So I thought we could compile a thread of all the errors we spot on HP Wiki.

Here's one to start us off:

Screenshot of the offending passage:



There's no citation for the bit about Harry becoming Head Auror in 2007, and the citation [20] which is provided to cover the whole section leads to Beyond Hogwarts, a fansite. It just links to the site in general, no particular discussion or canon evidence.

The real deal:

Harry didn't become Head Auror in 2007, he was Head Auror from the end of DH onwards.

http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2007/0730-bloomsbury-chat.html

 

Going through the fansite one finds this quote:

"On October 1, JK named Harry Potter as Wizard of the Month on her official site with this description:

"Harry Potter (1980 - ) The Boy Who Lived, only known survivor of the Avada Kedavra curse and conqueror of Lord Voldemort, also known as Tom Riddle. Harry Potter joined the reshuffled Auror Department under Kingsley Shacklebolt at age 17, rising to become Head of said department in 2007.""

The official wizard of the month website doesn't exist anymore, but Harry Potter Lexicon also refers to it with the same information. Also a screenshot of it exist in the internet.

So I'd guess you're wrong.

 

Still counts as an error because it's not cited correctly, but yes, I suspected there was somewhere a contradictory interview statement. The point is that the HP Wiki, as an encyclopaedia, should be presenting both sources and saying that the issue is confused, not coming up with a fanon narrative that selects between sources.

 

I'd say Taure is right.

The website and its wizards of the months appeared before HBP and DH had been published. Especially these bits can't be considered canon, as they sometimes (and here as well) contradict canon.

 

I'd sooner believe that he became head auror at 26 than right after the defeat of Voldemort with no actual qualifications.

 

The Wiki writes entire articles about irrelevant details from the Lego video games. It's not meant to be taken seriously.

 

Pretty sure Harry's Wizard of the Month snippet didn't appear until after DH was published. The post quoting JK's answer in the interview also did not specify the year in which Harry became head, unlike the Wizard of the Month post, which does.

In this case, I'd go with the official website that includes an actual reference year over a somewhat vague comment made in an interview, that doesn't really say when it was that Kingsley was even officially enstated as Minister, much less when he decided that Harry should be Head of Department. What seems most likely is that Harry became an Auror in the aftermath of DH and, after working for several years, was made HoD after Kingsley officially took office, got shit back together, and things settled down.

 

In this case I think Taure is wrong. While the wiki's source is pretty bad, his source doesn't actually prove Harry became an auror right after DH, just after DH in general. I think it would make more sense if he spent at least a year as an auror before becoming head of the department, even with the new minister backing him.
The wiki should leave it as Harry became head of the auror department at some point after DH.

 

In trying to decide who is right, you're making the exact same error as the HP Wiki. The point is that it's not an encyclopedia's job to decide who is right. A wiki should just present both sides of an issue and leave it at that. Any example of the HP Wiki doing this--proclaiming a certain interpretation as correct, when the issue is in fact ambiguous--is a reason not to trust the Wiki.

Which I remind you is the purpose of this thread.

 

The HPwiki treats the movies as canon. I don't think I need to say more.

 

The movies are canon, to the movies.
And its the HPwiki, not the HPbookswiki.

 

And JKR's interviews are canon to the interviews. Doesnt make them canon over the books,same with the movies.

 

Again, it treats the freaking Lego video games as Canon! Not just the ordinary video games, but the Lego ones.

 

Yeah, I remember that now. The date above the entry Oct. 21, 2007) also shows it appeared after DH.

And, yeah again, that really does make much more sense.

 

I heard the HP Wiki shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die.

It also listed the bestest character Lavender Brown as dead just 'cause the movies killed her. So that site is dead to me. DEAD.

 

http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Unidentified_nose-picking_wizard