[Foundation-l] Most read US newpaper blasts Wikipedia

[Fred Bauder]

Legal liability (which we would be foolish not to minimize) and doing  
what is responsible and considerate are two different things. For one  
thing we need some kind of hot line (not the overloaded Help-l) for  
collecting and dealing with this sort of complaint. Once alerted, we  
could do a fact check and delete material that is unsourced, or phony- 
sourced. This should not require a lot of rigamarole, after all, it  
is a part of regular editing to remove information that can't be  
verified.

Fred

On Nov 30, 2005, at 11:35 AM, Poe, Marshall wrote:

>
>
>
> Mark wrote:
>
>
>> And in this case, I don't see how ethical issues enter into it at  
>> all.
>>
>
> Like this: deciding what you are going to say and what you aren't  
> going
> to say is on some level an ethical or moral decision.  Similarly,
> deciding what you are going publish and what you aren't going to  
> publish
> is an ethical or moral decision.  Now, we can deny this, but denial
> doesn't make it so.  In the case of the offended party in USAToday, WP
> (whoever that is) facilitated the publication of arguably libelous
> statements. Those statements harmed that individual. I can't speak for
> you, but this makes me uncomfortable.
>
>
>> If the biography is inaccurate, it should be edited, and in fact  
>> anyone
>>
> (including the
>
>> offended person) can do so.  The ability to sue whoever first made it
>>
> inaccurate is
>
>> superfluous.
>>
>
> Maybe, but as someone said earlier, what if he hadn't found the  
> article?
> What if it had seriously damaged his reputation? What if this damage
> extended to his ability to make a living and support his family?  The
> point about slander and libel is that the damage it does is very  
> hard to
> undo.  Would correcting the article get this man his reputation  
> back? I
> doubt it.
>
> The basic problem here is that no one stands behind the factual claims
> on Wikipedia--no publishers, no editors, no authors, just some  
> amorphous
> and constantly changing "community." I should add that I say this as a
> *big fan* of WP. It worries me.
>
> Best,
>
> Marshall Poe
> The Atlantic Monthly
> www.memorywiki.org
>
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