[WikiEN-l] An example of a bad biography

[Steve Summit]

Will Johnson wrote:
> Rather what's being argued is that we should report what *is* published
> by reliable, third-party sources.  Nothing more or less.

But of course it's not that simple, either.  What we "report"
*is* *less* than what's published by reliable, third-party
sources -- because we don't report everything.  We select.
And as soon as we start selecting, no matter how objective and
policy-driven we try to be, we have to worry about -- we get to
engage in -- selection bias.

I gave an example of a reliably-sourced fact which I don't think
should be in the [[Natascha Kampusch]], because it's a scurrilous
allegation that I doubt is true, and it doesn't help (and
probably hurts) the victim and her mother, and it doesn't help
any of our readers, either.  The only way to cover it "properly"
is with far more words' worth of explanation than it deserves, so
the wise course of action is to leave it out, just as we leave
out what Natascha had for breakfast this morning, and what color
underwear she favors.