[WikiEN-l] defused timebomb

[Fred Bauder]

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Ray Saintonge [mailto:saintonge at telus.net]
>Sent: Sunday, January 21, 2007 01:27 AM
>To: 'English Wikipedia'
>Subject: Re: [WikiEN-l] defused timebomb
>
>Pedro Sanchez wrote:
>
>>I just blanked, and deleted
>>
>>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_famous_people_responsible_for_a_death
>>
>>We had names of many famous people, stating they were responsible for
>>someone else dying.
>>** Not a single reference **
>>
>>I was told that I should have AFD it instead
>>
>>The potential for libel was huge, afd was likely to come as no
>>consensus or delete.
>>Wikimedia can't take the risk of being sued for the sake of process.
>>
>>So I deleted the entry to hide history, and drop a note stating should
>>anybody readd content it must be with references.
>>
>>Probably many people will complain and ask for my head, just telling
>>you people why I did it.
>>
>That sounds terribly unilateral.  AFD would have been more prudent.  
>Altering the title would have been more sensible, given that some were 
>apparently only accused, and never convicted.
>
>I don't know how long the list was but being a "list" it should be 
>enough if there are sources on the listed pages themselves.  Nobody puts 
>sources on the index or Table of Contents of a book, because the sources 
>would already be at more appropriate places.
>
>The "huge" potential for libel is a product of your imagination.  I'm 
>not saying that there is none at all, but it is certainly much less than 
>what you imagine.  In any event, other ways of fixing the article would 
>also have eliminated that problem.  I don't know when the page was 
>started but its talk page has been there four months; there was no urgency.
>
>The chronic bad blood in the deletion process is precisely because of 
>people who take drastic and sudden unilateral action when they could 
>have taken the time to think of softer ways of dealing with a problem.
>
>It would be a peaceful gesture if you restored the page, and initiated 
>alternative solutions.
>
>Ec

I looked at the deleted material. Most entries are not controversial. However, all entries on the page fall under Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons and may thus properly be deleted by any person without limit. This is a case where a user has taken responsibility. They should be commended.

Fred