[WikiEN-l] Right to anonymity and Autobiographies

[Stephen Park]

Currently Wikipedia has a policy protecting individuals who use pseudonyms
from being "outed" and having their legal names revealed. I think this is
generally a good policy and I use it myself since I edit using a pseudonym.

The problem is when use of a pseudonym allows individuals to surreptitiously
edit an article on themselves in a self-promotional or at least a
self-interested way. The guideline in WP:AUTO is that individuals are
discouraged from editing in an autobiographical manner and that if they do
so it's a "good idea" if they identify themselves. However, if they don't,
anyone who suspects someone of editing autobiographically is restrained from
voicing their suspicions, even if they have very strong evidence, by
WP:HARASSMENT's prohibition against "outing" people.

I think we should allow people to maintain their anonymity but that there
needs to be an understanding that if you want to be anonymous you can't take
advantage of that anonymity by editing an article on yourself ie your right
to anonymity ends once you transgress WP:AUTO.

What do people think about have a policy (say as part of BLP) that states
that any editor who edits a biographical article on themselves must identify
disclose that they are doing so and modifying WP:HARASS in order to create
an exception to the "no posting of private information" rule in the case
where someone is editing an autobiographical article surreptitiously? And
how should this be permitted? Should editors be permitted to ask CheckUsers
to verify that a suspected auotobiographer's location is consistent with
that of the person they're writing about? Should editors be permitted to go
to WP:ANI or WP:Request for Arbitration and voice a concern that someone is
editing autobiographically without declaring themselves?

Stephen