Wikipedia:Update/1/Content policy changes, 2013


 * Article titles
 * In WP:TITLE, added: [There are restrictions on titles containing colons, periods, and some other characters,] "which may be addressed through Template:Correct title."
 * In WP:TITLE, changed: "If there is no obvious ordering, place the more commonly encountered concept first, or if that is not applicable, use alphabetical order." to: "It is generally best to list topics in alphabetical order, especially those involving different countries or cultures, as in Canada–United States border. However, if there is an obvious ordering, such as at Life and death, that ordering should be followed instead. If one concept is more commonly encountered than the other, it may be listed first."


 * Biographies of living persons
 * New subsection: WP:BLP


 * Neutral point of view
 * New subsection: WP:NPOV


 * No original research
 * In WP:NOR, changed: [Editors are therefore encouraged to upload their own images, releasing them under] "the GFDL, CC-BY-SA, [or other free licenses.]" to: "appropriate Creative Commons licenses,"


 * What Wikipedia is not
 * In WP:NOT, removed: "Personal essays on topics relating to Wikipedia are welcome in your user namespace or on the Meta-wiki. There is a Wikipedia fork at Wikinfo that encourages personal opinions in articles."
 * In WP:NOT, added: [An article should not include product pricing or] "availability information" [unless there is a reliable source and a reason for the mention.] The "Changelogs, release histories or release notes" paragraph was moved down, and became "Exhaustive logs of software updates."


 * Article titles
 * In WT:TITLE, changed: "if an organization changes its name" [it is reasonable to consider the usage since the change.] to: "if the subject of an article changes its name"
 * New subsection: WP:TITLE


 * Biographies of living persons
 * In WP:BLP, added: [BLP applies to all material about living persons anywhere on Wikipedia, including] "article titles".
 * In WP:BLP, added: [an editor who is involved in a significant off-wiki controversy or dispute with another individual ... should not edit that person's biography] "or other material about that person, given the possible conflict of interest"
 * New section: WP:BLP


 * Verifiability
 * In WP:V, removed: "Other people should in principle be able to check that material in a Wikipedia article has been published by a reliable source.", but retained and rewrote similar wording.


 * What Wikipedia is not
 * In WP:NOT, added: "However, "[a]rticle talk pages should not be used by editors as platforms for their personal views on a subject." (see, Talk page guidelines)."
 * In WP:NOT, added: "Nonetheless, Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee has the authority to impose general and discretionary sanctions to govern the conduct of individual editors or groups of editors."


 * Article titles
 * Extensive changes since March


 * Biographies of living persons
 * In WP:BLP, added: "Creation of such pages, especially when repeated or in bad faith, is grounds for immediate blocking."
 * In WP:BLP, added: "Similarly, "See also" links should not be used to imply any contentious categorization or claim about a living person."
 * In WP:BLP, added: "If the subject has denied such allegations, that should also be reported."
 * New section: WP:BLP
 * In WP:BLP, added: [may be blocked] "under Special enforcement on biographies of living persons" [for disruption]
 * In WP:BLP, added: "Even if the page is not protected against re-creation, it should not be re-created unless a consensus is demonstrated in support of re-creation."
 * In WP:BLP, added: "You may also post an explanation of your concern on the biographies of living persons noticeboard and request that uninvolved editors evaluate the article to make sure it is fairly written and properly sourced."
 * In WP:BLP, changed: "Individuals involved in a significant legal – or personal – dispute with the subject of any article covered by this policy are strongly discouraged from editing such articles, and are advised to use the article talk page or an appropriate Wikipedia noticeboard if they wish to raise concerns." to: "As noted above, individuals involved in a significant legal or other off-wiki dispute with the subject of a biographical article are strongly discouraged from editing that article."


 * No original research
 * In WP:NOR, removed: "Material based purely on primary sources should be avoided."


 * Verifiability
 * Extensive changes to WP:V
 * In WP:V, added: [This implies nothing about ease of access to sources: some online sources may require payment, while some print sources may only be available in university libraries,] "or in off-line sources. Nontheless, [sic] difficult to obtain reliable sources may still serve as sources for articles, and should not be rejected solely on the basis that it is difficult or costly to obtain them."
 * In WP:V, added: "In articles, the original text is usually included with the translated text when translated by Wikipedians, and the translating editor is usually not cited."


 * Article titles
 * In WP:TITLE, added: [we use the alternative but still common titles, English language and English people, allowing natural disambiguation.] "In a similar vein, mechanical fan and hand fan are preferable to fan (mechanical) and fan (implement)."
 * In WP:TITLE, changed: "Besançon, Søren Kierkegaard and Göttingen, but Nuremberg, delicatessen, and Florence." to: " the non-anglicized titles Besançon, Søren Kierkegaard, and Göttingen are used since they predominate in English language reliable sources, while for the same reason the anglicized title forms Nuremberg, delicatessen, and Florence are used."


 * Biographies of living persons
 * In the introduction, changed: "Contentious material about living persons (or recently deceased)" to "Contentious material about living persons (or in some cases, recently deceased)"
 * Renamed WP:BLP to WP:BLP, and removed: "As noted in Neutral Point of View footnote: "Article sections devoted solely to criticism, and pro-and-con sections within articles, are two commonly cited examples. There are varying views on whether and to what extent such structures are appropriate; see guidance on thread mode, criticism, pro-and-con lists, and the criticism template"."
 * In WP:BLP, changed: " However, material about dead people that has implications for their living relatives and friends, particularly in the case of recent deaths, or notable suicides, is covered by this policy. Contentious or questionable material that affects living people or about the recently dead should be treated in the same way as material about living people. Anyone born within the last 115 years is covered by this policy unless a reliable source has confirmed their death." to: "Generally, this policy does not apply to material concerning people who are confirmed dead by reliable sources. The only exception would be for people who have recently died, in which case the policy can extend for an indeterminate period beyond the date of death - six months, one year, two years at the outside. Such extensions would apply particularly to contentious or questionable material about the dead that has implications for their living relatives and friends, such as in the case of a possible suicide or a particularly gruesome crime."


 * Neutral point of view
 * In WP:NPOV, added a hidden comment: "the use here of the word //critical// is referenced by the article itself, in the succeeding paragraph". Added: [Several words that have very specific meanings ...] "(as in the prior paragraph) critical."


 * No original research
 * In WP:NOR, changed: "a scientific paper documenting a new experiment is a primary source" to: "a scientific paper documenting a new experiment conducted by the author is a primary source"
 * In WP:NOR, added: "If a single source says "A" in one context, and "B" in another, without connecting them, and does not provide an argument of "therefore C", then "therefore C" cannot be used in any article."


 * Verifiability
 * There have been significant changes since December.


 * What Wikipedia is not
 * In WP:NOT, changed: "An article about a product should include a history of its development and major improvements; creating a list of all changes to software or hardware between each minor version violates other precepts of this policy." to: "An article about a product may include a prose history of its development and major improvements. Tables or lists of changes should be avoided; instead, significant changes should be merged into – and contextualised in – the product's history. Note that, in addition to being unencyclopedic, lists of changes and releases are also unsuitable for inclusion in Wikipedia articles as they're usually drawn – often verbatim – from primary sources."
 * In WP:NOT, changed: "Florida" [where Wikipedia's main servers are hosted] to: "Virginia"


 * Content policy changes, 2012
 * Content policy changes, 2011
 * Content policy changes, July 2010 to December 2010
 * Content policy changes, January 2010 to June 2010
 * Content policy changes, July 2009 to December 2009
 * Content policy changes, January 2009 to June 2009
 * Content policy changes, July 2008 to December 2008