On 4/16/2007 1:53 PM, Newyorkbrad (Wikipedia) wrote:
During discussion of the deletion review for [[Darvon
cocktail]] today on
WT:DRV, it was mentioned that En-WP has an article called [[Suicide
methods]]. After reading this article in detail, I have spent the morning
contemplating whether I consider it acceptable that Wikipedia is
disseminating this article on the Internet. I have concluded that I do
not. In many respects, this article could be used as a how-to guide by
someone contemplating suicide and/or could lead such a person to infer that
suicide is a reasonable response to whatever may be bothering him or her.
While some other portions of the article may be relatively common knowledge
or background information, I do not see how the article could be maintained
in an acceptable state without permanently protecting it.
I was astonished to read that this article has been put up for AfD three
times and has been closed as keep, once speedily, on each occasion,
sometimes with indignation at the prospect of its deletion. I do, however,
believe that our sensitivity to our obligations as one of the ten leading
websites in the world has increased in recent months.
I consider myself a rather conventional and non-rouge type of editor and
administrator but it is requiring a supreme effort of willpower not to
perform an immediate IAR speedy deletion of this article on the ground that
it represents an imminent threat to human life and safety whose
existence tends to place the project in disrepute. I have no desire to
create drama, but I am gravely troubled and would welcome comments from
other Wikipedians.
Newyorkbrad
I think your concerns are misplaced. The threat to human life and
safety
posed by this article is effectively zero. Our obligation is to present
the facts in an encyclopedic fashion (and this article requires
improvement to meet that obligation). Deleting articles because of an
illusory sense that they are dangerous doesn't help us follow that
obligation and doesn't help anyone who uses the encyclopedia.
--Chris