[WikiEN-l] Advice needed

Wed Feb 15 23:15:02 UTC 2006

This is the latest in the on-again, off-again history of Brian Peppers on 
Wikipedia: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Brian_Peppers_%286th_nomination%29

Peppers is a fad on YTMND and Fark, for reasons which are obvious from this 
link:

http://pepperstruth.ytmnd.com/

The problem is, he is notable *solely* because a number of people on the net 
have chosen to laugh at his freakish appearance, apparently the result of a 
congential deformity.

No, even that's not the problem, the *real* problem is that a lot of people 
are determined that we should have an article on him, but the sources for 
the fact that he is disabled, lives in a n ursing home, poses no threat to 
the community and appears only to be on the offenders' register as a result 
of an inappropriate contact with a nurse/carer, is from a source which is 
less reliable than Snopes (http://www.snopes.com/photos/people/peppers.asp).

So it seems unavoidable that we will participate in the memtic process, 
because we can't say what a lot of us want to say (that Peppers is a 
disabled man, suffers from a congenital deformity, was convicted of a 
technical offence and is known almost exclusively because his photograph 
became an In ternet freak-sho exhibit).

People insist on the article, clamour for the picture, and revert edits 
which emphasise Peppers' status as a big-time loser in the lottery of life - 
possibly because I can't write these edits in a way whihc adequately coneals 
my absolute contempt for those who exploit Peppers' picture ad an object of 
derision.

Should I just forget it?  Or ar we (either me or those who want the article 
restored) missing some vital point of policy?

Guy 