OMAHA, Neb. — Skutt Catholic High School has filed a lawsuit over an edit posting on Wikipedia, the online, publicly compiled encyclopedia.

School administrators take a dim view of these and other lines about the school:

“It’s (sic) tuition is ridiculously high, too. Not to mention you get an awful education there. They put more emphasis on sports than they do education. No wonder almost all kids there are complete idiots.”

That opinion showed up in June on http://www.wikipedia.org. And Skutt officials say there have been three other objectionable entries since February. They include sharp criticism of Skutt principal Patrick Slattery, obscene language and a note about drug use by students.

Since Wikipedia debuted in 2001, it has grown to 2 ½ million entries in 10 languages.

Thousands of changes are made every hour to Wikipedia items, and contributors are charged with editing themselves and others. All viewers need do to change an entry is click “edit this page” and do so.

Skutt officials can’t tell who posted the entries they’ve zeroed in on, so the Douglas County District Court suit names a John and Jane Doe.

The Internet addresses belong to Cox Communications, and a spokeswoman said the company intends to comply with a subpoena for the names of the posters.

Whether the Skutt lawsuit prevails is uncertain as the law sorts out the inherent conflict between free speech and damaging opinion in the usually anonymous realm of cyberspace.

“The law is a mixed bag right now,” said John Seigenthaler, a retired journalist and founder of the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. “I can understand how anybody feels pain, but it’s still a very difficult row to hoe.”

Seigenthaler said it took months to get statements about him removed from a Wikipedia page.

The Skutt lawsuit says it has suffered general damages that would be determined at trial.

“These particular edits were really harmful and mean-spirited,” said Patrick Flood, a lawyer for Skutt.

Once Skutt officials find out who posted the entries and why, they will proceed accordingly, he said.

Federal law protects online service providers.

“They are just the vehicle” for other people’s information, said Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. “Basically, the more control you have (over the information), the more risk you have.”

On its site, Wikipedia tells users that “it is a valuable resource and provides a good reference point.” But, it says, “unfamiliar information should be checked before relying upon it.”

Inappropriate comments sometimes are removed, said Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales in an e-mail interview with the Omaha World-Herald.

He said such postings are rare, and wondered why Skutt officials hadn’t contacted him.

Attempts to reach Skutt officials and their lawyer were unsuccessful.