Hollis/Brookline rivalry pops up on Wikipedia

You never know where cross-border town rivalries will crop up: on the high school playing field, in the Legislature – or on Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that anybody can edit.

Case in point: The Wikipedia article about Hollis suddenly included the sentence “It is better than brookline” (including the lack of capitalization).

That snub, posted by an anonymous contributor, lasted about two hours last Thursday before it was reverted and harmony restored between these two neighbors.

Such vandalism is common on Wikipedia, as is its relatively speedy undoing.

Because it’s so easy to create and edit in Wikipedia, the site contains articles about virtually every town in New Hampshire.

They are of erratic quality but can contain surprising detail, depending on how many local folks have contributed. Milford’s article, for example, notes that the Boys & Girls Club is in the former home of American Stage Festival, and Mont Vernon’s article discusses why the town name doesn’t have a “u” in it.