If we permit opt out, we will have a situation where we have, for all medium-level people who are somewhat less than famous, favorable bios only. There is no possible way to have both NPOV content and subjects owning the articles on themselves. Whatever way we solve the difficulties with BLP, it shouldn't be turning us into an publicity platform.
On Sun, Dec 28, 2008 at 11:00 PM, Wilhelm Schnotz wilhelm@nixeagle.org wrote:
Perhaps we just need stricter criteria on what makes a *person* notable?
On 12/28/08, Jon scream@datascreamer.com wrote:
Is it really, *our duty* to report it? And at what cost to a living person? I think that for those marginally notable, an opt out is not an "extreme step", not as extreme as my first suggestion.
I'll agree, that it is their life, and their choice to make it public. But must we be the agents of their perpetual embarrassment? Most especially, if their articles are frequent targets of hatcheting and libel. Most especially, if the notability is 'marginal'.
Jon-
WJhonson@aol.com wrote:
<<In a message dated 12/28/2008 7:36:08 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, newyorkbrad@gmail.com writes:
But this response really does not sufficiently take into account the profound impact that our coverage has on the subjects of our articles.>>
And the counter-argument is, if someone has taken the step to become a public person, say the mayor of Santa Cruz, no one is to *blame* for that step except themselves. If we then turn up an article from a newspaper 20 years earlier that states that they were arrested for three DUIs, well, again they did it. The fact that we re-report it, and that we can collect it all together with other tidbits, into a biography, is the mere fact of our project to create a biography on the person.
We aren't here to meekly parrot press releases, that would be a slap in the face of what creating an encyclopedia means.
The "profound impact" is merely that Sarah Palin doesn't want you to dig into her past as reported in reliable sources, once she has become a bigger name than merely the mayor of a tiny Alaskan town. However we do, they do, that's the purpose of writing a biography. "This is your life" it's not our fault you messed it up. It is however our duty to report it. History is not always nice and sweet.
Will Johnson
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