[WikiEN-l] BLP messiness

The Cunctator cunctator at gmail.com
Wed Jul 11 16:22:47 UTC 2007


This section of the BLP is kind of rot:
----
Editors should remove any contentious material about living persons
that is unsourced, relies upon sources that do not meet standards
specified in Wikipedia:Verifiability, or is a conjectural
interpretation of a source (see Wikipedia:No original research). Where
the material is derogatory and unsourced or poorly sourced, the
three-revert rule does not apply. These principles apply to
biographical material about living persons found anywhere in
Wikipedia, including user and talk pages.
----

What if the material is accurate and can be checked with a quick
google search?  Wouldn't a better formulation be:
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Editors should add proper sources to contentious material about living
persons. If such a source cannot be found, the material should be
removed. Where the material is derogatory and unsourceable, relies on
improper sources (see Wikipedia:Verifiability), or is a conjectural
interpretation of a source (see Wikipedia:No original research), the
three revert rule does not apply.

Derogatory opinions about living persons on user and talk pages must
follow the above rules. Contentious or negative biographical material
on user and talk pages must be verifiable. If properly contextualized,
contentious material from questionable sources may be discussed, but
the problems with the material and the sources must be clearly
identified, and such material may be removed if the discussion has
ended or is not contributing to the development of the article. When
in doubt, derogatory material that is not properly sourceable should
be removed.
----



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