Flutterby™! : ER...never mind 2008-06-02 21:34:02.37894+00

ER...never mind

2008-06-02 21:34:02.37894+00 by petronius 2 comments

Wired Magazine has published a short piece notifying us that perhaps 700 pieces published by them since 2000 cannot be sourced. They were all by one writer, using two names. She also wrote for other IT publications, and sourcing is as thin there as at Wired. They are not removing the items from their online archive, but appending a note that the articles may, in fact. be fiction. Maybe if they spent less time on the snazzy graphics and famously unreadable headline fonts they might have noticed something.

Interesting, the linked article makes it seem like "we can't verify one or two anonymous sources", but the first article I clicked on, Meet The Nigerian E-Mail Grifters, is almost entirely from the two unconfirmed sources.

I guess the question I've got is: Is there anything else to indicate that she's made-up or misrepresented any of her sources? On the one hand I respect the need for editors to confirm that they're not just paying for creative writing, on the other hand "Hi, I see you're engaged in nefarious activity. Now that I've got a little bit of trust, let me get your contact information so I can have a stranger call you out of the blue" seems improbable.

I read this blog post, and I thought to myself, "Wired let this happen again?"

The answer: No—the articles in question were from 2000-2004, and linked statement from Wired was written in 2005.