Keeping up with the new Defra wiki was too much for the Miliband blog. It badly 
backfired yesterday and had to be removed after more than 170 people posted suggestions that were not considered appropriate – and some naughty wags even defaced it!
It sounds like this was the first time you could have had some fun reading Miliband’s dour blog, which has so far failed to impress as it is nothing other than another ministerial site. Now the offending post has been removed.
It seems the wiki invited too much openness and transparency, as well as some hilarious mischief making!
“Mr Miliband, who writes his own blog, had put the draft document online in the hope that readers would add to the “starting-pointâ€? text.
“A few hours after the site went live, administrators at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) withdrew the page, the suggestions of more than 170 people having proved less than earnest.
“Among the ideas posted by visitors to the site were: “The likes of Jeremy Clarkson, in promoting pollution, should be penalised thrice overâ€? and “We just can’t help but meddle, interfere, impose our views on others, and generally use taxpayers’ resources in ways that are wasteful except in our own self-aggrandisement.â€?
“Under a list of things that citizens should do, a reader had added: “Pay a higher proportion of their income to the Government, and see little tangible improvement in their standard of living.â€?
“The complex question of “what tools can be used to deliver the environmental contract?â€? met with the response: “Spade, Organic Yoghurt Stirrer, Old washing-up liquid bottle, Sticky Back Plastic.â€?
“In a list of “tools that show that government practises what it preachesâ€?, someone had inserted: “Tony Blair mask; Full Tony Blair outfitâ€?. A list of items that “create the right incentive frameworksâ€? was altered to include “Big stickâ€? and “Owl magnetâ€?.
“Among the edits that were more surrealistic than political, the heading “Who are the parties to the environmental contract?â€? became “Where is the party for the environmental contract? Can I come? Will there be cake? Hooray!â€? The attack on the site apparently began after blogs alerted readers to the presence of the document on the Defra site.
“By last night the defaced page had been taken down, and the original text — still with an exhortation to “amend or addâ€? to the points “as you think necessaryâ€? — had been restored. The administrators had added a note that the wiki facility had been “lockedâ€? for the time being to prevent editing.”
I guess that’s the end of Miliband’s wiki. It’s obviously too unpredictable a tool for Government, you cannot control the contributed comments, but you can delete them, which is what happened here. Still, it gave a few people a good laugh.
The great news for Minister Miliand is that so many people read his site, which usually attracts very few comments on crucially important, high profile issues. Perhaps if there was more interaction and openness, his readership would soar.
The good news for Conservatives, is that Milly may well be the future for Labour. God help them.
Well, they say every cloud has a silver lining!
I hear about all the fun and games over at the Miliwiki. By the time I got there, the admin people had locked it. Maybe next time.
Bel, I wish you had let me know, I don’t think there will be a next time.
Ellee,
I sincerely hope there is a next time 🙂
The Miliblog is too boring for words. The only thing that will tempt me anywhere near that website is the prospect of a free-for-all with the Miliwiki.
As you rightly pointed out, this was probably the first time anyone had fun on that website.
Bel, I don’t think there is much chance of that happening, a wiki is too much of a loose canon.
Dull he is, but the Wiki sabotage was shabby behaviour. This Wiki was indeed too open – not sure what they were thinking in putting it up there.
Hilarious! Does that mean there is no cake at the party?
Guido’s actions were pretty low. True, the wiki wasn’t the best thought out attempt at public policy by collaboration but the idea is taking forward attempts at integrating social media with public policy.
Guido has used political opportunism to ruin Miliband’s efforts… however, it has also raised some of the potential pitfalls of using web 2.0 technology to engage with the public. More at http://www.simoncollister.typepad.com including a response from Guido himself!
What’s this, somebody defending Miliband?!
Altough to be fair, the concept is good, however there should have been more thought put into how it was going to be carried out. A government with its popularity as low as this one is bound to attract “wikid” comments when they leave the thing wide open.
It also doesn’t help when so many people start to realise that their thoughts and opinions don’t really matter to this government, so that undermines the credibility of such a tool in the first place.
I’d give it a B for effort, but a big fat F for results.
Simon, I don’t think Guido can be held responsible for the actions of others. I agree with what you say about the importance of sharing ideas, only Miliband has never had a 2 way conversation with his bloggers.
Mike, I agree with all of what you say. I don’t see the Government using wikis in this way again.
I don’t understand you view of how Guido can’t be held responsible for his actions, Ellee.
Without analysing his exact words, Guido was pretty clear what he wanted his readers to do and gloated when the wiki was locked.
True, Miliband has never had a true two-way with his readers, but then at least he is blogging and using the technology – that’s positive. Worth pointing out too that Cameron’s India blog states he is simply “too busy” to reply to comments!
Simon, David Cameron has made it quite plain that his blog is a “record of his trip to India” while David Miliband promotes his as “an attempt to bridge the gap between politicians and the public”, both entirely different.
True. But neither objectives prevent authors from responding to comments. I’m not trying to build a left vs right; one good, one bad argument (I’m keeping my politics right out of my judgement) – just that Miliband should be given kudos for his/his department’s efforts same as Cameron and not consistently knocked for his attempts to introduce new ideas into politics. He’s not always on the money (cf. wiki) but at least he’s making the first steps.
[…] Ross Mayfield thought this was the first time that an elected official had initiated a political wiki. That may be the case in the US, but I must leave a comment and tell him about Minister Miliband’s sobering experience which badly backfired. […]