Wikipedia talk:Wikipedia Signpost/2014-07-16/Special report

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On 18 July 2014, Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2014-07-16/Special report was linked from Slashdot, a high-traffic website. (Traffic)

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I think it's worth noting (to quote from an official Wikimedia blog posting) exactly what the lawsuit was about, since this plays a large part in WMF being willing to defend them:

However, the specific statements Mr. Barry apparently finds objectionable are on the article’s talk page, rather than in the article itself. The editors included in the lawsuit were named because of their involvement in discussions focused on maintaining the quality of the article, specifically addressing whether certain contentious material was well-sourced enough to be included, and whether inclusion of the material would conform with Wikipedia’s policies on biographies of living persons.

The point I want to make is that the those who put controversial information into articles shouldn't assume that the WMF will automatically defend them if they are sued; that's why it's so important to follow rules such as WP:BLP. -- John Broughton (♫♫) 23:48, 18 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

That's an important point. I would hope that they would also defend any lawsuit of a contributor for adding material from a reliable source -- or what a reasonable person would consider one. (Not adding links to the relevant rules; everyone ought to know what those rules are.) -- llywrch (talk) 17:11, 19 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for posting this. The article uses the word "discussion," suggesting the talk page, but it doesn't emphasize it. That's fine, but I was wondering exactly this^ as I was reading. Makes a big difference. --MattMauler (talk) 14:10, 24 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I am pleased to see WikiMedia Foundation doing the right thing in this case. It sends a strong and positive message to the volunteer community. Carrite (talk) 13:12, 21 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

This should serve as a warning to all those who think our biographical notability standards should allow us to have articles on hundreds of thousands of low-profile professional athletes and professors. Gigs (talk) 19:04, 21 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

This article makes me feel proud of the way the Wikimedia Foundation protects volunteer editors who do their work in good faith. It also reminds me of the fact that I have never donated money to support the Foundation, even though necessities like legal defense—not to mention servers and bandwidth—cost real money, and that money's gotta come from somewhere, and it's not coming from advertising. Therefore, the next thing I'm going to do after posting this comment is to become a financial contributor to the Foundation. Viva la Wiki! — Jaydiem (talk) 15:13, 23 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]