[WikiEN-l] Slashdot article

[Steve Summit]

WJhonson wrote:
> What occurred was that the subject of the BLP made claims and this
> entire thread is about whether we can alter an article based on the
> subject of the BLP making claims without our ability to identify
> whether that person is actually who they claim to be.

Right.  And the unambiguous answer is, yes, we can alter an article
based on the subject of the BLP making claims without our ability
to identify whether that person is actually who they claim to be.

Suppose that our [[Pope Benedict XVI]] article were found to contain
the sentence "Bennie is a homosexual drug user".  Suppose that a
banned troll editor, posting from an anonymous IP address behind
an unsecured Wifi hotspot in a repressive, America-hating country,
posted to the talk page to say, "Hai! I'm Pope Benedict and I'm
nicht gay. I tried the article to edit but it is protekted."
Now: would we quibble over whether the talk page poster was or
wasn't actually Pope Benedict before considering whether the
objected-to sentence might need some attention?