
Some of you know that much of our material on John Major Jenkins' drug use was originally written for the Wikipedia article about him. (Disclaimer: I was the author.) That material was initially allowed by Wikipedia after an edit war in which an apparent Jenkins supporter made wild accusations of collusion against me.
However, Wikipedia suddenly changed the rules after someone (unidentified) contacted them about the article. Wikipedia now called the Hallucinogen section "junk", and deleted it, ruling that Jenkins' own writings could not be used as sources on his advocacy and extensive use of hallucinogens. (ca. 20 July 2010)
I hadn't looked at that article since, until I did a web search recently for the string "2012hoax", to find sites where we're mentioned. One of the sites was a debunking blog that quoted from our Jenkins page. The blogger was used to seeing Jenkins presented as a "pure science" person on TV, and was therefore quite surprised to learn of Jenkins' drug use.
That blog motivated me to see what the Wikipedia article now says about him. Not only is the "Hallucinogens" section still missing; Wikipedia's editors and one administrator had decided that that information is irrelevant, since "it's not what Jenkins is known for". A few examples of their reasoning:
I'm not sure that information (true or not) is any more relevant to his bio than mentioning that he advocates drinking coffee in the mornings, or taking vitamins before bed. (comment by "Eskimo", 20:38, 21 July 2010)
Fully agree with The Eskimo's comments here. Whatever JMJ's position on hallucinogen advocacy might be is beside the point. That's not what he's known for, and whatever that personal position is it has nothing to do with whether or not his calendric ideas & 2012 millenarian writings (ie, basis for notability) are correct, or accepted. (CJLL Wright, Wikipedia editor and administrator, whose current focus of activity is on Wikipedia's Precolumbian Mesoameria articles, and the Wikiproject Mesoamerica, 04:04, 22 July 2010).
Interesting, the amount of attention that that article suddenly attracted from Wikipedia officials after Wikipedia was contacted about it.
It's astounding that Wikipedia denied seeing "advocacy" in Jenkins' clear statement that all human beings (especially heads of state!) should experience natural hallucinogens. It's also interesting that Wikipedia wouldn't accept Jenkins' own verifiable, on-line writings as a source on his drug use (for example this one, cited in the 12:53, 17 July 2010 version), but does accept his online writings regarding deficiencies of the conventional explanation for precession.
By the way, I wonder who contacted Wikipedia?
"I was glad to be able to answer him promptly and with confidence. Without hesitation, I told him I didn't know." Mark Twain