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

[Ting Chen]

Sue Gardner schrieb:
> There is lots I want to reply to here; this mail is just a start...
>
> 2009/3/2 Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton at gmail.com>
>
> >From what I can tell, a lot of subjects of BLPs that have problems
>   
>> with their articles don't complain at all. The accounts I've heard
>> (or, at least, my interpretation thereof) of Wikimedians being
>> approached at events by people with bad articles have all been along
>> the lines of "my article is rubbish, how do I get it fixed?" not "my
>> article is rubbish and I've been trying to get it fixed but nobody is
>> listening to me". That suggests that those subjects that don't happen
>> to meet a Wikipedian never actually complain. There are two possible
>> explanations for that that I can see: 1) They don't really care all
>> that much and the complaints we get are just opportunistic moaning or
>> 2) they have no idea where to even start with complaining. While there
>> may be some cases of (1), I'm sure (2) is a significant factor.
>>
>> I've just looked at a BLP and nowhere can I see an guidance on how to
>> complain. I suggest a "Report a problem with this article" link to
>> added to the sidebar of all articles as a mailto link to the
>> appropriate OTRS address.
>>     
>
>
> I agree with this - I think "report a problem" would be a very helpful
> starting point.
>
> FWIW I'll tell you that when people complain to me, they often say they
> tried to find a proper avenue for complaints, but couldn't. I realize there
> is a school of thought that "people who can't find the correct avenue for
> complaints don't deserve to have their complaints heard," but that's not my
> view.
>
> I assume that people are looking for a specific biography complaints
> channel, and probably also looking for assurances that it is
> secure/confidential. (Bearing in mind that inaccuracies or distortions in
> their BLP would feel highly sensitive to most people.)
>
> So - we can create a channel for BLP complaints, and we can label it
> appropriately so people have accurate expectations of confidentiality. But
> in order for it to be successful, I believe we would need a cadre of
> highly-trained and well-supported volunteers who have pledged to investigate
> seriously, communicate tactfully, and maintain appropriate confidentiality.
> Do we think we can we do that, and if so, what would it take?
>
> ...
>
>   
The "Report a problem" button may be helpful, but it also may be cause 
problem. I faer that some people can use it to start a "Report a 
problem"-spam or -vandalism and the foundation would get a floot of 
"problem reports" that are indeed no problem reports. Many such 
vandalism can surely be filtered out with technical tools but some may 
be not. It is to be waited to see how big such a flood would be and if 
we can handle them properly.

Ting