From the chronicles of what is both silly and serious comes the current battle for what former U.S. Senator, television and movie actor, and U.S. presidential candidate Fred Thompson is called on his Wikipedia entry.
Apparently, he was born “Freddie Dalton Thompson”, a name he has not changed. He is known nowadays as either Fred Thompson or Fred Dalton Thompson. That’s fine.
Now, on Wikipedia, there is a small battle going on between a woman named Tvoz, who is determined to enter “Freddie Dalton Thompson” and a Thompson supporter named Ferrylodge who wants it to be “Fred Dalton Thompson. Tvoz, who happens to be a Democrat, is insisting that the information be accurate while Ferrylodge believes that using Freddie makes Thompson sound silly.
I remember reading a long time ago that many of the most edited bios were of elected representatives. Capitol Hill staffers were constantly going at it, praising their own and attacking their opponents.
Shows me that there’s a lot of peons in politics.
I’ll think I’ll now edit Thompson’s page the way I think it should be. Wonder how long it will stay that way.
Update: Tvoz has rightfully responded and pointed out that while I mentioned that she is a self-declared Democrat, I failed to mention that Ferrylodge is an actual Thompson supporter.
I also should point out that as I went over to the article to edit it, I saw that it had been “agreed upon” but the editors to leave it as is. So I didn’t touch it. For the record, I felt that if he was born Freddie and hadn’t changed it, then he should be called that.
And, Tvoz, I agree with your motives more than Ferrylodge. Didn’t consider you to be a peon.
Filed under: Election Strategy, Political Strategy, Wiki Strategy










Thanks for the publicity - but you forgot to mention that Ferrylodge says in the Washington Post article you lifted this from that he is a Thompson campaign contributor. I said I am nominally a Democrat, without any specific allegiances at present. Let’s be even handed, yes? And by the way - if I’m so “determined” as you suggest, why then have I not changed the wording again? All I’m “determined” to do is to keep Wikipedia entries factual, fair, sourced, and not overrun by partisans. My editing stands for itself - and I’m looking forward to seeing what you’ve come up with over there. Cheers, Tvoz
PS - Jonathan, what name are you editing under?