[WikiEN-l] Attack blogs in WP:LIVING articles

[david at election.demon.co.uk]

Charles R. Matthews writes:
>
>Some tension between your two points, here. Milton, we assume, commented
>on the blog, i.e. she reacted to its existence. 

Would it not be more accurate to say she reacted to its contents? For
instance I don't suppose she would have reacted, or the blog would have
been noticed, if its criticism was limited to (e.g.) her dress sense.

>There might be some cause to include the blog in the article if her
>reaction had been extreme (e.g. legal measures). But if it is being
>argued that her reaction was in any sense over-reaction, then indeed
>including the blog in the Milton article is a negative comment ("MP
>lashes back at blogger shock", in tabloid terms); and so the BLP
>guideline is relevant. 

Hmm. Quite difficult, that one, since WP:NPOV applies. The article does
report Milton as having refused to discuss the blog contents and having 
described Tim Ireland dismissively. Is that an over-reaction? Almost
certainly not. Does that engage WP:BLP? Probably not, although even if 
it did, the sources are adequate to keep it. The report from Sandra 
Howard, which might be considered an over-reaction and probably does
engage WP:BLP, isn't included. However, the fact that it is not 
included in the article doesn't mean we dismiss it from our thoughts
when assessing the noteworthiness of the blog.

>This only makes for Milton's notability if politicians rarely do this. 

I do not see the relevance. As I pointed out before, the issue is not
Milton's notability (she's automatically notable as an MP) but whether
a critical blog is noteworthy. That depends on whether the criticism
is targeted at the reason she is notable, or at some other aspect, and
here it is unquestionably targeted at her political activity.

>I really think, outside the rather airless atmosphere of Westminster
>politics, this gets the big 'so what?'.

I think we're discussing the blue-rinsed atmosphere of Guildford politics.
Does "so what?" apply to the blog or the debate over the blog, though?

david at election.demon.co.uk - Ta fys aym

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