On 5/31/07, Nick Wilkins nlwilkins@gmail.com wrote:
On 5/31/07, Andrew Gray shimgray@gmail.com wrote:
So, reading wikien-l in one window, and browsing random-article with the other, I came across:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Jews_in_politics
"This List of Jews contains individuals who, in accordance with Wikipedia's verifiability and no original research policies, have been identified as Jews by reliable sources."
Given the context of the ongoing discussion about wilfuly outing people... is it just me who finds that wording, hmm, a touch odd? Discuss.
I would interpret it as meaning that Wikipedia editors *aren't* "outing" people, but only reporting what they find in other (published, reliable) sources. Kind of a "don't go digging into anyone's grandmother's birth records to see if they're Jewish" sort of thing. Of course, that would make it redundant with, you know, the site-wide policies it refers to. Though I imagine that a not-so-gentle reminder might be necessary for such a list.
Indeed, that was the point of the notice, since the project is filled with these lists, 90% of which are almost completely unsourced, and pruning these lists of unsourced items is almost impossible, since people come along and revert you when you do. For some reason people feel that these lists are immune from Wikipedia policy, and instead feel that they can invent various idiosyncratic criteria for inclusion.