OK – We admit – a sensationalist headline, but it got your attention. Here’s the story…
Who is Pollyanna Woodward?
Of course, she’s one of the presenters of The Gadget Show, on Channel 5. The show is loved by many a gadget geek, including the gang here at FrequencyCast.
We met Polly and the team at Gadget Show Live this year, and spoke briefly to Polly for our podcast (FrequencyCast Podcast 63). To the right of the words that I’m typing now, you’ll see a picture of the lovely Pollyanna, taken at Gadget Show Live – Note that the fingers belong to Pete.
We’d love to tell you more about Polly – but we can’t.
And that’s because yesterday, her Wikipedia page was removed.
We were alerted to this by listener Steve L (thanks Steve), and on checking, sure enough, her page has been zapped by the powers that be at Wikipedia. The stated reason is as follows:
“Only a handful of tabloid lifestyle pieces of no significance. The Gadget Show is high-profile itself but her presence on the team has yet to generate independent impact.”
From Polly’s own website, www.pollyannawoodward.com, we learn that Pollyanna’s made over 4,500 hours of telly, was a finalist in Popstars the Rivals, was a Miss England finalist, as well as some tabloid and FHM coverage. It seems, at least to us, that this Nottinghamshire-born lass has every right to be on Wikipedia with her credentials, especially given some of the personal vanity pages you’ll find on Wikipedia.
We note that pages for the other honourable show presenters Suzi Perry, Jason Bradbury, Jon Bentley and Ortis Deley remain intact. Even former presenter Dallas Campbell has a Wiki page.
Why do we care?
Well, we can sympathise with young Polly, as our own FrequencyCast Wikipedia entry was zapped in July of this year. The reason for our removal was that we’re an “unremarkable podcast” (sob), with another reviewer nothing that Frequencycast “Does appear to have won an award, however the article does not assert any other notability.”
Despite the fact that our shows have been running for five years, and we now have almost 3 listeners, we know we’re a small minnow in a huge online ocean – Polly, however, isn’t. Although FrequencyCast is unloved by the Wiki Mods, at least we’re in good company though.
Our SaveGadgetPolly Campaign?
We think Pollyanna deserves a Wikipedia entry, along with her untouched colleagues on The Gadget Show – Hence “#SaveGadgetPolly” (her Twitter ID is GadgetPolly). After we tweeted our first “Save GadgetPolly” message, regular listener Rob Dickson replied with “How do we save her?”. It was at this point that we realised our campaign had hit a stumbling block.
At the moment, our campaign consists of us here at FrequencyCast HQ uniting with Polly by raising a fist and quietly mumbling “Damn you Wikipedia Mods!” Hardly consists of a major campaign – but we know we hold the moral high ground!
Anything to say? Please tweet your support with the hashtag #savegadgetpolly , or add a comment below.
Yours,
FrequencyCast… unloved by Wiki…
Maybe a picture of Pollyanna in a blue bikini from the Gadget Show titles would convince people more than one of her being groped by Pete! OK, I’m just jealous!
It seems Wikipedia is loosing sight of its origins. The implication is that you have to be big, rich or famous to stay in ?? I thought that Wikipedia was a repository of knowledge for the planet not any sort of league table. History written by the victors??
You need some ‘bigging up’ !!!