SilentScope001 Posted October 6, 2007 Share Posted October 6, 2007 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071005/ap_on_re_as/odd_japan_wikipedia;_ylt=AvUmLad2c9yNQUpugNrkUI_9xg8F TOKYO - A Japanese bureaucrat has been reprimanded for shirking his duties to make hundreds of Wikipedia contributions about toy robots, officials said Friday. The agriculture ministry said the bureaucrat, whose name was not released, contributed 260 times to the Japanese-language Wikipedia entry on Gundam, a popular, long-running animated series about giant robots that has spun off intricate toys popular among children and adults who belong to the so-called "otaku culture" of fascination with comic books, animation and robots. "The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam," ministry official Tsutomu Shimomura said. The agriculture ministry verbally reprimanded five other bureaucrats who contributed to entries on movies, typographical mistakes in billboard signs and local politics. The six employees together made 408 entries on the popular Internet encyclopedia from ministry computers since 2003. The ministry did not object to employees making limited contributions on World Trade Organization and free trade agreements. The reprimands emerged from an internal probe following recent media allegations that a growing number of Japanese public servants were contributing to the Web encyclopedia, which anyone can edit, often to reflect their views. An unspecified number of other bureaucrats apparently had contributed to Wikipedia on Gundam, but could not be identified, Shimomura said. Shimomura said the ministry reprimands were not related to WikiScanner, a recently introduced free program that reveals the identities of the computers used to make Wikipedia changes. The agriculture ministry issued an order prohibiting employees from accessing Wikipedia at work, while disabling access to the site from the ministry, Shimomura said. An Imperial Household Agency official was reprimanded last month for deleting references criticizing imperial tombs on the Wikipedia through the agency computer. ...Uh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boba Rhett Posted October 6, 2007 Share Posted October 6, 2007 Oh Japan, you're a caution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoiuyWired Posted October 6, 2007 Share Posted October 6, 2007 Another proof that Gundams and New Types are actually controlling japan!! Lets hope these guys are Zeonic and not EFSF (comments for old UC gundam fans only). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Negative Sun Posted October 6, 2007 Share Posted October 6, 2007 All Hail The Principality of Zeon! Those Japanese folk crack me up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Web Rider Posted October 6, 2007 Share Posted October 6, 2007 wow, that's funny, though not surprising, I'm certain many of those guys grew up with Gundam. Silly Wikipedia is out there sucking our souls out again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HerbieZ Posted October 7, 2007 Share Posted October 7, 2007 I can't see anything wrong with that to be honest. If they are accessing wikipedia from work, they should'nt be. They are expressing they're personal views yes but with programs such as wikiscanner, if these views are found to be coming from computers located within a company then people would automatically assume these views are that of the company. I think it is just ignorant of us really because we do not understand how different eastern and western cultures really are. Business is everything over there and Japanese people are very prideful people. If you are Japanese and are a CEO of a major corporation you want to take all the steps you can to make sure nothing marks against your company. Wether it be the internal opinions expressed externally or external comments based on those opinions. Yes it can be argued that this is against the personal rights, freedom of speech, etc but this is a typically western approach. All this boils down to us us laughing at a country's system of government. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilentScope001 Posted October 7, 2007 Author Share Posted October 7, 2007 Oh, we aren't laughing at the government cracking down on people who access the Internet to make wikipeida edits. We sympathize with them. We are instead laughing at the bureaucrats who are accessing wikipeida from work and now are getting caught for it. Altough you may be right that this may be leading into racism, and we don't want that to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Web Rider Posted October 7, 2007 Share Posted October 7, 2007 I think it is just ignorant of us really because we do not understand how different eastern and western cultures really are. Business is everything over there and Japanese people are very prideful people. If you are Japanese and are a CEO of a major corporation you want to take all the steps you can to make sure nothing marks against your company. Wether it be the internal opinions expressed externally or external comments based on those opinions. Yes it can be argued that this is against the personal rights, freedom of speech, etc but this is a typically western approach. All this boils down to us us laughing at a country's system of government. As SilentScope says, we're laughing at grown businessmen modifying or submitting articels unrelated to their current profession from work. If they were updating entires on themselves, or their company, or the government, no biggie. American companies and Japanese compaines have the same rules on this, you don't do personal stuff while at work....or at least now when it can be found out about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tk102 Posted October 8, 2007 Share Posted October 8, 2007 American companies and Japanese compaines have the same rules on this, you don't do personal stuff while at work. *gulp* If Lucasforums was Wikipedia, I could be a Japanese bureaucrat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lukeiamyourdad Posted October 8, 2007 Share Posted October 8, 2007 Well, it would depend when it's done no? I've been to non-work related websites when on lunch breaks and no one cared. Strange. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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