Call from a local paper, the Tameside Reporter, about edits to an article about a local council member and about a motorway bypass:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Oldham http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longdendale_Bypass
The article about the councillor has been locked (by Doc glasgow) since late April. The bypass article is being heavily edited.
Key soundbites:
* It's an encyclopedia, not investigative journalism. * With biographies of living people, we have to really consider what's important to put in them. We don't want a hatchet job or just praise. If they died tomorrow, what would be important enough to put in their biography? That sort of thing. * Living biographies are about 90% of our biographies, which are 35% of the one and a half milliion articles." (Numbers from a quick count by Danny a while ago; may be completely wrong now.) * Contentious current issues are difficult. We don't want to be an activist platform or an anti-activist platform. * It's a live working draft of an encyclopedia, not so much a finished product. Always check the history tab when looking at an article.
So if we ever see the article, I've given him lots to go on :-)
Does anyone on this list live in the area, and would you be able to get hold of a copy? Should be appearing soonish.
- d.