I don’t like the Wikipedia entry about me. Can I change it?
Well, technically, anyone can change any Wikipedia entry. So if you discover that police report about the "beer-bong incident" has made its way into your online record, you could, of course, excise it.
But the social contract of the Wikipedia community dictates that individuals ought not change their own entries, because — as Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales puts it — "it’s hard to be objective about yourself." In the wikiverse, the smart mob determines which facts are salient.
What’s more, you’ll probably get caught.
This happened in 2005 to none other than Wales himself. He was caught altering his own entry, including disappearing a reference to an alleged Wikipedia cofounder. (This escapade is now chronicled in-where else? — Wales' entry.)
Ooh, but you could just ask a friend to edit your entry, so you’ll leave no fingerprints on the keyboard, right? But this, too, is frowned upon. Here’s the best way to fix things: Go to your page — or whatever page you’re interested in — and click the Discussion tab. Explain who you are and what you think should be changed. Provide online proof of your claims. Be polite. Don’t rant about a "vast online conspiracy." Odds are the group that pays attention to the page will execute your suggestions.
On the other hand, Wikipedians can be weirdly recalcitrant even when you follow the rules. When the journalist Eric Newton tried to change the entry for John Seigenthaler Sr. — who had been smeared as being a coconspirator in JFK’s assassination — he could find no references on the Web. He had to write an article online just to provide citations. "Truth," he tells me,"is not a valid defense when trying to correct Wikipedia."
Should I be paying sales taxes on my online purchases?
Unless the merchant has a physical presence in your state, it isn’t obliged to charge sales taxes. Instead, the customer — that would be you — is supposed to pay the tax directly to the state government, usually by declaring purchases. It’s called a use tax.
This isn't a matter of ethics; it’s a matter of law. If you’re ever audited and caught lying — "Sorry, yeah, I totally forgot I bought that $7,000 flat-panel TV online last year" — you’ll be responsible for your unpaid taxes and a stiff fine.
Of course, millions shop online every day and dodge use taxes not out of malice but out of sheer ignorance. That's why state and local governments are expected to be shorted up to $33.7 billion in 2008, according to Bill Fox, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Tennessee. "It’s a significant revenue loss for the states," he says. (Antitax advocates argue that the real loss is more like $5 billion — the GDP of Sierra Leone — chump change!)
So there are two questions to ask yourself. The first is realpolitik. How likely are you to get audited? Plenty of people figure the risk is so low they’d rather save money by not paying etailing taxes. The second is more existential. What kind of citizen are you? For pete’s sake, the local taxes you’re so assiduously dodging pay for schools, hospitals, and, you know, firefighters. If you think your money’s being wasted, petition your state government to have the sales tax abolished. Otherwise, pay up. At least for that TV.
The beeps and bloops coming from my coworkers’ computers are driving me insane. How do I get it to stop?
Computer alerts are what’s known as ambient information. To you, it’s noise; to your colleagues, it's a signal that helps them cope with info overload. David Rose, CEO of Ambient Devices, suggests asking your tormentors to remap their notification sounds to something that will blend into office white noise — "a coffee maker's gurgling, fax machine mating sounds, an Aeron’s height-adjust hiss." Better yet, buy each of your colleagues one of Rose’s Ambient Orbs, which alert users with soothing, gently pulsing colors. Ahh.
Need help navigating life in the 21st century? Email us at mrknowitall@wired.com.
credit Christoph Niemann
credit Christoph Niemann
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Make Backdating a Thing of the Past
Seeking the True Wiki You
