[WikiEN-l] Zero information is preferred to misleading or false information

[jf_wikipedia at mac.com]

On May 19, 2006, at 1:24 AM, Erik Moeller wrote:

> Yes. And this is what we used to do before {{fact}} or its synonyms
> became widespread. I think that, because {{fact}} is so easy to tag
> onto something, the practice of moving dubious claims may have
> decreased somewhat in favor of tagging them.  What can we practically
> do to change this? I think policy alone will not be sufficient, given
> how ubiquitous {{fact}} has already become.
>
> Perhaps we need a new tag for claims which should be moved within n
> days unless cited, with its own category for maintenancy. But that
> might further increase the use of tagging as opposed to talk pages.

Curtailing the use of {{fact}} on dubious statements that are  
unsourced or poorly sourced is what we are discussing. [[WP:LIVING]]  
as recently updated by SlimVirgin, UninvitedCompany and others,  
although not policy, cover this subject quite unambiguously:

"We must get the article right. Be very firm about high quality  
references — particularly about details of personal lives. Unsourced  
or poorly sourced negative material about living persons should be  
removed immediately from both the article and the talk page."

Maybe it is time to consider upgrading [[WP:LIVING]] to policy status.

-- Jossi