Is this a hoax?, (it's been on WP for almost 3 years) Options

[EricBarbour]

In the article about Donagh, there is (still) the following:

There are local tales of a long history of aggressive sheep , in this area. This is believed to have been caused by a curse laid down by St. Patrick for being refused a lamb meal by the landlord of the time, when he visited the area and founded the church many years ago. There is a local legend of men being killed by their herds in the past, and the superstitions drawn from these stories are thought to contribute to the complete lack of any sheep farmers within, and around a considerable radius of Donagh.[citation needed]

Originally inserted, by an IP, in August 2007.

Google shows none of this. Other WP articles show nothing.

If anyone wants to hand out awards for oldest unfixed vandalism, I want mine now. (IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/biggrin.gif)

[gomi]

amateurish vandalism

So the project can't correct "amateurish vandalism" in a timely manner?

obviously not for articles like this one. no one argues that schoolboy vandalism is always quickly removed on obscure articles

One of the distinguishing characteristics of an encyclopedia is comparative accuracy on obscure topics. This is one of many tests that Wikipedia does not meet.

I know of several editors who enjoy this type of harmless "breaching experiment", what one might call "bad geography". It hurts no one to insert in the article on, for example, Chacachacare (T-H-L-K-D) (an obscure island in Trinidad), some random factoid about a ghost ship or mythological belief. The better ones (which I won't reveal here) are sourced with excellent-looking fake sources, something trivial to do on Wikipedia (and anywhere without serious peer review or -- say -- ethics).

So it's a shame this one was caught. I love to add them to my list, it's like bird-watching for wild snipe. But not "schoolboy" at all, I'm afraid. It's a sentinel for far worse things.