Jacob Williams https://jacobwilliams.com

I recently had an idea for a small blog post, and in the course of writing it I conducted some brief research, during which I happened to visit the Wikipedia entry for Pembrokeshire County Council, where I made an amusing discovery.

Wikipedia allows any Tom, Dick or Harry to edit a page without registering or logging in, and on the council’s entry I found an inspired example of the results this can reap.

The information on the page is very outdated, citing that the last election took place in 2008. There’s not much content to be read, other than a breakdown of the political make-up in the council chamber, a coloured pie-chart, and a list of its sixty electoral divisions.

The fact that this (supposedly encyclopædic) web-page is out of date isn’t what amuses me. What amuses me is that it states the ruling group of Pembrokeshire County Council is “Independent-Freemasons,” with 39 members!

I dont expect it to remain in place for much longer after this post has been published, which is why I’ve done a screenshot of the page as it was when I stumbled upon it, for your own enjoyment:

The best part is that this dirty laundry has been airing in public for almost four months, as it was added during the most recent edit to the page, which was on May 5th 2012.

The beauty of Wikipedia is that no matter how small or large a user’s change might be to an entry, every single past revision of every page is always available to go back and check. Even many years after a vandalous entry has been noticed and removed, it is only ever just a couple of clicks away. So for those who want further proof of this mischievous appendage:

I’ll give it a couple of days before this is edited to reflect the current composition of the ruling group. The word “plus” has followed the word “independent” since the May 2012 elections.