[Wikipedia-l] A possible solution to the deletion problem.

[Stephen Gilbert]

--- Toby Bartels <toby+wikipedia at math.ucr.edu> wrote:
> To make this really work well, we should include one
> more thing:
> the ability to delete individual versions from a
> page's history.
> This would be used to remove copyright violations,
> and for no other reason.
> There are many copyright violations hidden in pages'
> histories now,
> and we are technically in violation of copyright for
> having them,
> however unobvious it may be for somebody to get to
> them.
> So we need to do this anyway, as has been suggested
> before.
> Only sysops would be able to do this, with a "del"
> link
> next to the "diff" and "cur" links in each page's
> history.

I agree with most of your proposal, but I'm not sure
of this part. I do agree with the need to remove
copyright  violations. I am concerned, however, that
people may be too quick to use this function. We've
had many cases where one Wikipedian believed a text to
be under copyright, but it was actually contributed by
the copyright holder. If such a feature was put in
place, we would have to develop a fairly strict policy
on why and how to use it.

On the other hand, everyone could loosen up on
deletions. :)

Stephen Gilbert

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