[WikiEN-l] Analysis of BLP issues (Jimmy Wales should reconsider)

[Daniel R. Tobias]

On 22 Apr 2007 at 15:27:00 +0100, doc <doc.wikipedia at ntlworld.com> 
wrote:

> We're not talking about Brandt and mildly critical stuff on a 
> well-written and highly monitored article. We are not talking about 
> people trying to cover up neutral reports of the truth. That's a straw-man.

So, basically, what you're saying is that there's a category of bios 
that should perhaps be deleted because they're too little-watched and 
little-maintained to be certain of being free from vandalism, 
malicious POV, etc. which could harm their subjects... but that 
Daniel Brandt's article is *not* in that category, thanks to all the 
agitating he has done and the resulting heavy attention paid to his 
article?

If that's the case, and if a policy is ultimately enacted that 
reflects it, then it would be interesting to see how Brandt reacts to 
it, if some other bios get deleted under this standard but not his 
own.  If his goal is purely public-spirited, to get some rights on 
the part of bio subjects who are at high risk of harm under the 
current system, then he should consider it a victory.  If his goal is 
more self-centered, about wanting to suppress his own bio and not 
giving a damn about anybody else's except where it helps his own 
case, then he'll keep fighting.

But where it comes to his legal threats, his potential case has 
continually weakened.  First it was "Wikipedia is libeling me now!" 
Then it was "Even if they're not libeling me now, their system 
inherently means that they're likely to be libeling me in the 
future."  Then, once his article got so heavily watched that it was 
unlikely to have any kind of persistent libel in it, it retreated to 
"Their system inherently means that they're likely to be libeling 
*somebody else* in the future, and thus having me in that system at 
all is an assault on me, even if nothing libelous about me 
specifically is likely to be there."  And even that argument would 
likely go away if a policy like the one you propose were enacted.

Hence, the potential harm of his threats have retreated from 
"Wikipedia will probably win, but it might drag on a while in the 
courts and cost some legal bills to defend" to "It's likely to be 
tossed out of court very quickly, and might even result in the 
plaintiff being ordered to pay the defendant's legal bills."


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