Background
This page was created after a private citizen's page was removed (as requested). The user's name and identifying information has been stripped from the conversation below, but the discussion about removal of this user remains for:
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Historical purposes
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Hopefully this discussion will result in uniform guidelines for removing the personal page of a "private" citizen if he or she requests this.
Talk Page
With a description such as “coolest _ in Rochester…well known for her interesting and colorful attire” i might too request it be deleted, but this sets a bad precedent. Shall the wiki now upon request remove any entry, even not libelous? Had the removal taken down only an initial entry, i might not be too concerned, but it had accrued comments. Had the entry more substantive writing or concerned a public figure, removing entries upon request would smack of censorship. Removing even one entry threatens future contributions if writers feel censorship, especially any need to self-censor. Why did _ request her page be deleted? Could this precedent have been avoided by not creating a short, caricatured, page stub?
Comments:
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2007-03-27 15:42:25 Is it appropriate to continue this discussion and not simply let her go as she requested? —PeteB
2007-03-27 15:52:36 If _ were someone in the public eye, I'd be against deleting her entry. In this case, she's a private citizen and someone else created a page about her. She wanted it deleted. So be it. I don't see a censorship issue. I suggest we delete this page since it defeats the purpose of deleting her original page. —RottenChester
2007-03-27 16:38:31 Agreed Rot —PeteB
2007-03-27 20:17:24 is a bit of a public figure, and is well known in her neighborhood. She's also a good friend of mine, but as she's a rather shy, private person, she asked that the page be removed, and I complied. Personally, I think that she's well-known enough to have a page, but I think she has a right to remain unknown on RocWiki if she likes. —GrahamSaathoff
2007-03-27 22:53:39 All of us, even politicians like George Bush, are private citizens in some capacity, and being a private citizen solely is a vague standard in consdering whether any figure merits an article. Journalism considers, for example, whether someone sought publicity. Does wearing colorful clothes count? Hmm, maybe not, but being the “coolest l _ in Rochester” might, if she ever claimed herself as so. In this case, i agree with everyone. We should retain this discussion though, but elided for our subject, and placed under a different title, maybe as part of Wikiquette unless someone has another suggestion? —JohnLam
2007-03-27 22:57:41 John - Sounds good to me. If there are no objections, sometime tomorrow I will change the name of this page to remove _ name. For the record, never claimed to be "the coolest _ in Rochester," but several others have described her this way, including myself. —GrahamSaathoff
2007-03-28 08:32:46 Graham, I assume you'll remove any content on the page that has her full name, right? Otherwise the Google will still find it. Thanks. —RottenChester
2007-03-28 09:12:10 Rot - yes, I will. Thanks for reminding me to do this. —GrahamSaathoff
