[WikiEN-l] Grey crossed out links in edit history (or: did I miss another software update?)

[Risker]

On 24 February 2010 12:54, Rob <gamaliel8 at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 12:50 PM, Kanon <kanonkas at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Those edits have been oversighted.
> > More information on oversight can be found here:
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Oversight
>
> How odd.  As far as I recall, there wasn't anything in those edits
> except simple vandalism and reverts of said vandalism.
>
> Thanks for clearing up my confusion.
>
>

As an oversighter, I can review these edits, and I can tell you that, while
some may consider it simple vandalism, the edits contained potentially
libelous information about a person or persons that is unsuitable for public
consumption.  The suppressions met the criteria for removal from view to
everyone, including administrators.

Such edits are now more routinely being suppressed because (a) we have the
technical ability to do so without creating problems in the database and (b)
there is greater sensitivity to the potential for serious harm for
potentially libelous information to remain accessible.  There is a
significant difference between the trash-talking one frequently sees
(particularly in regard to living persons) such as "X is a f***ing a**hole",
and a blatant unsourced allegation of  wrongdoing by the article`s subject
such as "X murdered his second wife``; the former would simply be reverted,
while the latter qualifies for suppression.

Risker