On 16 November 2012 10:09, Andreas Kolbe jayen466@gmail.com wrote:
On Fri, Nov 16, 2012 at 7:57 AM, Gordon Joly gordon.joly@pobox.com wrote:
On 15/11/12 12:18, Andreas Kolbe wrote:
CIPR CEO Jane Wilson added: 'I recognise that it can be a frustrating process for any organisation with inaccurate information on the site.
'Wikipedia is working on the speed and ease with which simple factual inaccuracies can be amended without compromising the strong stance on conflict. I look forward to the CIPR working with the community more closely on this.'
Can we assume that printed inaccuracies don't figure here? The Oxford Dictionary of Biography and Encyclopaedia Britannica come to mind. At least with (daily) newspapers, corrections can appear in print the next day. With Private Eye, it will take two weeks at least.
You cannot compare the tripe that gets put into Wikipedia with the occasional error that might slip through in Britannica or the ODB. It's worse than the worst tabloid, and that will remain so at least until Wikipedia has flagged revisions.
Indeed the comparisons are not at all valid (neither with traditional reference works, with their infrequent updates - the ODNB does some - nor with traditional media). If they were, we would be arguing in the terms that newspapers with the largest circulations should also be the most careful with BLP material; which is not the case. So perhaps we should desist from making them.
In the future, WP will have to deal with the technical possibilities (various kinds of page protection, revision control, noindexing of pages, and "push" queues of "complaints"). One scenario is that the WMF makes those technicallly available on all its wikis, and the communities then work out the required mixture. The current situation on enWP with respect to revision control is more like a familiar "allowing the best to get in the way of the good".
Charles