Wikipedia:Update/1/Content policy changes, January 2010 to June 2010


 * Content policy changes, June 2010


 * Article titles
 * In WP:TITLE, added: "Caffeine (not 1,3,7-trimethyl-1H-purine-2,6(3H,7H)-dione)"
 * In WP:TITLE, added: [use that name as our article title] "(subject to the other naming criteria)"


 * Biographies of living persons
 * In WP:BLP, added: "Any individual born less than 115 years ago is covered by this policy unless a reliable source has confirmed their death. Persons that are over 115 years old are presumed deceased unless listed at oldest people."
 * In WP:BLP, removed: "... consider using off-wiki communication instead."


 * Neutral point of view
 * Significant changes to WP:NPOV


 * Verifiability
 * In WP:V, removed a footnote
 * In WP:V, added: [Questionable sources are generally unsuitable for citing contentious claims about third parties,] "which includes claims against persons living or dead, institutions, as well as more ill-defined entities." (with a similar addition to WP:SELFPUB)


 * What Wikipedia is not
 * In WP:NOT, changed: [However, articles rarely, if ever, contain] "several" [distinct definitions or usages of the article's title.] to "more than one"
 * In WP:NOT, added: "In addition to avoiding battles in discussions, do not make changes to content or policies just to prove a point to someone that you disagree with." Added: "In large disputes, resist the urge to turn Wikipedia into a battleground between factions. Assume good faith that every editor and group is here to improve Wikipedia even if they hold a point of view that you disagree with. Work with whomever you like, but do not organize a faction with the main goal of disrupting Wikipedia’s fundamental decision–making process, which is based on building a consensus. Editors in large disputes should work in good faith to find broad principles of agreement between different viewpoints."


 * Article titles
 * New section: WP:TITLE. New subsection: WP:TITLE


 * Biographies of living persons
 * In the introduction, added: "Users who constantly or egregiously violate this policy may be blocked from editing."
 * In WP:BLP, changed: "BLPs" [that are unsourced and negative ...] to: "Pages"
 * In WP:BLP, added: "... what counts as exempt under BLP can be controversial."  Changed: [Editors who find themselves in edit wars over potentially defamatory material about living persons should] "bring the matter to the BLP noticeboard." to: "consider raising the matter at the BLP noticeboard instead of relying on the exemption."
 * In WP:BLP, changed: [The presumption in favor of privacy is strong in the case of family members of articles' subjects and other loosely involved persons,] "without independent notability." to: "otherwise low-profile persons."
 * In WP:BLP, changed: [Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced,] "poorly sourced, or" [not related to making content choices, should be removed ...] to: "or poorly sourced and"
 * In WP:BLP, added: "Any individual that would currently be less than 123 years old is assumed to be living unless a reliable source has confirmed death."
 * In WP:BLP, added: [The policy does not] "normally" [apply to edits about corporations, ...]. Changed: "With a small group or organization it is easier to draw a distinction between statements about the group's members (where BLP might apply) and statements about the organization itself (where it would not). This is harder to do with larger groups and organizations. When in doubt, make sure you are using high-quality sources." to: "A harmful statement about a small group or organization comes closer to being a BLP situation than a similar statement about a larger group; and when the group is very small, it may be impossible to draw any distinction between the group and the individuals that make up the group. When in doubt, make sure you are using high-quality sources."


 * Neutral point of view
 * Significant changes throughout since April


 * No original research
 * In WP:NOR, imported a paragraph from WP:NOR
 * In WP:NOR, added: "If you are able to discover something new, Wikipedia is not the place to premiere such a discovery."
 * In WP:NOR, changed: "The No original research policy and the verifiability policy reinforce each other by requiring that only assertions, theories, opinions, and arguments that have already been published in a reliable source may be used in Wikipedia." to: "The policy says that all material challenged or likely to be challenged, including quotations, needs a reliable source; what counts as a reliable source is described here."


 * Verifiability
 * New subsection: WP:V
 * Condensed WP:V


 * What Wikipedia is not
 * In the introduction, removed footnote: "...at some ultimate fundamental level, this is how Wikipedia will be run..." Jimmy Wales statement of principles number 6."
 * In WP:NOT, added: "Material unsuitable for talk pages may be subject to removal per the talk page guidelines."
 * In WP:NOT, changed: [Wikipedia should not offer first-hand news reports on breaking stories. Wikipedia is not a primary source. However,] "our sister project Wikinews does exactly that, and is intended to be a primary source." to: "our sister projects Wikisource and Wikinews do exactly that, and are intended to be primary sources."
 * In WP:NOT, added: [Wikipedia is not a place to hold grudges, import personal conflicts,] "carry on ideological battles, ..."


 * Article titles
 * Renamed WP:TITLE to WP:TITLE, and changed: [Where articles have descriptive titles,] "they should be neutrally worded. A descriptive article title should describe the subject without passing judgment ..." to: "choose titles that do not seem to pass judgment ..."
 * In WP:TITLE, added: "If there is a natural mode of disambiguation in standard English, as with Cato the Elder and Cato the Younger, use that instead."


 * Biographies of living persons
 * In WP:BLP, changed: "Administrators may enforce the removal of such material with page protection and blocks, even if they have been editing the article themselves. Editors who re-insert the material may be warned and blocked." to: "Administrators may enforce the removal of clear BLP violations with page protection or blocking the violator(s), even if they have been editing the article themselves or are in some other way involved. In less clear cases they should request the attention of an uninvolved administrator at Administrators Noticeboard/Incidents."
 * Several small but important changes to WP:BLP, and merged the WP:BLP section into this one
 * In WP:BLP, removed: "Where a news organization publishes an opinion piece but claims no responsibility it, the writer of the cited piece should be attributed (e.g., "Jane Smith has suggested...")"
 * In renamed section WP:BLP, added: [With identity theft on the rise, people increasingly regard their] "full names and" [dates of birth as private. Wikipedia includes] "full names and ..."
 * In renamed section WP:BLP, added: "high quality" [secondary sources]. Removed: "Any potentially damaging material about a living person may be included only if (1) it is corroborated by highly reliable sources, (2) it is relevant to the subject's notability, and (3) the Wikipedia article assumes no position on the material's veracity."
 * New section, subsuming other sections: WP:BLP
 * New subsection: WP:BLP
 * Substantial changes to WP:BLP and WP:BLP
 * New subsection: WP:BLP


 * Neutral point of view
 * Substantial changes throughout since March


 * No original research
 * Substantial changes to the introduction
 * Removed from WP:NOR: "If you are able to discover something new, Wikipedia is not the place to premiere such a discovery. Once your discovery has been published in a reliable source, it may be referenced."


 * Verifiability
 * Substantial changes throughout since March


 * What Wikipedia is not
 * A footnote was added to the introduction (now reverted)
 * In WP:NOT, added: "Nor will Wikipedia remove content because the internal bylaws of some organizations forbid that information from being displayed online. Any rules that forbid members of a given organization, fraternity, or religion from showing a name or image do not apply to Wikipedia because Wikipedia is not a member of those organizations."


 * Biographies of living persons
 * Significant changes throughout since February


 * Neutral point of view
 * Significant changes throughout since February


 * What Wikipedia is not
 * After Advertising, changed: [ External links to commercial organizations are acceptable if they identify major organizations] "associated with a topic (see finishing school for an example)." to: "which are the topic of the article."
 * In WP:NOT, added: "Dates are not definite until the event actually takes place."


 * Note: "article names" was changed to "article titles" in several policy pages, corresponding to the renaming of that policy page.


 * Article titles
 * Generally, changed "article name" to "article title"
 * In the introduction, added: [It] "should be interpreted in conjunction with other policies, particularly the three core content policies ..."
 * In WP:TITLE, changed: "... it is often reasonable to assume that sources will be switching to the new name. It is not necessary to give weight to sources which are known to be out of date. When a subject is too rarely mentioned in English to have a common English name, use the official name (as defined in a legal context, for example, such as a national constitution), or the name that the subject uses to describe itself or themselves. (For foreign terms, see the next section.)" to: "... it is reasonable to consider the usage since the change. When there is no obvious common name for the topic, as used by a significant majority of reliable English language sources, editors should reach a consensus as to which title is best."
 * Changed WP:TITLE to WP:TITLE, and added: "While titles for articles are subject to consensus," [do not invent names as a means of compromising ...]
 * Added to WP:BLP: "... it does not involve claims about events not directly related to the subject;"
 * New subsection, WP:BLP


 * Biographies of living persons, previous selected version
 * In the introduction, added: "... nor does this policy apply to people legally declared dead in absentia."
 * In WP:BLP, added: "It noted that there are problems with biographies of living persons that are overly promotional in tone, that are vandalized, and that contain errors and smears. The Foundation urges that special attention be paid to neutrality and verifiability regarding living persons; that human dignity and personal privacy be taken into account, especially in articles of ephemeral or marginal interest; that new technical mechanisms be investigated for assessing edits that affect living people; and that anyone who has a complaint about how they are described on the project's websites be treated with patience, kindness, and respect."
 * In WP:BLP, added: "Blpo is suitable for other articles containing information on people that are deceased but has information pertaining to others that are still alive."


 * Neutral point of view
 * Removed several paragraphs from WP:NPOV, and added: "An article should not give undue weight to any aspects of the subject but should strive to treat each aspect with a weight appropriate to its significance to the subject. How much weight is appropriate should reflect the weight that is given in current reliable sources. An article's coverage of individual events or opinions involving its subject may be verifiable and impartial, but still disproportionate to their overall significance to the topic. This is an important consideration when reporting on recent events that may be in the news. Note that undue weight can be given in several ways, including, but not limited to, depth of detail, quantity of text, prominence of placement, and juxtaposition of statements." Also removed a subsection heading, and changed: "from fairly explaining the strong arguments against the pseudoscientific theory; from describing the strong moral repugnance that many people feel toward some morally repugnant views; and so forth." to: "or from fairly explaining the significant-minority views, or even the tiny-minority theories if the latter are represented."
 * WP:NPOV was rewritten.


 * No original research
 * In the introduction, added: "All material added to articles on Wikipedia must be attributable to a reliable published source, even if not actually attributed in the text." Added: "The sourcing policy, Verifiability, says that citations must be added for any material challenged or likely to be challenged, and for all quotations."


 * Verifiability, previous selected version
 * In WP:V, after [The burden of evidence lies with the editor who adds or restores material.], added a footnote: "This is because it is generally much harder to prove that a statement cannot be sourced to the literature than to provide a citation to the source of the statement." Added: [Any material lacking a reliable source may be removed, but] "whether and" [how quickly this should happen depends ...]


 * What Wikipedia is not, previous selected version
 * In WP:NOT, changed: [articles rarely, if ever, contain several distinct definitions or usages of] "a term." to: "the article title."
 * In WP:NOT, added: "Please see Alternative outlets for alternatives." Made changes to the "sales catalog" paragraph.

See the Update talk page for discussion about the selected versions.


 * Biographies of living persons, selected version
 * The changes to the introduction are connected to Motion_regarding_BLP_deletions, WP:PROD_wheel_war and especially Requests for comment/Biographies of living people. It's not at all clear what the eventual outcomes of the current BLP discussions will be, especially since this page is currently protected.
 * In the introduction, added: [... that is unsourced or poorly sourced—whether the material is negative, positive,] "neutral," [or just questionable—should be removed immediately and without waiting for discussion.] Added: "As of January 2010, a push to source all material about living persons is under way. A discussion of how to accomplish this is taking place at Requests for comment/Biographies of living people."
 * In WP:BLP, added: [Images of living persons should not be used out of context to present a person in a false] "or disparaging" [light. This is particularly important for ...] "situations where a subject is not expecting to be photographed."
 * In WP:BLP, added: "However, images of living persons that have been generated by Wikipedia contributors or other sources may be used to illustrate articles, provided that they have been released under a copyright licence that is compatible with Wikipedia's image use policy for user-created images and subject to the considerations set out in Images above."


 * Naming conventions
 * In WP:NAME, added: "Common usage in reliable sources is preferred to technically correct but rarer forms, whether the official name, the scientific name, the birth name, the original name or the trademarked name."
 * In WP:NAME, added: [This practice] "of using specialized names" [is often controversial]. Changed: "uncommon" to: "common".


 * Neutral point of view
 * In WP:NPOV, changed "the most common name used in English-language publications is generally used; see also WP:Naming conventions (common names)." to: "proper names for people or events which incorporate non-neutral terms - e.g. Boston massacre, Tea Pot Dome scandal, Edward the Confessor, Jack the Ripper - are legitimate article titles when they are used by a consensus of the sources."
 * In WP:NPOV, changed: [... it may be shortened] "or moved" [if it gives undue weight to a minor point of view, as explained below.] to: "and moved to a new article"


 * No original research
 * Significant changes since December


 * Verifiability, selected version
 * Added to the nutshell: [published source] "using an inline citation. This applies to all articles, lists, and sections of articles, without exception."
 * In the introduction, changed: "Editors should provide a reliable source for quotations, and for any material that is challenged or likely to be challenged, or the material may be removed." to: "This policy requires that a reliable source in the form of an inline citation be supplied for any material that is challenged or likely to be challenged, and for all quotations, or the material may be removed. This is strictly applied to all material in the mainspace&mdash;articles, lists, and sections of articles&mdash;without exception, and in particular to information about living persons: unsourced contentious material about living persons should be removed immediately."
 * In WP:V, shuffled text around and reworded since December, but without any significant changes
 * In WP:V, removed: "Similarly, some self-published sources may be acceptable if substantial independent evidence for their reliability is found. For instance, widespread citations without comment by other reputable sources are a good indicator of reliability, while widespread doubts about accuracy weigh against the self-published source.  If outside citation is the main indicator of reliability, particular care should be taken to adhere to other guidelines and policies, and to not represent unduly contentious claims.  The goal is to reflect established views of sources as far as we can determine them."
 * In WP:V, changed: "Where editors translate a direct quotation, they should quote the relevant portion of the original text in a footnote or in the article." to: "When quoting a source in a different language, provide both the original-language quotation and an English translation, in the text or in a footnote. ... When citing a source in a different language, without quotations, the original and its translation should be provided if requested by other editors: this can be added to a footnote, or to the talk page if too long for a footnote. If posting original source material, editors should be careful not to violate copyright; see the fair-use guideline."


 * What Wikipedia is not, selected version
 * In WP:NOT, removed: "Words and images that would be considered offensive, profane, or obscene by typical Wikipedia readers should be used if and only if their omission would cause the article to be less informative, relevant, or accurate, and no equally suitable alternatives are available—however, when a cited quotation contains words that may be offensive, it should not be censored."
 * In WP:NOT, added: "and user talk page"


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