Plunderathon

Article summary

Plunderathon is an annual pirate-themed festival in Portland, Oregon, United States that usually coincides with Fleet Week or the Rose Festival. Plunderathon is run by a group calling itself "the Infernal Order of Pirates, Buccaneers, Scallywags, and Privateers " that prides itself on a heavy disinformation campaign leading up to the event, often issuing press statements that flatly contradict previous ones and making "historical" claims of Plunderathons from over a century ago. Throughout the event, the designated historian will often be called upon to recite the history of the Order in exchange for rum, which he or she does by making it up on the spot and claiming authenticity. Plunderathon is not tied to any venue or location, but is a mobile combination of a parade, bar crawl and public art spectacle very similar to the CacophonySociety's SantaCon. Participants dress up as pirates, make "ships" out of shopping carts and parade through town for around 10 hours, mostly in the Old Town/Chinatown, Downtown and Vaseline Alley areas. Costumes range from cheap party store items to high-quality theatrical costumes. The 2006 Plunderathon had over 120 pirates and featured a treasure chest-shaped piñata that was full of condoms and a beanbag fight (called "cannonball fight") in the North Park Blocks.…

Key claims

1. release date: 2008 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
2. The record states that the release date is "2008". What evidence would count against this claim?
3. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
4. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1372911955