1493 words (5 minute read)

Prologue

At 9:50 a.m. Eastern Time on a Thursday in November, Fred Briggs’s son, Pierce, announced that the 84-year-old business magnate had died of advanced pancreatic cancer.

Ninety seconds later, the Infopendium user known as ProfZlomach updated Pierce’s Briggs’s biographical article, becoming the first of hundreds of editors to revise the subject’s online encyclopedia page at Infopendium.org.

09:51   ProfZlomach   

 “Pierce Briggs is an American businessman and the vice-chairman CEO of Briggs Holding Corporation, a multi-industry conglomerate that was founded by John Alton Briggs, Sr. in 1870 and has been in the Briggs family for generations.”

·         Source: “A New ‘Long Island Tycoon’ – Pierce Briggs to Become CEO of Briggs Holdings,” Wall Street Journal

·         Edit summary: Updating for the promotion.


09:53   ProfZlomach               Added to section: Career

“Before his death, Fred told media outlets that he would like his son to succeed him as Briggs Holding Corporation’s chief executive.”

·         Source: “Despite ‘playboy’ reputation, Fred Briggs wants son to succeed him,” The New York Times

·         Edit summary: Providing further background.

 

 

09:55   turtle~dragon              Added categories to article: “21st-century American Businesspeople,” “20th-Century American Businesspeople,” “Businesspeople from Long Island, New York,” “Living American Billionaires”

·         Source: “The Richest Men in America,” Fortune

·         Edit summary: Updating the metadata

 


09:56   Hildegard                    Added to section: Personal life

“Pierce Briggs’s wife, photographer Susan Lopez, filed for divorce from him after five years of marriage, alleging in her court declaration that Pierce had been verbally and physically abusive to her throughout their relationship, usually while under the influence of drugs and alcohol.”

·         Source: “Wealthy Son of Briggs Family, Wife Settle Their Divorce” CNN

·         Edit summary: Need to present a more complete picture.

 

09:58   Barbara_Haze             Deleted edit by Hildegard

·         Edit summary: Deleting this per Aim for Neutrality. This sentence is non-neutral advocacy of the #MeToo movement. We are here to write an encyclopedia, not to publish dirt about celebrities.

 

09:59   ProfZlomach               Thanked Barbara_Haze for their edit


10:01   Alex718                      Added to section: Political positions

“Before becoming CEO of the entire organization, Pierce Briggs was primarily responsible for Briggs Auto Company, and in that role, he argued against public-funding for high-speed rail projects.”

·         Source: “The Billionaires Fighting Against Public Infrastructure,” Politico

·         Edit summary: Found this interesting.

 

10:02   Hildegard                    Thanked Alex718 for their edit

 

10:06   DejaNu                        Added to section: Business career

“Pierce Briggs has been criticized for not exerting his influence on the company’s board of directors. Despite chairing the board’s diversity committee for several years, the C-suite of Briggs Holding Corporation still does not include any women or people of color.”

·         Source: “When It Comes to Diverse Leadership, Some Companies Are Falling Behind,” Ebony

·         Notice to editors: This article is likely to get tons of traffic soon, so let’s ensure that marginalized communities are involved in today’s discussions. Visibility matters.

 

10:07   Telos                Deleted edit by DejaNu

·         Edit summary: Removing as clear violation of Aim for Neutrality.

 

10:08   DejaNu            Undid deletion by Telos

·         Edit summary: I’ve noticed that you’ve begun deleting nearly all of my edits. Please understand that I’m trying to make positive contributions to the encyclopedia here. That’s the point, right? We’ve got to Keep Developing.


10:09   Telos                Deleted edit by DejaNu

·         Edit summary: See earlier explanation. Our policy is to Aim for Neutrality. You should also review We Need Better Sources.

 

10:09   DejaNu            Undid deletion by Telos

·         Edit summary: Is anything that I wrote inaccurate? And why, specifically, do you think that Ebony magazine is not a quality source?


10:10   Telos                Deleted edit by DejaNu

10:10   Doc Mirza (admin)                

·         Chat @Telos and @DejaNu: Rigorous debate is important to the process, but can you *please* debate this on the talk page instead of edit warring on the article itself? We don’t want the article’s text to be destabilized on a day when it’s getting so much traffic.


10:10   turtle~dragon              Added to section: Business career

“Since Fred Briggs founded the Briggs Holding Corporation in 1962, it has acquired several companies to become a multi-industry conglomerate. Recent expansions include Briggs Petroleum and, Briggs Pharmaceuticals Company, and Briggs Data Realty Services.

·         Source: “Breaking News: American Businessman Fred Briggs Dies,” The Washington Post

 

10:13   PucciniAlfredo            Revised edit from turtle~dragon

“Recent expansions include Briggs Petroleum, Briggs Pharmaceuticals Company, and Briggs Data Realty Services.”

·         Edit summary: Inserting that all-important Oxford comma.

10:14   GlobalistsWillNotReplaceUs              Added to section: Career

“Pierce Briggs became CEO after his father was assassinated for not supporting international totalitarian government, i.e. the new world order.” 

·         Source: @GlobalistsWillNotReplaceUs on Bit-notes.com


10:15  Hildegard         Deleted edit from GlobalistsWillNotReplaceUs

10:18   Alex718         

·         Chat @Hildegard: That was fast. Well done!

·         Chat @GlobalistsWillNotReplaceUs: Hi there, we have a policy called We Need Better Sources. The rule is that the source must be reliable and cannot be original. In this case, you’re not allowed to cite what appears to be your own, self-published Bit-notes. Furthermore, credible sources are reporting that Fred Briggs died of cancer, not assassination, which suggests your Bit-notes post is misinformed.


10:19   DirtbagLeftist             Changed “Occupation” field from “Businessman” to

“Capitalist Pig”

 

10:19   233.178.38.161           Media edit: Updated featured image

·         Media edit response =>; Standard: This is my own photo. No copyright concerns.

 

10:19   Anti-Porn Bot             Auto deleted media edit by 25393448

·         Edit summary: Anti-Porn Bot’s algorithm detects 99% probability of vandalism due to reason: lewd photograph. False positive? Please report to an Infopendium administrator.

 

10:21   Alex718                      Reverted edit by DirtbagLeftist

·         Edit summary: Confirming that Pierce Briggs is not a pig.

·         Chat @Doc Mirza (admin) This page is getting an inordinate amount of traffic today. Wondering if you should lock this page to experienced editors only to reduce the vandalism?

 

10:21   Hildegard                    Thanked Alex718 for their edit

 

10:22   KonaYëziq                  Updated metadata

·         Edit summary: Making this article machine-readable so that we can translate it to Chinese Infopendium. Several Briggs companies have offices here in China so this is not a U.S.-only issue.

 

10:23   FindingDiderot                      

·         Chat @ KonaYëziq: Thanks! Using this for French Infopendium as well.


           

10:25   Doc Mirza (admin)                             Topic blocked users DirtbagLeftist and 25393448

                                                            Protected “Fred Briggs” page

·         Chat @Alex718: Good call.

·         Action summary: Limiting this page to experienced editors for now. Please be on the lookout for vandalism and Conflict of Interest editing. The bots will catch some of it but not all. Case in point: A few minutes ago, Briggs’s photo was changed to a pic of a penis. Luckily, it was quickly reverted by the software. Remember: We’re getting lots of traffic here for obvious reasons, so let’s all be vigilant today!

 

10:28   turtle~dragon                                      Added to section: Related articles

 

“● Briggs Data Realty Services
● Briggs Holding Corporation 

·         Briggs Pharmaceuticals

·         Briggs Transportation

·         Briggs Ventures”

·         Edit summary: Inserting cross-references to related Infopendium articles.



10:30   ProfZlomach               Added to section: Illness and death

            “According to the Wall Street Journal, the price of Briggs Holding Corporation’s stock (ticker: BHCx) is expected to rise upon the announcement that Pierce Biggs is becoming CEO. Pierce is expected to aggressively cut costs and guide the company through a successful digital transformation.”

·         Source: “Remembering Fred Briggs,” Business Insider

·         Edit summary: Looks like this is official.

 

10:30   Barbara_Haze             Thanked ProfZlomach for their edit

10:32   Hildegard                    Deleted edit by turtle~dragon

·         Chat @turtle~dragon: Your stock forecasting is not appropriate here. The purpose of this page is to provide unbiased, reliable information about him. Not to track the Wall Street buzz.

10:33   Telos                            Thanked Hildegard for their edit

***

The next morning, the person behind usernames ProfZlomach, Barbara_Haze, and turtle~dragon scraped the metadata from the “Pierce Briggs” Infopendium article:

Page views in the past 24 hours: 2,537,386 (634% increase)

Page appearances in Querioo search results: 16,918,734

Total edits in the past 24 hours: 2,087

Average time between edits: 41 seconds

Edits made by top 10% of editors: 2,018 (96.7%) 

Next Chapter: Chapter 1: The Pitch