[Foundation-l] Wikinews - not so much a state of the wiki

Tue Dec 4 19:08:24 UTC 2007

> I am aware of this. I do not see how something illegal and unflagged would
> become the responsibility of an editorial committee or board.

I was thinking about flagged articles. I imagine a simple disclaimer
for unflagged articles (similar to the one there is already for all
articles, I imagine - I haven't looked to see what disclaimers
Wikinews has) would be fine to stop flaggers being liable for them.

> As I mentioned I am aware that anyone who took on the responsibility is at
> risk and many, if not most, of our contributors would be bankrupted were
> they taken to court over an article. However, I do not believe that a
> significant portion of other contributors are fully aware of this.
> Personally? I'd take on the responsibility. Here in Belgium you have to
> first convince a judge there is a case to hear. I've fought that on behalf
> of my partner as the libelled party - so I'm not completely clueless.
> Someone sues or tries to get me prosecuted in absentia? I don't think it is
> an extraditable offense. I just have to keep a list of countries not to
> visit or transit through and hope I don't suffer an extraordinary rendition
> for approving something nasty about the current U.S. regime.

As long as the people taking on the responsibility know what they're
doing (as you seem to), it's up to them, but it does need to be made
clear to anyone volunteering that they are at personal risk. Someone
would also need to check with Mike Godwin to make sure the WMF isn't
also being put at risk (I would imagine not, but I don't know the ins
and outs of it all).