On Mon, May 23, 2011 at 11:52 AM, Fred Bauder <fredbaud(a)fairpoint.net> wrote:
We don't exist to fix the real world - we
exist to report on it
accurately. Many of the things we report on are unfortunate. An IMF
candidate who alledgedly raped a hotel maid, a tornado that killed 89
plus people, a terrorist attack in Pakistan and several ongoing and
incipient wars, these are other unfortunate things that make the
neologism Santorum pale in comparison.
--
-george william herbert
I think you miss the point. Malice can make even publication of true
information about a public figure actionable. Participation of a
nonprofit corporation in political activity poses problems. I'm not sure
what happened here but we need to look at it carefully and evaluate our
level of participation in creation and dissemination of this "word".
The word was created in its neologistic sense, propogated, and became
popular / infamous without Wikipedia's help. Google was a large part,
and blogging, but we really weren't.
I don't discount that Wikipedia is at times used promotionally,
sometimes with negative BLP impacts, but in this case it was a real
world phenomenon not something driven by WP editors. The article
seems balanced to me, particularly presenting Santorum's objections in
a responsible and reasonably positive light.
--
-george william herbert
george.herbert(a)gmail.com