[WikiEN-l] Wikipedia:News suppression (was: News agencies are not RSs)

[Charles Matthews]

Apoc 2400 wrote:
> Regarding the recent discussion, I have made a draft proposal at
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:News_suppression
>
> The purpose is to codify that Jimbo and other administrators did the
> right thing keeping the kidnapping of David Rohde out of his Wikipedia
> article. It also aims to define when something should be kept out of
> Wikipedia, even if it is covered in a few reliable sources. There can
> be no absolute rules for these situations, but some basic principles.
>
> Some would say that we need no rule for this as we have IAR. However,
> Wikipedia:Ignore all rules is about ignoring rules when they prevent
> you from improving the encyclopedia. The reason to suppress the news
> of David Rohde's kidnapping is not mainly to improve Wikipedia, but to
> protect Rohde.
>   
I like what IAR used to say:

"Being too wrapped up in rules can cause you to lose perspective, so 
there are times when it is best to ignore all rules ... including this one."

I think peoplr who think that codification is the only way to deal with 
anomalous situation, precedents, apparent gaps in policy, and so on, 
should take this to heart. In particular the restriction of IAR so that 
it only sometimes applies amounts to saying that common sense is only of 
limited value by area of application (which is wrong), rather than by 
mode of application (which is correct).

Charles