Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons
 | This policy is changing to be simplified. This policy may not be complete yet and the policy at the English Wikipedia should be followed at the moment. |
 | This page in a nutshell: Wikipedia pages can change real people's lives. This gives us a ethical and legal responsibility. Biographical material (material about a living person) must be made with the greatest care and attention to proof, neutrality, and avoiding original research. |
Everyone who changes articles on Wikipedia must take extra care when making changes to biographical material about a living person. These pages must be written carefully. Changes to these pages must follow all applicable laws in the United States, and all of our content policies, especially:
Pages about living persons must be made carefully, with care for the person's privacy. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a tabloid paper (newspaper); it is not our job to be sensationalist (Oh my! Look!), or to be the primary place for the spread of interesting claims about people's lives. The possibility of harm to living subjects is one of the important factors to be considered when using editorial decision.
We must get the page right.[1] Always use high-quality references. Heated, arguable, material about living persons that is unsourced (without references) or poorly sourced—even if the content is negative (bad), positive (good), or just questionable—should be removed immediately and without waiting for discussion.[2]
Notes
[change source]- ↑ Jimmy Wales. Keynote speech, Wikimania, August 2006.
- ↑ Jimmy Wales. "WikiEN-l Zero information is preferred to misleading or false information", May 16, 2006 and May 19, 2006