Wikipedia is supposed to be a platform where any user can contribute new articles, edits, and corrections to existing ones, but the truth is that it's not quite like that. The encyclopedia has been forced to protect the content of many entries and keep a close eye on recent additions, because if there's one thing it has never managed to escape, it's fake articles. Wikipedia maintains a database of the most significant examples, on the assumption that they will help recognize other hoaxes in the future. Would you like to know them?
Doubts about the legitimacy of Wikipedia's content have plagued the encyclopedia from the start. Beyond contributions from many experts in their fields, that hasn't prevented the insertion of spurious articles driven by economic interests, political propaganda, or simple expressions of hatred. There are also cases where an editor let their imagination run wild, inventing characters and places with elaborate backstories. In an effort to detect and remove hoaxes more quickly, Wikipedia keeps a list of the most scandalous examples—and I say this because some remained online for years. Let's take a look:
Bine
Bine, also known as 'Bryth', this being from Mesopotamian mythology was an equivalent to the classic Greek Cerberus, but its role was not only to serve as guardian of hell; it was the main provider of wings for the demons that came out of there. The wings were produced based on the number of captured souls—the more souls, the larger the wings it could make. An interesting story... albeit completely false, and it remained on Wikipedia for over twelve years.
Jar'Edo Wens
Jar'Edo Wens, an Australian Aboriginal god with great earthly wisdom and enormous physical power, historically associated with victory and intelligence, was created by Altjira (the central god of the Arrernte people) to ensure that people didn't become too arrogant or conceited. The name alone reveals that 'Jar'Edo Wens' is a corruption of 'Jared Owens', and his original author remained active on Wikipedia for 11 minutes using an Australian IP address. 9 years and 9 months on the site.
Gaius Flavius Antoninus
Gaius Flavius Antoninus, a high-profile Roman general who took part in the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC. Despite the overwhelming success of eliminating the emperor, Gaius Flavius Antoninus shared the same fate, being killed by a prostitute under the direct orders of Mark Antony. An incident worthy of old Roman plots... if it were true. General Gaius managed to escape the grasp of editors for eight years.
Chen Fang
Chen Fang, born in 1965, began his political career at age 22, immediately after graduating from Tsinghua University. After living a year in Japan, Fang decided to return to his hometown of Yinchuan and became its mayor in mid-2003. Fang was nothing more than the experiment of a student determined to test 'the limits of Wikipedia' in 2005, creating an entry about himself. The experiment succeeded, and Mayor Fang 'lived' in the encyclopedia for seven years and two months.
Olimar the Wonder Cat
A short-lived children's television series broadcast by the BBC in the '70s. Its main character was Olimar, a cat with magical powers who had to face 'Derek Maligno the Dark Dalmatian' and a Canadian Siamese named 'Cello the Mighty'. In an unprecedented ending, Cello manages to defeat Olimar and becomes the King of All Cats. Seven years later, its author Ed Wild admitted on Twitter that he created the entry for his cat.
Unit 773
Unit 773, a special facility created by the Imperial Japanese Army in the city of Songo (China) for the development of biological weapons during World War II. Its administration was in charge of the Kenpeitai (military police group). Given the atrocities committed by the Japanese in China, a biological weapons plant doesn't sound so strange, but after five years and nine months it was discovered that Unit 773 was fictional (as was the city of Songo), with a story inspired by the horrifying (and real) Unit 731.
Antón de Palategui
Antón de Palategui, a Spanish conquistador, soldier, and poet recognized for his work 'Christ in the Beast', which he wrote during his expeditions accompanying none other than Francisco de Orellana in the search for El Dorado and La Canela, from the start of the Río Negro to the Amazon estuary. The original article is a sort of mini-biography with very interesting details (that take him to Greece and back to Spain), and of course, all invented. Five years and three months.
Reich Corps of the Trombone
'Reichkorps der Posaunen' was a group of trombonists sponsored by the Nazi party from the time it came to power until the end of World War II. After witnessing 'The Ring of the Nibelung', Joseph Goebbels (Nazi propaganda minister) proposed the creation of this corps with the aim of serving the party and glorifying German culture, emphasizing Wagner's broad repertoire. Does it make sense? A little. Is it real? Absolutely not. An anonymous user confessed to the hoax on Slashdot five years later.
Spanish Micronesia
The idea was that the German-Spanish Treaty did not cover a small group of four islands scattered in Micronesia, which from a technical standpoint gave Spain an official presence in the Pacific. The encyclopedia reports that the article was recreated dozens of times since 2007 and gained such media traction that the Spanish government was forced to issue an official parliamentary response, categorically denying sovereignty over those islands.
Want to know more? Here's the rest. Enjoy!
