On 3/30/07, doc doc.wikipedia@ntlworld.com wrote:
But I say again, legal concerns are not the biggest worry.
There is publicity. How long before the media get wind of a case of some innocent person who gets screwed by Wikipedia? Stressful reputation-wrecking libels lie for weeks - John Doe eventually sees them and complains - the complaint lies for days on OTRS - the material is removed - but nothing credible done to prevent its replacement three days later. - Then how do we fancy the headline: "Wikipedia-induced suicide: in a final note John Doe blames the on-line encyclopedia"?
Then forget about the publicity and ask yourself about the ethics of all of this. As a byproduct of the encyclopedia, we are hurting real people, can we not do more to prevent it?
Aside from the legal and moral issues, the public may not want to keep on giving money to an organization that's seen to have caused preventable harm to individuals.