Misplaced Pages:Biographies of living persons: Difference between revisions

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	==Listing a personal website in the External links or Further reading section==		==Listing a personal website in the External links or Further reading section==
	A blog or personal website written by the subject — so long as there is no reasonable doubt that the subject is in fact the author of the website — may be listed in the further reading section, even if the website has been challenged as a reliable source of information on the subject.		A blog or personal website written by the subject — so long as there is no reasonable doubt that the subject is in fact the author of the website — may be listed in the further reading section, even if the website has been challenged as a reliable source of information on the subject.

			==Presumption in favor of privacy==
			Most biographies of living persons concern subjects who are unquestionably notable and whose lives are the focus of mainstream press coverage. In the case of public figures, there will be a multitude of credible, third-party published sources to take information from, and Misplaced Pages biographies should simply document what these sources say.

			However, there are also biographies of persons who, while marginally notable enough for a Misplaced Pages entry, may nevertheless feel that they are private individuals, and who may object to being on the receiving end of public attention. In such cases, Misplaced Pages editors should exercise restraint and, in the case of a dispute, should err in favor of respecting the individual's privacy.

			Two examples:

			*A well-known married politician is alleged to have had an affair with his next-door neigbor. He denies it, but the '']'' publishes the allegations, and there are rumors he may have to resign. In the case of a public figure like this, with multiple, credible, third-party sources available, the allegation belongs in the biography, so long as it's made clear it's an allegation and not established as fact, linking to the ''New York Times'' article as a source.

			*A little-known married academic is alleged to have touched a student inappropriately during a party. She tells her story to the university's student newspaper, and it's picked up by a satirical magazine writing about sexual relations between academics and their students. No other newspaper repeats the claims, which the academic has not responded to. He has a brief Misplaced Pages entry because he once wrote a book about special relativity, and so the student's claim is added to his entry using the satirical magazine as a source. The academic contacts Misplaced Pages to ask that the claim be removed because it may destroy his marriage. In a case like this, we should act on the presumption that the academic has a right to maintain his privacy. The sources are not particularly credible, he is only marginally notable, no mainstream source has picked up the story, and his life may be seriously affected if the allegation is spread.

			In borderline cases, the rule of thumb should be "do no harm." Misplaced Pages is an encyclopedia, not a newspaper. It is not our job to expose people's wrong-doing.

	==Legal threats==		==Legal threats==

Revision as of 07:12, 19 December 2005

The following is a proposed Misplaced Pages policy, guideline, or process. The proposal may still be in development, under discussion, or in the process of gathering consensus for adoption.

Shortcut

WP:LIVING

Biographies of living persons deserve a high degree of sensitivity and a strict adherence to our content policies, particularly Misplaced Pages:No original research and Misplaced Pages:Verifiability.

Place yourself in the shoes of a marginally notable person who wakes up one morning to find that someone has written a Misplaced Pages entry about him. He learns that the page may be edited by anyone in the world, including by entirely anonymous editors, and that it may be picked up by mirror sites and copied all over the Web. He tries to correct what he sees as mistakes or an unfair slant, and finds that his edits are reverted, and that he has no control over the article. He continues to revert, but finds himself blocked for 3RR. He discovers there is no editor-in-chief he can easily appeal to, so he leaves a belligerent legal threat on the talk page, and is blocked indefinitely.

It's easy to imagine that this might be a shocking situation for some people, especially if they don't regard themselves as particularly notable, and aren't used to being written about.

Editors are required to act with sensitivity, understanding, kindness, and respect in these situations. There should be no hint of a gung-ho, published-and-be-damned attitude. Remember that, one day, someone might create an entry about you.

The need for mercy

The arbitration committee has ruled in favor of showing "mercy" to the subjects of biographies, especially when those subjects become Misplaced Pages editors. "For those who either have or might have an article about themselves it is a temptation, especially if plainly wrong, or strongly negative information is included, to become involved in questions regarding their own article. This can open the door to rather immature behavior and loss of dignity. It is a violation of don't bite the newbies to strongly criticize users who fall into this trap rather than seeing this phenomenon as a newbie mistake."

Misplaced Pages is not a newspaper

Misplaced Pages is an encyclopedia, not a newspaper, and Wikipedians are encyclopedists, not journalists. We don't have a team of fact-checkers, reporters, copy editors, and lawyers to call upon, as newspapers do.

The job of encyclopedists is simply to document, in a non-partisan manner, what credible third-party sources have published about the subject, and in some limited circumstances, what the subject may have published about himself.

Tone of the writing

Biographies should be written in an encyclopedic, respectful tone. That doesn't mean they have to be sycophantic or devoid of criticism — WP:NPOV applies to biographies just as it does to any other page — but there should be no sense of glee or excitement about negative material, no snide tone, and no undue laboring of the criticism. The balance of positive to negative material in the text should reflect the balance generally found in the material published about that person by third-party credible sources; for example, in mainstream news coverage.

The importance of using good sources

Generally, an individual is regarded as notable enough for a Misplaced Pages entry if there are credible, third-party, published sources available that supply enough information to make a Misplaced Pages entry feasible. Without credible third-party sources, the biography would be in violation of Misplaced Pages:No original research and Misplaced Pages:Verifiability.

It is particularly important, when writing about living people, that the no original research and verifiability policies be adhered to. Because Misplaced Pages articles are picked up by mirror sites and copied, there is no guarantee that only "good" versions of articles will spread. It is possible for inaccurate claims about individuals to be spread quickly even if the Misplaced Pages article is subsequently corrected. This places an extra burden of responsibility on editors to ensure that our articles are never the source of false claims about living individuals.

Good sources will include books published by reputable (non-vanity) publishers; articles in peer-reviewed academic journals; articles in mainstream, reputable newspapers; and material published by well-known, reliable websites (but not personal websites: see below).

Information available solely on partisan websites or in obscure newspapers should be handled with care, and should not be used if the material is detrimental to the subject. If the material is of importance and the subject is notable, a credible third-party source will have published it somewhere. If no credible source can be found, there may be a problem with the material. Misplaced Pages should not publish material where there is doubt as to the quality of its source.

Contacting the subjects of biographies

There is no obligation to contact the subject of a biography to ask permission to write it, or to inform the subject that one is being written.

If contact with a subject is made, care must be taken not to reproduce details offered by the subject if these details have not been published elsewhere. For example, if the New York Times says that John Doe was born in 1955, but John Doe himself tells you this was a mistake and that his year of birth is in fact 1965, the Misplaced Pages article must reflect the published record, and not what John Doe has told you privately.

To add unpublished details to a biography is an example of original research, even if the subject himself is the source. If the subject wants to correct the public record, he should do so by writing to the newspaper that made the mistake or to another credible publication. The Misplaced Pages article should then be changed to reflect any published correction or published letter to the editor.

There are also legal concerns about adding details that have come directly from the subject. How can you be completely sure who you are talking to? What if he maliciously tells you something false and defamatory in order to cause trouble for Misplaced Pages? Could you afterwards prove that you had spoken to him, and that he had been the source of the claims you added to his article?

Newspapers know how to deal with this kind of situation, but Misplaced Pages is not a newspaper. We do not have the resources to conduct this kind of original research, and if mishandled, it could lead to serious consequences for Misplaced Pages and for the subject of the biography.

Inappropriate categories

Particular care should be taken not to place articles about living people in inappropriate categories. For example, only people convicted of a crime by a court of law should be added to Category:Criminals, and only those convicted of rape should be added to Category:Rapists. An accusation of rape, no matter how reputable the source or the accuser, is not sufficient to label someone a rapist by adding their biography to that category.

Editors should also check to ensure that convictions for offenses were not overturned on appeal. If they were, the entry in the corresponding category should be removed.

If there is any reasonable doubt as to whether a biography belongs in a particular category, it should be removed from the category pending further discussion, particularly if its inclusion is detrimental to the subject.

Blogs, personal websites, or self-published books as sources

Blogs, personal websites, and other self-published materials are usually not regarded as credible third-party sources for Misplaced Pages. That is, with only rare exceptions, they may not be used as sources of information about anything other than their authors. In other words, they may not be used as secondary sources. See Misplaced Pages:Verifiability and Misplaced Pages:Reliable sources for more information.

They may sometimes be used, with caution, as primary sources: as sources of information about their authors. That is, John Doe's blog may be used as a source of information about John Doe so long as there is no attempt to turn a Misplaced Pages biography into an extension of someone's personal website. Misplaced Pages is not a private press agency or a blog. See Misplaced Pages:What Misplaced Pages is not.

Why self-published material should generally not be used as a source

Editors are advised to proceed with caution and skepticism when using a subject's personal website or blog as a source of information about himself. Using self-published primary sources raises a number of difficulties:

There is a danger that the Misplaced Pages biography page will become an extension of the blog, and this must be avoided. For example, John Doe's Misplaced Pages biography says he is 50 years old. He tries to correct this to 40, but his correction is reverted, because the published record says he is 50, and there is no publication saying otherwise. He therefore adds an entry to his own blog stating that he is in fact 40. This gives him a published source to cite, and allows him to add to his Misplaced Pages entry that, "according to John Doe's website, he is 40 years old." However, this sequence of events, even though it involves a form of publication on the blog, is in fact an example of original research, because it is the same as a Misplaced Pages editor telephoning John Doe and being told privately that the correct age is 40. For information to be "published," in the sense that matters to Misplaced Pages, there should ideally be some form of peer review, fact-checking, or third-party scrutiny, which all (non-vanity) publishing houses and newspapers perform to some degree, if only minimally. With self-publishing, whether in book or blog form, there is usually no critical third-party input. Using self-published material as a source is therefore akin to using a flyer that someone has written, copied, and stuck on a lamppost.

A further danger is that using information published only on a personal website may lead to the biography being packed full of trivia. People find their own lives and opinions endlessly fascinating, and may write about them at great length. That doesn't mean the information is interesting enough for their Misplaced Pages entry. Just because someone is notable enough for an entry to exist, it does not follow that everything the subject thinks, says, or does is notable enough to be added to the biography.

One individual with a Misplaced Pages entry is in the habit of issuing press releases on his personal website. This individual is marginally notable enough for a Misplaced Pages entry because he was briefly of interest to the media some years ago, but currently isn't. His press releases therefore go unheeded by journalists. Nevertheless, because they were published on his website, he and his supporters invariably try to have the contents of the press releases added to his Misplaced Pages entry, as in: "In a press release issued on December 18, 2005, John Doe denied that he is a follower of religion X, and reiterated his commitment to religion Y." This is an example of trying to turn Misplaced Pages into his personal press agency, or into an extension of his own website. If a press release is of any interest to the press, a newspaper will write about it, and then Misplaced Pages can use the newspaper as a source. Otherwise, the information has no place in the biography.

There is a further danger that the personal website you believe belongs to John Doe was set up with malicious intent. This is often a danger with websites, but particularly so with personal websites and blogs. Do not use a personal website as a source if there is any reasonable doubt as to the identity of the author.

When self-published material may be used as a source

In very limited circumstances, editors may use blogs, personal websites, and self-published books as primary sources in a biography — that is, where the author of the blog is the subject of the biography — so long as:

there is no reasonable doubt that the author of the personal website is the same person as the subject of the biography;
there is no credible third-party published source of the material;
the information provided by the personal website does not conflict with information published by another credible third-party source;
the information is not contentious and has not been challenged by any other editor;
the information is not regarded by any other editor as unduly self-serving (for example, an amateur actor claiming to have been offered a contract by a famous director, which mysteriously came to nothing);
the material is notable, appropriate for a Misplaced Pages entry, and is not regarded by any other editor as trivial or an example of fancruft;
the material does not involve claims about third parties or about events not directly related to the subject. For example, John Doe's entry on his blog that he had sex with famous actress Jane Doe would not be allowed in John Doe's biography (or anywhere else on Misplaced Pages), unless it was published by a credible third-party source.

Listing a personal website in the External links or Further reading section

A blog or personal website written by the subject — so long as there is no reasonable doubt that the subject is in fact the author of the website — may be listed in the further reading section, even if the website has been challenged as a reliable source of information on the subject.

Presumption in favor of privacy

Most biographies of living persons concern subjects who are unquestionably notable and whose lives are the focus of mainstream press coverage. In the case of public figures, there will be a multitude of credible, third-party published sources to take information from, and Misplaced Pages biographies should simply document what these sources say.

However, there are also biographies of persons who, while marginally notable enough for a Misplaced Pages entry, may nevertheless feel that they are private individuals, and who may object to being on the receiving end of public attention. In such cases, Misplaced Pages editors should exercise restraint and, in the case of a dispute, should err in favor of respecting the individual's privacy.

Two examples:

A well-known married politician is alleged to have had an affair with his next-door neigbor. He denies it, but the New York Times publishes the allegations, and there are rumors he may have to resign. In the case of a public figure like this, with multiple, credible, third-party sources available, the allegation belongs in the biography, so long as it's made clear it's an allegation and not established as fact, linking to the New York Times article as a source.

A little-known married academic is alleged to have touched a student inappropriately during a party. She tells her story to the university's student newspaper, and it's picked up by a satirical magazine writing about sexual relations between academics and their students. No other newspaper repeats the claims, which the academic has not responded to. He has a brief Misplaced Pages entry because he once wrote a book about special relativity, and so the student's claim is added to his entry using the satirical magazine as a source. The academic contacts Misplaced Pages to ask that the claim be removed because it may destroy his marriage. In a case like this, we should act on the presumption that the academic has a right to maintain his privacy. The sources are not particularly credible, he is only marginally notable, no mainstream source has picked up the story, and his life may be seriously affected if the allegation is spread.

In borderline cases, the rule of thumb should be "do no harm." Misplaced Pages is an encyclopedia, not a newspaper. It is not our job to expose people's wrong-doing.

Legal threats

Any Misplaced Pages editor who makes a legal threat on the website is likely to be blocked from editing, and that includes the subjects of biographies who object to their article's contents. Any legal concerns should be directed to the Wikimedia Foundation and not to individual editors. See Misplaced Pages:No legal threats.

If you are the subject of a biography and you have a legal concern, or you're an editor who has received a legal threat from a subject, correspondence should be sent to:

board@wikimedia.org
info-en@wikipedia.org (English-language Misplaced Pages)
info-de@wikipedia.org (German-language Misplaced Pages)
danny@wikia.com

If you do receive a legal threat, the Wikimedia Foundation has requested that you do not answer it, but forward it without delay to one of the above.

Misplaced Pages

:Biographies of living persons: Difference between revisions - Misplaced Pages