American-Southwest Tensions Spill into WikiWorld, and Raise Bigger Questions

You’d think whoever did this at American Airlines might have better things to do, but what he or she did exposes two things–the bitterness of the long-running feud between American Airlines and Southwest, and the vulnerability of Wikipedia to manipulation:

Airport Fight Extends to Wikipedia

DALLAS (AP) - An eye-gouging fight between American Airlines and Southwest Airlines over air service in northern Texas has spilled over to an online encyclopedia.
Wikipedia lets users create, change and even erase articles on any topic, regardless of their expertise.
Supporters say its open, collaborative nature leads to a more complete, bias-free reference source, though when the topic is controversial the wiki entry can resemble a battlefield.
Last week, someone using a computer with an Internet address assigned to American Airlines edited Wikipedia to describe Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) as “a notoriously litigious company constantly seeking to change laws to gain an advantage.” For a time, the site also said Dallas-based Southwest is “known for its PR machine and litigious nature.”
Wikipedia volunteers deleted the phrases within hours.
Tim Wagner, a spokesman for AMR Corp.’s American unit, said the changes were “not something the company initiated or condone.” He had complaints of his own: One entry described American’s dominance at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport as a “chokehold.”

Meanwhile, in what must be “completely unrelated” news:
- Southwest Profit Beats Forecasts
- American Airlines loss narrows but shares slump
- Southwest Airlines petitions senators on Love Field flights (Southest has wanted to fly out of Love Field in Dallas for years; American has lobbied Washington to prevent it)

As to Wikipedia, relying as it does on volunteers, I have to wonder:

• Do they catch all dishonest attempts at rewriting history or mischaracterizing people?
• Can you sneak something past the volunteers by being subtle but still dishonest?
• Is Wikipedia exposed to “edit-bombing,” where a dedicated band of dishonest outside posters would overwhelm the volunteers’ ability to keep up with postings?