On 3/11/06, geni <geniice(a)gmail.com> wrote:
On 3/11/06, Jimmy Wales <jwales(a)wikia.com>
wrote:
It is not just about legalities, but also about
common human courtesy
and good customer service. If you are thinking of this as "the
foundation against the community" then you're not thinking of it in the
way that I'm thinking of it, so let me explain further.
The people we are writeing articles about are not customers.
Perhaps that isn't quite the right word, but they're living people
with whom, by choosing to write about them in our encyclopedia, we
have initiated a relationship.
We owe them a moral duty to be factual and fair, and this duty also
jibes well with our aim of writing a great encyclopedia.
In the interests of the encyclopedia, we should also take reasonable
steps to avoid any problems in our relationship with them escalating
to the point where they completely lose confidence in our willingness
to listen to their complaints. We could, after all, be in the wrong.
Being the number one reference site in the world packs a sting, both
ways.
Wikipedia is not a news site, it has no deadline. We can afford to
put things away temporarily in order to facilitate discussion.
Takedown is not only a recognised way of responding to legal
complaints, it's also very good practise in public relations even
where there are no legal issues.