WikiScanner 2 is the latest incarnation of the Wikipedia monitoring service and is now part of the WikiWatcher service. The idea is to keep tabs on suspicious edits and reveal any that seem to be a little dishonest. The interface is truly horrible in that geeky ‘we’re academics and we don’t need no stinkin’ interface’ way, which is a real shame as it will inevitably put people off. Anyway, a noble effort.
WikiScanner (also known as Wikipedia Scanner) is a tool created by Virgil Griffith and released on August 14, 2007, which consists of a publicly searchable database that links millions of anonymous Wikipedia edits to the organizations where those edits apparently originated, by cross-referencing the edits with data on the owners of the associated block of IP addresses. WikiScanner does not work on edits made under a username.
