--- On Tue, 15/3/11, Ray
Saintonge<saintonge(a)telus.net> wrote:
From: Ray Saintonge<saintonge(a)telus.net>
On 03/14/11 5:41 AM, Andreas Kolbe
wrote:
So that would mean exporting all BLPs to a
completely
separate project, like
Commons, which hosts and edits these BLPs, which
are
then available as read-
only pages in Wikipedia. The existing BLPs in
Wikipedia would be deleted,
and any BLPs created in Wikipedia would be
instantly
deleted, or moved to
the other project if they show promise.
Taking that one step further, when the subject of one of
these
biographies dies the article would need to move back; the
proper article
history would also need to move. Moves would also
involve making sure
that a lot of links are repaired.
That sounds complicated. A user right for BLP editing in Wikipedia would
not have these drawbacks. As long as an article is in the living persons
category, editors would need the BLP user right to edit it; once the article
is no longer in the category, it would become open to any and all editors
again.
Incidentally, having the BLP user right would also be a reflection on the
editor's work, and a content-based "badge" to strive for that is separate
from adminship. And something that editors would be loath to lose.
It is not a perfect solution because, as others have pointed out, BLP-
sensitive material is not just contained in BLPs. However, the majority of
BLP problems that subjects are justifiably aggrieved about do occur in
their actual biographies.
The fact that we cannot implement a perfect solution does not mean we should
not implement a solution that would help address a majority of the problems
and would help foster a culture of responsibility.
These special rights for some class of editors is only one more example
of the control freaks wanting to limit the participation of others.
These "badges" just add one more level of bureaucracy. I'm involved
because I generally want want more and better information available to
the public, not to play games striving for status as you are proposing,
nor in the egotistical exercises of bringing an article to feature
status. BLP rules are already a too-rigid set of artificial structures
that are a poor substitute for good judgement.
Ec