a conflict of interest problem.”

Young Trigg then retired from being an active user.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/worl...icle4653971.ece

Can I take a moment here to remind everyone that Palin would fall under Election 2008? Please, if you are going to start yet another thread about Sarah, do so in Election 2008. I'm developing carpal tunnel syndrome from moving all these threads.

Thank you!

Sarah could be just a heartbeat away from being President. The photo while not genuine but is a vivid reminder of this. (I'm not sure if it will upload)

She appears to be true a religious nut.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQq4b5IQhq8

She is way beyond a religious nut. She is a very dangerous religious fanatical whack job.

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Three months before she was thrust into the national political spotlight, Gov. Sarah Palin was asked to handle a much smaller task: addressing the graduating class of commission students at her one-time church, Wasilla Assembly of God.

Her speech in June provides as much insight into her policy leanings as anything uncovered since she was asked to be John McCain's running mate.

Speaking before the Pentecostal church, Palin painted the current war in Iraq as a messianic affair in which the United States could act out the will of the Lord.

"Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God," she exhorted the congregants. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/02/p...h_n_123205.html

I think this article gets pretty close to the truth.

Jim Jones has been reincarnated as a woman! I would strongly recommend to parishioners of her church to NOT partake in any beverages she might bring to any upcoming functions.

Agreed! These people are TRUE BLUE believers in "End Times" and the rapture. Having these "people" anywhere close to having the ability to make foreign policy decisions will speed us on our way to Armageddon.