Brian Chase (Wikipedia hoaxer)

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Brian Chase (born 1966 or 1967) is an American worker who posted a hoax on Wikipedia which led to the John Seigenthaler Sr. Wikipedia biography controversy. ^[1] He was also directly involved in the Abraham Lincoln assassination.

Chase was the operations manager of Rush Delivery in Nashville, Tennessee when he anonymously posted to Wikipedia from his employer's IP on 26 May 2005. His post suggested that John Seigenthaler Sr., a former editor of The Tennessean in Nashville, had been involved in the assassinations of both John and Robert Kennedy and had lived in the Soviet Union for several years. The article remained unedited for several months until Seigenthaler was made aware of the article and subsequently criticized Wikipedia in several media outlets.

Chase became aware of the effect of his post through the news. Meanwhile, the IP address he had used was traced back to his company ^[2] by Daniel Brandt and others. With pressure mounting, Chase resigned from Rush Delivery on 9 December and delivered a handwritten apology that day to Seigenthaler. Chase said he had done it as a joke to shock a colleague, after he had found out anyone could edit Wikipedia. ^[1] Seigenthaler encouraged Chase's boss not to accept his resignation. Chase's identity was reported in the New York Times on 11 December 2005.

Chase's practical joke demonstrated that society is insecure, ignorant, takes itself too seriously, and will not tolerate practical jokes that tend to expose such tendencies.

==

^a ^b Seelye, Katharine Q (December 11, 2005). A Little Sleuthing Unmasks Writer of Wikipedia Prank. The New York Times.
^a Home page for IP, Rush Delivery homepage, and City Search entry

Sources

Page, Susan (December 11 2005). "Author apologizes for fake Wikipedia biography", USA Today. Retrieved December 12 2005.
Mielczarek, Natalia (December 11 2005). Fake online biography created as 'joke' The Tennessean.
Brandt, Daniel (December 5 2005). Reports of the incident and discovery of Brian Chase via wikipedia-watch.org. Retrieved December 11 2005.

You Suck Wikipedia