[WikiEN-l] A new solution for the BLP dilemma

[Durova]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Rand_Fishkin

One of several BLPs I've nominated for deletion upon request from the
subject.  He's notable basically for two things: owning a business and
having proposed to his wife at a professional sporting event.

When he first discovered someone had created a biography on Wikipedia he was
flattered.  After a few months, though, it became burdensome to check every
week and see whether it had been altered.  He began to worry--since his
business is a service industry--what would happen if one of his competitors
vandalized it strategically while he competed for a contract.

He wasn't famous enough to be on many watchlists.  If the vandalism occurred
the day after he checked the page it'd be six days more before he spotted
it, and longer while OTRS processed his request.  In that time, would a
potential client be misled?  Would he lose out on a contract and have to lay
off good employees?  Overall it simply wasn't worth it.

This was one biography that got deleted upon request; many others don't.
And that's partly because of opinions that have appeared in this thread:
*Some Wikipedians believe that the subject of a BLP should never have a
voice in editorial decisions at all.
*Some Wikipedians argue that it's easy enough to Googlebomb people by other
means, so Wikipedia shouldn't erect any barriers either.
*Other Wikipedians believe every instance should be handled "case by case",
which means we can never give a simple and direct answer to a BLP subject
who raises legitimate concerns.

I don't like *any* of those solutions.  When I call the phone company with a
complaint about my bill, I want to know what the rules are in plain
English--I want an outcome that's understandable and consistent.  And even
if the answer is no, I want a simple plain and direct no.

There's no excuse for giving another human being the run-around when we can
prevent it.

On Thu, Jun 4, 2009 at 5:02 PM, David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:

> 2009/6/5 Durova <nadezhda.durova at gmail.com>:
>
> > Obviously the bids don't cite Wikipedia.  It's not uncommon, though, for
> the
> > decision maker to run a quick Google search.  Now if exploitation is
> going
> > to happen, Wikipedia happens to be one of the easiest platforms to
> exploit.
> > Wikipedians try to manage our BLP problems, but very often we fail.  Do
> we
> > shrug off legitimate complaints as easily as you advise?  Perhaps this is
> a
> > philosophical/ethical difference.  I say we look for solutions.
>
>
> I say you still haven't provided an example of the problem.
>
>
> - f.
>
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