In a message dated 10/22/2008 8:11:34 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, arromdee@rahul.net writes:
If our policy demands that someone corrects errors about themselves by getting the correct information published in a secondary source first, that policy is broken.
It is doubly broken if the justification for this policy is that a secondary source would do fact-checking, when most secondary sources in this situation wouldn't.
Having conflict of interest rules prevent someone from correcting errors about himself is another broken policy.>> --------------------------- Firstly, our articles are not about "corrections" because they are not about "errors". Attribution isn't truth, so it can't be in error. The only way for an attribution to be in error is to mis-quote it. Making it a meta-error. The error being about the wording, not about the underlying meaning. We do not require someone to publish in a secondary source in order to quote them. We quote primary sources as well. However the essential point should be raised first in a secondary source, and then the primary source can be used to enlarge or clarify the secondary.
Secondly, we do not assume that a secondary source "would do fact-checking". Rather our policy clearly (or should clearly) state that we *use* those secondary sources who *are known for* doing fact-checking. Just because "News of the World" is a newspaper does not mean we consider it a reliable source. So it would fail.
Thirdly our COI rules do not prevent a person from changing their own biography. We only request that they change it in a way consistent with the way other editors must work. That is, that they become "expert editors" of their own biography, using sources.
Finally, as others have pointed out, we have no way of knowing whether an editor is who-they-claim-to-be. So they should, firstly, post their material to their own *official* website and then perhaps it can be quoted. This has happened in many cases. If they decline, then that is not our concern, apparently it's not important enough for them to do the obvious.
Will Johnson **************Play online games for FREE at Games.com! All of your favorites, no registration required and great graphics – check it out! (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1211202682x1200689022/aol?redir= http://www.games.com?ncid=emlcntusgame00000001)