4 ms·

I am sure that the wikipedia entry was very harmful. E.g. I regularly google the name of people that I will have a meeting with (as preparation) or trying to fi

by daanlo 5y ago

I am sure that the wikipedia entry was very harmful. E.g. I regularly google the name of people that I will have a meeting with (as preparation) or trying to find the linkedin profile. I am sure many HR departments do this as well. In this case it would have been something like: 1) google name 2) oh. The applicant has the same name as a serial killer 3) click on wikipedia article 4) OMG 5) the applicant being significantly less likely to receive an offer

capableweb 5y ago
> In this case it would have been something like: 1) google name 2) oh. The applicant has the same name as a serial killer 3) click on wikipedia article 4) OMG 5) the applicant being significantly less likely to receive an offer I'd follow the same process if it was a high-value hire. But in this process, if I'd discover that it seems to be a serial killer, I think I would at least reach out and ask if this is the same person, even if the pictures seems to match. Seems unlikely that a known serial killer would apply to any jobs I usually offer, so making sure it's the same person is surely something you'd do first.
- ModernMech 5y ago
  Your plan would be to call up someone to ask whether or not they are a serial killer? Or do you mean to check their references? Because that could do even more damage to this person’s reputation. Imagine calling up this guy’s top references, asking them all if the dude they know is a serial killer. They go and look up the wiki article, and now may or may not have a giant question mark in their head as well.
  - em-bee 5y ago
    i would ask for a formal background check to verify what he says
    - dylan604 5y ago
      on an applicant? really? if you were headhunting and this person really fit the bill for a key role, maybe.
  - mousepilot 5y ago
    haha yeah, I'm not going to "reach out" to a serial killer unless I have 50 layers of anonymous proxies to "reach out" through.
fortran77 5y ago
Exactly. This is already a serious problem without Wikipedia giving wrong information a stamp of credibility. There's a man with the exact same name as mine (not a common one) and the exact same age who is a disbarred attorney in Arizona. More than once I've been asked by a prospective client if I ever was an attorney even though it's not on my C.V. (I would love to find a way to put these wanna-be Sherlock Holmeses who don't know how to google in their places!) Imagine if I had a Wikipedia page and the names got conflated. I'd never be able to unwind that.

by daanlo 5y ago

capableweb 5y ago

> In this case it would have been something like: 1) google name 2) oh. The applicant has the same name as a serial killer 3) click on wikipedia article 4) OMG 5) the applicant being significantly less likely to receive an offer I'd follow the same process if it was a high-value hire. But in this process, if I'd discover that it seems to be a serial killer, I think I would at least reach out and ask if this is the same person, even if the pictures seems to match. Seems unlikely that a known serial killer would apply to any jobs I usually offer, so making sure it's the same person is surely something you'd do first.

ModernMech 5y ago
Your plan would be to call up someone to ask whether or not they are a serial killer? Or do you mean to check their references? Because that could do even more damage to this person’s reputation. Imagine calling up this guy’s top references, asking them all if the dude they know is a serial killer. They go and look up the wiki article, and now may or may not have a giant question mark in their head as well.
- em-bee 5y ago
  i would ask for a formal background check to verify what he says
  - dylan604 5y ago
    on an applicant? really? if you were headhunting and this person really fit the bill for a key role, maybe.
- mousepilot 5y ago
  haha yeah, I'm not going to "reach out" to a serial killer unless I have 50 layers of anonymous proxies to "reach out" through.

fortran77 5y ago

Exactly. This is already a serious problem without Wikipedia giving wrong information a stamp of credibility. There's a man with the exact same name as mine (not a common one) and the exact same age who is a disbarred attorney in Arizona. More than once I've been asked by a prospective client if I ever was an attorney even though it's not on my C.V. (I would love to find a way to put these wanna-be Sherlock Holmeses who don't know how to google in their places!) Imagine if I had a Wikipedia page and the names got conflated. I'd never be able to unwind that.