[Foundation-l] Interesting legal action - Wikimedia-l

23 May 2011


      My experience at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Database_reports/Living_people_on_EN_...
is that however famous a sportsperson was in the 40s, 50s and 60s,
getting a reliable source to confirm their death is not always easy.
Hence we have quite a backlog where a non-English wikipedia thinks
someone is dead but we don't yet have a reliable source to justify
changing EN wiki. I'm pretty sure that an email address for the same
age group would be much harder, especially if they are still alive and
have not yet had an obituary published about them; or we don't have
anyone in the relevant task group who is confident to deal with
sources in that particular language.
People notable for a something in the last year or two probably would
be easier to get hold of, but I don't think the proposal is only for
these unspecified volunteers to do this where it is easy to do so.
WereSpielChequers
...
Message: 3
Date: Mon, 23 May 2011 14:28:11 +0100
From: FT2 ft2.wiki@gmail.com
Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Interesting legal action
To: Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List
       foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Message-ID: BANLkTinaY0mykAd_-C-wOG=jR_+QoH2h7A@mail.gmail.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
A specific email address isn't always available but virtually anyone notable
will have a method of contact that can be found fairly quickly.
Businesspeople have a business, academics have their university website,
politicians and high ranking officials have a political website or
governmental office, authors have a publisher, and a vast number of people
have an easily located personal website, agent, or known organization they
are closely affiliated with. Even alleged criminals have a lawyer or a means
of contact. The kind of stuff needed for contact details is almost always
noted in any "keepable" BLP, or a minute's web searching.
A few may need Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, but I suspect not many.  Only a
very small minority will not be easily identified with a means of email or
other direct contact within a few minutes.
Worth it, I think.
FT2