[WikiEN-l] Biography of Living persons

[toddmallen at gmail.com]

-----Original Message-----

From:  Falcorian <alex.public.account+ENWikiMailingList at gmail.com>
Subj:  Re: [WikiEN-l] Biography of Living persons
Date:  Wed Dec 31, 2008 8:53 am
Size:  450 bytes
To:  "English Wikipedia" <wikien-l at lists.wikimedia.org>

On Sun, Dec 28, 2008 at 7:13 PM, Scientia Potentia est <
bibliomaniac_15 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> In the end, BLP is not one of our five pillars. The fact that we are an
> encyclopedia is.
>
> bibliomaniac15
>

That pretty much says it all.

--Falcorian
_______________________________________________

I'll put another "yes and hell yes" on that. Having reasonable BLP standards is great, but we passed "reasonable" many miles back. About time to bring it back to "Nothing unsourced or poorly sourced, no hatchet jobs, no pseudo-biographies that only cover the person'ss role in one event."
	We've gotten to the point of literal censorship on BLPs, where we're withholding relevant and well-sourced information like names, not because they can't be well-sourced (they can), but because of panic over "privacy." I've even been told, by someone who should know better, that BLP is more important than NPOV, and saw not a bit of outrage.
	BLP is a necessary beast, but it's well past time to get it back on the leash, and make sure that leash stays short. If it's gotten to the point we're worried about it over neutrality, that just hammers home the need for real and immediate reform.