[WikiEN-l] BADSITES ArbCom case in progress

[fredbaud at waterwiki.info]

>-----Original Message-----
>From: John Lee [mailto:johnleemk at gmail.com]
>Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2007 05:44 PM
>To: 'English Wikipedia'
>Subject: Re: [WikiEN-l] BADSITES ArbCom case in progress
>
>On 9/20/07, fredbaud at waterwiki.info <fredbaud at waterwiki.info> wrote:
>>
>> We do not have an exception to [[Wikipedia:No personal attacks]] which
>> permits linking to a personal attack on an external web site.
>>
>> Fred
>
>
>So it is legal to link to a diff of an on-WP personal attack for the purpose
>of discussing that attack (e.g. an RfC), but it is somehow wrong to link to
>an off-WP personal attack for exactly the same purpose?
>
>Johnleemk

Depends on the nature of the off-wiki material. Usually we know who made the on-wiki attack and have a diff of the editor making it. Linking to the off-wiki site makes it difficult to know who placed the material there and may raise questions about how well founded the information is. Suppose the off wiki site (maintained for years) concerned the sneaky activities of your sockpuppets? Suppose another editor on Wikipedia repeatedly linked to those pages, brought the subject up every few weeks, etc.? Suppose none of this checks out, but they keep on and on.

Fred