We’ve all looked up things on Wikipedia and, generally, it is usually correct information. However, the fact that anyone can edit it leads to abuse and makes it somewhat unreliable. Case in point? The BBC’s [Marco Silva] has the story of the great online toaster hoax which erroneously identified the inventor of the toaster with great impact.
You should read the original story, but in case you want a synopsis, here goes: Until recently, the Wikipedia entry for toasters stated that a Scottish man named Alan MacMasters invented the electric toaster in the 1800s. Sounds plausible. Even more so because several books had picked it up along with the Scottish government’s Brand Scottland website. At least one school had a day memorializing the inventor and a TV show also honored him with a special dessert named for Alan MacMasters, the supposed inventor.
And then if you looked up “Alan MacMasters”, you’d be lead to a page with his biography. The only problem is, he’s just a 30-year-old engineer who currently lives in London. We aren’t even sure if he owns a toaster.
It started in 2012 when a university lecturer warned about using Wikipedia as a source. He told the class that a friend of his had put his own name in as the inventor of the toaster. So the real Alan MacMasters and his friends decided they should correct it but then on a lark, decided to replace it with Alan’s name instead. The prank was forgotten until later when the Daily Mirror listed MacMaster’s toaster invention. Alan then decided to create an entire article about ..
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