We have a real problem with unsourced defamatory biographies.
This morning, while working on the Help desk, I responded to a letter from Lucianne Goldberg, who wrote seeking a deletion or correction to what she considered to be two highly offensive paragraphs in her biography. I looked at the article and saw that there were severe problems with some of the material in it.
I have edited the article and sourced it as well as replying to her attaching a copy of the article as rewritten by me. I am awaiting her advice as to the specific information that was of concern to her. Once I have the specifics, I will advise further on the matter.
However, the matter that I believe likely to be of most concern was in the original version of the article and has survived for nearly two months with multiple edits. There were no sources provided for the allegation. Frankly, this problem has the potential to be another big problem with Wikipedia.
We need to pay particular attention to the biographies of contemporary biographies especially of controversial figures. In particular, we need to ensure that our articles are scrupulous in citing sources. We need to give instructions to recent changes patrollers to be on the lookout for biographies making negative claims without proper sourcing.
Regards
Keith Old
Keith Old