[WikiEN-l] BLP, and admin role in overriding community review

[Fred Bauder]

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Todd Allen [mailto:toddmallen at gmail.com]
>Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2007 08:13 PM
>To: 'English Wikipedia'
>Subject: Re: [WikiEN-l] BLP, and admin role in overriding community review
>
>David Gerard wrote:
>> On 24/05/07, Ron Ritzman <ritzman at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> On 5/23/07, David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>
>> 
>>>> The point is that isn't particularly fame. The incident is famous, the
>>>> person's pretty much only famous in association with the incident.
>>>> 
>>
>> 
>>> Could some argue that based on this [[Monica Lewinsky]] should be deleted?
>>> 
>>
>>
>> I'm sure they could argue anything they got it into their heads to,
>> particularly for the sake of a querulous argument. And, on Wikipedia,
>> probably have.
>>
>>
>> - d.
>>
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>> 
>Which is exactly why we -shouldn't- give a blanket license stating "Do
>whatever you want, and you're not subject to community censure or an
>overturn by consensus, only if someone cares enough to take it to ArbCom
>-and- manages to get it accepted." At the very least, if the ArbCom is
>going to set itself up as an arbiter of BLP disputes, it should be
>-required- to accept any such case (especially if the threat of anyone
>who acts without ArbCom's blessing is banning or desysopping, in this
>case, ArbCom effectively sets itself up as the only way the matter -can-
>be resolved.)
>
>I'm not really sure this is the most efficient way to deal with that.
>The community deals with a lot of things on its own. Sometimes, we need
>the ArbCom to sort out a particularly nasty mess. More often, consensus
>swings pretty clearly one way or the other. Taking an -entire class- of
>articles out of the hands of the community (and don't be fooled, if this
>does become policy, any edits to BLP's will depend on who first yells
>"It's a BLP issue!" and becomes immune to reversal until the ArbCom can
>get around to saying it's not) is a major shift in policy, practice, and
>basic philosophy, and I think (with all due respect) that such a shift
>requires more than Fred Bauder saying "I said it's so, now deal with it."


I think you've won the point, now tell us how you suggest dealing with the problem.

Fred