[WikiEN-l] Wikipedia article on [[Santorum (neologism)]]

[George Herbert]

On Mon, May 23, 2011 at 11:52 AM, Fred Bauder <fredbaud at fairpoint.net> wrote:
>
>> We don't exist to fix the real world - we exist to report on it
>> accurately.  Many of the things we report on are unfortunate.  An IMF
>> candidate who alledgedly raped a hotel maid, a tornado that killed 89
>> plus people, a terrorist attack in Pakistan and several ongoing and
>> incipient wars, these are other unfortunate things that make the
>> neologism Santorum pale in comparison.
>>
>>
>> --
>> -george william herbert
>
> I think you miss the point. Malice can make even publication of true
> information about a public figure actionable. Participation of a
> nonprofit corporation in political activity poses problems. I'm not sure
> what happened here but we need to look at it carefully and evaluate our
> level of participation in creation and dissemination of this "word".

The word was created in its neologistic sense, propogated, and became
popular / infamous without Wikipedia's help.  Google was a large part,
and blogging, but we really weren't.

I don't discount that Wikipedia is at times used promotionally,
sometimes with negative BLP impacts, but in this case it was a real
world phenomenon not something driven by WP editors.  The article
seems balanced to me, particularly presenting Santorum's objections in
a responsible and reasonably positive light.


-- 
-george william herbert
george.herbert at gmail.com