[WikiEN-l] David Hager is listed as convicted rapist

Sun Dec 4 22:17:24 UTC 2005

Hello folks,

I’m sure it’s my fault for not handling the situation well, but Matt 
doesn’t seem to understand the issue. I appreciate Matt’s work on the 
help desk, so I didn‘t want to make an issue of it. But since he is 
discussing the situation, I want to clarify.

First off, I have been a member of WikiEN-l for a number of weeks. Until 
now, I didn’t write to the list because I didn’t have anything important 
to say. I am well aware of the ongoing discussion about articles 
containing misinformation, especially biographies. So last Friday, after 
Hager was listed as an convicted rapist, I wrote a post to the list. The 
post was delayed until today because it was my first post and a 
moderator needed to clear it. This was unfortunate but necessary given 
the potential abuse of this list by disgruntled editors and such.

One point worth noting. I didn’t ask the Help desk for assistance. Last 
Friday, after I realized my WikiEN-l post was going to be held, I wrote 
to Jimbo Wales. He promptly forwarded it to Help desk and Matt Brown 
answered it. From his reply I knew that Matt misunderstand my concern. 
His response therefore was unhelpful. Not wanting to be rude to a 
Wikipedia volunteer, I just deleted it.

To my immediate and the most important concern, enlisting other people 
to monitor Hager’s article, I still had no help. (I explicitly asked 
people to watchlist it in both my posts.) So, I asked several editors 
that I’ve worked with on medical articles to watchlist it. They 
graciously accepted and were supportive. So far, so good on that front.

Finally, I need to make it very clear that NPOV is not the issue. I 
wrote the article and included his ex-wife’s allegations and his denial, 
so of course I don’t want it removed. I put a lot effort into balancing 
the unseemly stuff with his long list of career achievements. My issue: 
Unregistered editors can put misinformation in articles that damages the 
encyclopedia, defames people, and disrupts the writing OUR encyclopedia. 
The long-term solutions discussed on this list need to be pursued.

Once again, I appreciate Matt’s volunteer work and don’t want to be 
hypercritical. But, I know My Concern better than he does, so I want to 
correct his misconceptions.

Regards,
Sydney Poore AKA FloNight

Go Bengals!!!

Matt Brown wrote:

>On 12/4/05, stevertigo <vertigosteve at yahoo.com> wrote:
>  
>
>>And that takes care of that.
>>    
>>
>
>Not exactly, but it renders it a much more complicated case than ones
>where negative statements about a public figure are unsourced.  Since
>they are sourced in this case, the question becomes: does this article
>meet NPOV?  I haven't researched the article or the subject enough to
>know for sure.
>
>It certainly is not an issue solved with a quick complaint to this
>list or the helpdesk or anywhere else.
>
>-Matt
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