[WikiEN-l] [Barry.Meatyard at warwick.ac.uk: Entry in Wikipedia]

Tue Sep 21 23:04:42 UTC 2004

--- "Jimmy (Jimbo) Wales" <jwales at wikia.com> wrote:
Forwarded email from 
> <Barry.Meatyard at warwick.ac.uk> -----
> ...However we would be interested to know the level
> of editorial control beyond these edits. For example who removed
> the adverse comment (merely a student's perception) dated 30 Aug?
> Is this done by Wikipedia staff - and if so how are 1 million plus
> articles policed?

There is no wikipedia staff. 

This is the wikiway: People write stuff and more people correct,
mold, copyedit, verify, and add to it.

That is how the 1 million plus articles are bettered over time. 

> We would be happy to rewrite the entry 

Great, please do.

> At this stage we are seeking reassurance with respect to the
> editorial policy of the site and to request whether inaccurate and
> potentially damaging entries can be removed from the history.

Unfortunately, that is not the wikiway.
While we understand that your institution may feel a need to control
the image the public at large may have of it, it is not the wikiway
to tell people what opinions they should hold, but rather to give
them balanced and unbiased information upon which they may draw to
form their own conclusions and views.

Jimbo,

This may be something that needs to be addressed by the W as a whole.
I think that having 5 or 6 wikipedians email the man independently
would confuse him rather than anything. If there a place where
"answers" to letters can be edited by the group? And the recipient
directed there?

I suggest this because I see this sort of letter will become more
common, and that we might want to not reinvent the wheel with each
letter.

my 2 cents.

=====
Chris Mahan
818.943.1850 cell
chris_mahan at yahoo.com
chris.mahan at gmail.com
http://www.christophermahan.com/

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