Crowdsourcing? That’s a name we haven’t heard around these parts since 2011 or so, when the New York Times sent an open invitation to readers to spend the weekend helping sift through more than 24,000 of Sarah Palin’s emails in search of juicy dirt.
If we remember correctly, that fishing expedition turned out to be a bit of a bust, which might explain why the mainstream media seemed to sour on crowdsourcing — taking a hard pass, for example, on having readers scour a dump of some 30,000 “lost” emails from former IRS official Lois Lerner, which then turned up on hundreds of disaster recovery tapes.
Just like fact-checking, crowdsourcing is now cool again, and the Huffington Post is thrilled to have hundreds of volunteer muckrakers busily verifying donors to President Trump’s inaugural. Really, it’s a party atmosphere out there the likes of which hasn’t been seen since those pussy hat knitting bees.
Right now 100 volunteers + 6 editors are collaborating to verify the identity of Trump's inaugural donors. Join us! https://t.co/Dna3e25KEN
— Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) April 21, 2017
This is great work by @christinawilkie. Join in! https://t.co/9tQ5yR7gWE
— David Fahrenthold (@Fahrenthold) April 20, 2017
Join the hunt and help us investigate Trump's inauguration donors! https://t.co/2Q9oWry9t0
— Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) April 20, 2017
If you want to volunteer some time to help track the donors to Trump's Inauguration, here's the master doc to track findings https://t.co/skJYV773bi
— gmcustodio (@gmcustodio) April 20, 2017
I made a public sheet so all you awesome volunteer researchers can keep track of what you find. Just add a comment: https://t.co/Dna3e25KEN
— Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) April 20, 2017
Awesome effort. https://t.co/s4oKrll04L
— Charles Ornstein (@charlesornstein) April 20, 2017
You are boss. Thank you for this digging!
— Seth Grimes (@Seth4MC) April 20, 2017
But seriously folks, we don’t have a problem with a news outlet attempting to verify donors — its what reporters are supposed to do, right? And there does seem to be reason for suspicion.
Hidden Donor: #Trump inaugural donation faked in name of 98 yo 'Hidden Figures' #NASA hero https://t.co/kSuHzPIli7 @lhfang @christinawilkie pic.twitter.com/9MImCGocWP
— David Beard (@dabeard) April 20, 2017
The thing is, we’re old enough to remember the last few months, when just about every major paper and news site announced the new crack investigative team it had assembled to monitor the Trump administration. Maybe they could do the heavy lifting?
Let’s see how things are going so far:
Does anyone know an "Isabel T. John," from Englewood, NJ? It appears she gave $400,000 to Trump's inaugural, but I can't find records of her pic.twitter.com/KIt1cjL27F
— Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) April 20, 2017
A fascinating find by @christinawilkie whose work & determination I love
Journalism lives on thanks to her & ppl like those replying to her https://t.co/RelZ1Xp4LD— (((el gat català))) (@3parenthesescat) April 20, 2017
I NEED TO KNOW WHO THIS IS. Godspeed, @christinawilkie. https://t.co/a8e5NABYc1
— Steven Rich (@dataeditor) April 20, 2017
Who is "Isabel T. John?" #IsabelJohn #trumpcampaigncontribution https://t.co/ZeEoe8TyJ1
— Michelle Moebius (@MoebiusMichelle) April 20, 2017
@maddow There is a lady looking for a Isabel T. John who donated $400.000 to Trump's campaign who can't be located. Her donation is recorded
— NCcharmer (@CarolPiner67) April 21, 2017
https://twitter.com/Pamela_M072/status/855139722603012096
Nailed it.
Got the John and the T (John and Trump, see the other tweets) now, who is Isabel, one of trumps nannies?
— Sezwho (@Walsh3Sezwho) April 20, 2017
A few years back the Supreme Court said corporations are people too. Maybe Citibank or LG Electronics changed its name to Isabel T. John.
— Ornery One (@Ornery1951) April 20, 2017
I think it might be a John and Isabel T___ w/out a last name – so sketchy
— alice coffee (@alicecoffee33) April 20, 2017
There's a John T Isabel in Arkansas.
— Betty Margo Lago❄️ (@nosey_betty) April 20, 2017
BOMBSHELL.
There's John T. Isabel in Arkansas. Background doesn't suggest such a big donation, but hey, worth calling. Also Isabel Jahn in diff NJ town
— GSG (@gsgtweet) April 21, 2017
Essentially, if your name is any combination of John and Isabel and your phone rings a lot this weekend, now you know why.
Just spoke to LG's John Taylor, who some readers thought was the donor behind the $400,000 from "Isabel T. John." It's not him, nor is it LG
— Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) April 20, 2017
Lots of Trump inaugural donors still left to verify. Help us hold powerful people accountable by fact-checkng names. https://t.co/Dna3e25KEN
— Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) April 21, 2017
Volunteering sounds good, but what happened to the $15 an hour living wage?
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Related:
Developing: HuffPo reporter's keen eye uncovers bunch of white guys at a Trump thing https://t.co/2YIzFQrko2
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) March 28, 2017
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