Wikipedia "Spamformation"

First off, I think Wikipedia is great.

While you need to keep in mind that you're trusting that whoever edited the article last used correct information, usually it's pretty accurate. For that matter, "traditional" encyclopedias don't have a perfect record themselves.

Wikipedia periodically suffers from "spam." This isn't the kind of spam a email spam filtering can take care of, but usually spam in the form of someone adding a link to their commercial website from a related article. There are cases when this is appropriate - often the answer is subjective.

Somewhat more subtle is the spam-related phenomina that I call "spamformation."

This is when people add content and links (usually to the "References in Popular Culture" section) which are accurate, but they really don't provide any useful or interesting information regarding the topic.

The real purpose of this spam is to give the creator an excuse to link to another Wikipedia article that the spammer thinks is really important.

Usually the abuser is obsessed with certain TV shows or video games.

The Wikipedia article on Calvary / Golgotha is representative of the problem. Its "References in Popular Culture" section includes such factoids as:

There are about 20 other items, some more relevant, but most similar to the above list.

Other editors seem hesitant to remove the content - even though it provides little "encyclopedic" value. It usually is accurate, and doesn't meet the conventional definition of spamming.

In reality, this extraneous junk is just as annoying as people adding commercial links to the bottom of articles. When half an article is composed of random bits of information regarding video games, TV series and comic books - it devalues the rest of the article.

This problem of junk content seems to effect about 30% of all Wikipedia articles. The good news is that there is a solution. Each article in Wikipedia includes an "edit this page" link.

I'm not going to "clean-up" the Golgotha article - as it would make this page a little less relevant. If you (yes, you) want to go tidy it up - please be my guest.

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