Did he or didn't he?: wiki-ing Ken Lay's death

As imperfect as it can be, we love Wikipedia, the DIY online encyclopedia. And part of the reason we love it is that it brings the practice of chronicling the world out in the open — history is being written in real time, as it were, rather than by a bunch of old guys in green celluloid visors at Encyclopaedia Britannica. Case in point: How Wikipedia reacted to yesterday's announcement that Ken Lay had gone to the big energy trading floor in the sky.

Within about half an hour Wednesday morning, Wikipedia's entry on Lay changed eight times, apparently reflecting rumors mixed with a strong dose of opinion. News outlets began reporting Lay's death at about 9 a.m., and at 9:06 the first death note showed up on Wikipedia, saying Lay died "of an apparent suicide" (no cause of death was given in the earliest reports). At 9:08, the entry chnged to report that Lay had died "of an apparent [heart attack] or [suicide]," but that changed within the minute to say that the cause of death had not been determined. At 9:09 a.m., the entry reported that "no further details have been officially released." At 9:11, it was back to suicide, saying that "the guilt of ruining so many lives finally led [Lay] to his suicide." One minute later: "According to Lay's pastor the cause was a 'massive coronary' heart attack." Finally, at 9:39 a.m., the entry said that "speculation as to the cause of the heart attack lead many people to believe it was due to the amount of stress put on him by the Enron trial," a statement that was later dropped and replaced with a report that Lay had suffered a massive heart attack; KHOU was listed as the source.

The entry now says Lay died of coronary artery disease, which the media was reporting Wednesday evening. Wikipedia officials didn't return requests for comment from Reuters yesterday, but we imagine they would have said what Wikipedia has as a disclaimer on its website: "Newer articles may still contain significant misinformation, unencyclopedic content, or vandalism."