[WikiEN-l] Phone calls

[daniwo59 at aol.com]

The Cunctator wrote:
One question: are calls to the Foundation considered confidential? What is  
the standard policy for disclosing the reasons for actions taken by employees 
of  the Foundation with respect to content on  Wikipedia? My understanding  
from the above is that people  who pick up the phone to get things edited on 
Wikipedia get to operate under a  different set of
guidelines from all other contributors.

Danny answers:
    There is no set answer--it all depends on  circumstances. For instance, I 
received a call from a Senator's office  complaining that the number of 
grandchildren he had was 8, not 6. It was fixed.  No need for discussion. No need 
to make a big deal out of it. On the other  hand, I received a call from a 
popular singer that information is misstated-it  is fixed quietly, without 
attracting trolls by announcing it.I receive a call  from a lawyer--the same. I will 
however add this: I spend at least one-third of  my time just answering the 
calls. It is very time consuming, and they come in at  all hours of the day, 
interrupting what I am otherwise doing (donor management,  for instance). I 
CANNOT spend another one-third or more of my time explaining  every phone call to 
the community. There are too many other things that have to  be done. And no, 
phone calls are not treated differently from regular  edits. BUT these are not 
discussions by the community. They are often valid  issues raised by the 
people we write about. I will NOT tell a senator, artist,  news-figure, etc. to 
GOFIXIT. It is our responsibility, not theirs, to get  the information correct. 
These are not contributors--they are the subjects of  whom our contributors 
write.
 
Danny