[Wikipedia-l] Celebrity users

[Ray Saintonge]

Nicholas Moreau wrote:

>If [[user:Scott Peterson]] made an edit to [[lawn
>fertilizer]], you'd tend to believe it more than with
>the average user. Same as if [[user:Hillary Duff]]
>made edits to the [[Disney Channel]], or if [[user:Joe
>Scarborough]] made edits to [[United States House of
>Representatives]], all things that were professionally
>related to them in their lives.
>
>I can almost live with [[user:Jerry seinfeld]], as he
>admits to not be the comedian. But anyone else is just
>trying out identity theft on us.
>
>I propose we ink out a more direct policy stating that
>"no user may impersonate another living person other
>than themselves, particularly a person that is worth
>encyclopedic note, and may or may not have a Wikipedia
>article".
>
This is the kind of thing that is only made worse by writing detailed 
policy.  Many people who come here don't last long, and that probably 
applies equally to those who chose celebrity names.  Once they have 
chosen that name it is reserved for them and everyone else is prevented 
from using it anyway.  A celebrity who chooses to edit under his own 
name is probably nuts to seek all the unwanted attention; if he finds 
contributing to Wikipedia to be a relaxing hobby he would want to be 
incognito.

Such a policy would require defining when a person is a celebrity.  Of 
those mentioned above I recognize Duff and Seinfeld as celebrities but 
you would make an exception of the latter.  Scott Peterson has been the 
recent darling of the pulp media crowd which appeals to a memory that 
doesn't last long, but of the four it's the name that I would consider 
common enough that it easily could be someone else's real name.  I've 
never heard of Joe Scarborough, but if we bring this down to the level 
of local celebrities the fight will never end.

Ec