[WikiEN-l] Advice needed
Guy Chapman
guy.chapman at spamcop.net
Wed Feb 15 23:15:02 UTC 2006
This is the latest in the on-again, off-again history of Brian Peppers on
Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Brian_Peppers_%286th_nomination%29
Peppers is a fad on YTMND and Fark, for reasons which are obvious from this
link:
http://pepperstruth.ytmnd.com/
The problem is, he is notable *solely* because a number of people on the net
have chosen to laugh at his freakish appearance, apparently the result of a
congential deformity.
No, even that's not the problem, the *real* problem is that a lot of people
are determined that we should have an article on him, but the sources for
the fact that he is disabled, lives in a n ursing home, poses no threat to
the community and appears only to be on the offenders' register as a result
of an inappropriate contact with a nurse/carer, is from a source which is
less reliable than Snopes (http://www.snopes.com/photos/people/peppers.asp).
So it seems unavoidable that we will participate in the memtic process,
because we can't say what a lot of us want to say (that Peppers is a
disabled man, suffers from a congenital deformity, was convicted of a
technical offence and is known almost exclusively because his photograph
became an In ternet freak-sho exhibit).
People insist on the article, clamour for the picture, and revert edits
which emphasise Peppers' status as a big-time loser in the lottery of life -
possibly because I can't write these edits in a way whihc adequately coneals
my absolute contempt for those who exploit Peppers' picture ad an object of
derision.
Should I just forget it? Or ar we (either me or those who want the article
restored) missing some vital point of policy?
Guy
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