News of Sarah Palin as McCain's Running Mate Sparks Heated Wiki Debate

Prior to August 29, 2008, the Wikipedia article on Alaska Governor Sarah Palin failed to spark much discussion on the article's talk page. However, upon hearing the televised buzz regarding the possibility that John McCain had chosen Palin as his running mate, Wiki nerds (presumed to be from both ends of the political spectrum) descended on the page to add, edit, and remove content from the article - and the talk page quickly began to fill out.

In fact, the activity began before the announcement was formalized. In the earliest post to the discussion page on August 29, a user frantically jotted, "CNBC says it's her, but I can't think how to fit this in with all the other stuff that's going on. And I'm personally not convinced so I'll leave it to another editor to decide." Over the next four hours, a feisty running dialogue between several editors ensued, debating the factuality of preliminary reports that Palin was indeed the nominee as they proceeded to take turns adding and deleting the information.

Further down the page, others began discussing Palin's policy stances, personal life, and gubernatorial record. And, as does occur on many Wiki entries, users asserted that the article itself contained sections with an obvious "POV" (point of view), while others dismissed that criticism. Additionally, many felt that the article deserved "semi-protection," while others claimed that it failed to merit any. In defense of protecting the page from edits by anonymous users, one user stated, "There are too many bad edits by anonymous users at the moment to keep up with them all."

Finally, after the televising of McCain and Palin appearing together to address an enthusiastic crowd of supporters in Fairborn, Ohio, and the relative subsiding of edits to the article, a fatigued contributor commented, "Someone please tell me this same conversation was on Biden's talk page!"