Timely warnings about climate change

It revealed that he had been quietly removing or rewriting the history of the 1970s global cooling scare from Wikipedia, the world's most influential and accessed information source.

The Telegraph reported, "All told, Connolley created or rewrote 5,428 unique Wikipedia articles. His control over Wikipedia was greater still through the role he obtained at Wikipedia as a website administrator, which allowed him to act with virtual impunity. When Connolley didn't like the subject of a certain article, he removed it – more than 500 articles of various descriptions disappeared at his hand. When he disapproved of the arguments that others were making, he often had them barred – over 2,000 Wikipedia contributors who ran afoul of him found themselves blocked from making further contributions."

It continued, "Acolytes whose writing conformed to Connolley's global warming views, in contrast, were rewarded with Wikipedia's blessings. In these ways, Connolley turned Wikipedia into the missionary wing of the global warming movement."

It will come as no surprise to learn that Connolley has been an unsuccessful UK Green Party candidate.

Eventually, the outcry against Connolley was so great that he was limited by Wikipedia to making just one edit a day. The "Journal of Science Communications in 2009 noted " ... a Wikipedia arbitration in which it was concluded that Connolley had used administrator privileges to his own advantage in content disputes and these privileges were removed.

Connolley and Wikipedia parted company that year but his influence has continued and his campaign to erase inconvenient truths has been embraced by others.