I’m set up to receive alerts when a few Wikipedia pages update, and I noticed an unusual amount of activity on the Volvox page. Turns out someone has been vandalizing the article. At one point, the first line read

”Volvoxiousmaximous”, discovered by Paul Hirn in 1869, is a polyphyletic blue jeans in the volvocine rainbow algae clade…

The account responsible has since been banned as a “Vandalism-only account.” I debated posting this out of concern for giving attention to trolls, but it’s unlikely the vandal reads this blog.

While we’re on the subject, I’ll take the opportunity to point out that the Volvox page is pretty minimal compared to, say, the C. elegans page. It might be worthwhile for some of us in the Volvox community to beef it up a bit: diversity, development, biogeography (Alexey?), motility…

I’m in the middle of a particularly hectic month right now, but I’ll try to put some time into it in February.