[WikiEN-l] What can be done to let users fix it themselves?

[Oldak Quill]

On 03/04/07, Ken Arromdee <arromdee at rahul.net> wrote:
> After a post here mentioned it, I went to WP:COI and WP:AUTO.
>
> These two articles seem to promote the view that you're not supposed to edit
> an article about yourself.
>
> However, WP:BLP seems to suggest that you can to remove libel or unsourced
> material, and it's a common refrain to complaints about Wikipedia, "why didn't
> you just fix the article yourself?"
>
> It just isn't consistent to both expect people to fix the article about
> themselves, and expect them not to, at the same time.  It's true, of course,
> that neither WP:AUTO nor WP:COI are absolute prohibitions, but they discourage
> it in *such* strong terms that anyone who comes to Wikipedia with a complaint
> about an article about themselves and stumbles across either guideline,
> will think that fixing the article isn't allowed.  The subtlety that
> "strongly discouraged" doesn't mean "prohibited", or that even a new user
> is permitted to violate a guideline, is something they'll completely miss.
>
> How can this be fixed?  I complained on the COI talk page and nobody seems
> to care.  And I suspect just editing the guidelines myself would be reverted
> within the hour.

If you propose an exemption where the policies conflict, I'm sure most
would support you.

-- 
Oldak Quill (oldakquill at gmail.com)