[Foundation-l] Request for your input: biographies of living people

[private musings]

my tuppence in amongst the many voices :-).....


> 1)  If we're imagining a continuum with smaller/higher-quality/restrictive
> at one end, and larger/variable-in-quality/permissive at the other .... I
> am
> curious to know where the other language versions situate themselves.  I am
> assuming that (with some exceptions) they cluster closer to the English
> model than the German, but I am just guessing.  Do they?
>

Generally, I think it's probably best to consider the english wikipedia as a
fundamentally different beast to other projects - for a variety of reasons,
not least the sheer scale of the project. That aside - I'd share the
impression that the German project has evolved stronger structure /
governance processes than many / any others, and to that degree smaller
projects are indeed clustering closer to the english wiki.



>
> 2) When it comes to the German Wikipedia and other language versions which
> put an unusually high priority on quality ..... I am curious to know what
> quality-supportive measures (be they technical, social/cultural, or
> policy-level) those Wikipedia have in place.  Philipp says a high threshold
> for notability is one in the German Wikipedia. Are there others?
>

You may well have read this before - but it's put rather well by 'Kato' over
at Wikipedia Review;

http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=23140&view=findpost&p=159205

basically there's a sensible three stage plan to follow to help drive
quality and minimise 'BLP' harm;

1) Semi-protext all 'BLP' material
2) Allow an 'opt-out' for some subjects (eg. non public figures, or those
not covered in 'dead tree sources' for example) - note this is more
inclusive than a simple higher threshold for notability
3) 'Default to delete' in discussions about BLP material - if we can't
positively say that it improves the project, it's sensible and responsible
to remove the material in my view.

It's very heartening to see this important issue getting discussion /
attention :-)

cheers,

Peter
PM.