38Talk:

A few days ago I checked in on the Wikipedia page for the Charles W. Morgan. For the past five years, I have visited it once every six months or so to see if anyone has worked on it. It's a fairly bad article, and it's an interesting example of Mystic Seaport's continuing problems. Many institutions and organizations hire staff to maintain their Wikipedia pages because of their huge importance on the Internet (if you "google" almost any clearly-defined subject, including the Charles W. Morgan, the Wikipedia article on that subject will be in the top two or three links returned). Journalists, other media, educators, students, potential museum visitors, potential museum donors, and the merely curious all read Wikipedia articles. Unfortunately, Mystic Seaport has ignored their various Wikipedia pages or has failed at whatever maintenance has been attempted. While this article includes weirdly trivial details about the hauling of the Morgan from Colonel Green's estate, its entire coverage of the "38th Voyage" reads as follows: "During the summer of 2014 the Morgan sailed its 38th voyage around Southern New England and visited its port of origin in New Bedford, MA." That's it. And that's a failure.

-FER