[WikiEN-l] "Suicide methods" article

[Christopher G. Parham]

On 4/16/2007 1:53 PM, Newyorkbrad (Wikipedia) wrote:
> During discussion of the deletion review for [[Darvon cocktail]] today on
> WT:DRV, it was mentioned that En-WP has an article called [[Suicide
> methods]].  After reading this article in detail, I have spent the morning
> contemplating whether I consider it acceptable that Wikipedia is
> disseminating this article on the Internet.  I have concluded that I do
> not.  In many respects, this article could be used as a how-to guide by
> someone contemplating suicide and/or could lead such a person to infer that
> suicide is a reasonable response to whatever may be bothering him or her.
> While some other portions of the article may be relatively common knowledge
> or background information, I do not see how the article could be maintained
> in an acceptable state without permanently protecting it.
>
> I was astonished to read that this article has been put up for AfD three
> times and has been closed as keep, once speedily, on each occasion,
> sometimes with indignation at the prospect of its deletion.  I do, however,
> believe that our sensitivity to our obligations as one of the ten leading
> websites in the world has increased in recent months.
>
> I consider myself a rather conventional and non-rouge type of editor and
> administrator but it is requiring a supreme effort of willpower not to
> perform an immediate IAR speedy deletion of this article on the ground that
> it represents an imminent threat to human life and safety whose
> existence tends to place the project in disrepute.  I have no desire to
> create drama, but I am gravely troubled and would welcome comments from
> other Wikipedians.
>
> Newyorkbrad
I think your concerns are misplaced. The threat to human life and safety 
posed by this article is effectively zero. Our obligation is to present 
the facts in an encyclopedic fashion (and this article requires 
improvement to meet that obligation). Deleting articles because of an 
illusory sense that they are dangerous doesn't help us follow that 
obligation and doesn't help anyone who uses the encyclopedia.

--Chris