Pierce County prosecutor Wikipedia edits traced to spokesman

TACOMA – The spokesman for Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist has been barred from making edits to his boss’s Wikipedia page after trying to delete unfavorable references.

The News Tribune reported that spokesman James Lynch tried to make the changes in March, removing references and links to articles that questioned some of Lindquist’s actions. The articles removed included a Seattle Times editorial calling for his resignation.

Anonymous Wikipedia editors returned the page to its previous version and blocked Lynch from making additional edits. They referred to the changes as “vandalism” originating from a Pierce County government online address.

Lynch acknowledged making the changes and told the News Tribune in an email that he did it because the Wikipedia page was page “heavily weighted in the negative, which provided an entirely one sided, unfair view of the office.”