Wikipedia on Algae Turf Scrubbers

I was just looking at the brief Wikipedia entry for "Algae Scrubber." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algae_scrubber#cite_ref-algaescrubbernet_10-0

There are 10 photos/illustrations in the article. The first two photos and first illustration show the SM floating scrubbers, which one of the captions describes as the "[n]ewest algae scrubber design[]." All three of the illustrations are credited to Santa Monica, as are two of the remaining photos. One of those illustrations shows a "Waterfall Algea [sic] Turf Scrubber" design, which is captioned as the "original vertical scrubber design. Click on the illustration, and you'll find that this original design is credited to Santa Monica.

Among the 11 references for the article is a link to the homepage of AlgaeScrubber.Net, which is cited to support of the statement that:

"In addition, 'turf' algae, which was the focus of Dr. Adey's dumping-bucket design, is replaced by 'green hair algae'. "

Again, the link is to AlgaeScrubber.Net's homepage, listing the forums available, not to a particular thread or post that supports the statement in the Wikipedia article. It's as though a citation supporting an assertion in a historical essay is to a library, rather than the particular book (and page number) in that library that supports the assertion.

In addition one and a half of the four "external links" at the end of the article are to AlgaeScrubber.Net.

Kind of eye-opening. that a Wikipedia article can apparently be highjacked by a business to promote its products. I really thought Wikipedia had moved beyond this type of thing, but what do I know?









AlgaeScrubber.Net

 

Not surprising given the contents of the article. Call me naive, but after Wikipedia steadily gained credibility over the past 12 years, I never thought it could be co-opted for a press release. I suppose the next thing I'll learn is that the tooth fairy is a shill for Crest toothpaste.