On 5/31/07, Nick Wilkins <nlwilkins(a)gmail.com> wrote:
On 5/31/07, Andrew Gray <shimgray(a)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.