The Mike Handel Story Options

[John Limey]

BLP hoax accusing fake Oxford professor of murder makes it into the DYK section and draws 4300 page views. Read all about it at On Wikipedia.

This post has been edited by John Limey:

[EricBarbour]

Nice work, JL! Thanks!

And....here's MuffledThud asking for help on Resource Exchange.

Still hasn't figured out he was punked. Poor lad/whatever.

So, what happened to the BLP itself? Oversighted out of existence?

This post has been edited by EricBarbour:

[Milton Roe]

Nice work, JL! Thanks!

And....here's MuffledThud asking for help on Resource Exchange.

Still hasn't figured out he was punked. Poor lad/whatever.

I have to imagine "MufledThud" as the sound of his jaw hitting the floor when he finally figures out he's been pwned. (IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/jawdrop.gif)

As for the rest of WP and the chattering-class of obstructionism, there, it may be that this helps not at all. Some people are so stupid that it's impossible to score any debate points against them, because they don't recognize they've been wrong and that they're position is illogical or untennable. They still keep on with it as though nothing had happened. For them, the pointiest POINT might as well be blunt and dull. There is no difference in effect.

Perhaps somebody will pick up on the question of the episemological relevence of a citation to a newspaper of record, that doesn't exist on-line and that nobody is willing to dig out of a morgue. If a citation is about an event and nobody reads it, is it the same as if it didn't exist in the first place? Dead tree standard fall in forest; no noise! (IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/blink.gif) (IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/ermm.gif) (IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/hmmm.gif)

(IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/confused.gif)

We've long had an argument that WP can't do any damage by resurrecting or exhuming these factoids about living people, and putting them on the web, when they should by all rights have stayed decently mouldering away in the morgue, undisturbed. And now we're sure to see an identical argument that it can't do any real harm if WP puts up such stuff when it's actually imaginary.

In the end, the people who argue for BLP for such people who have only morgue stuff available on them, don't really care if that information actually exists in the morgue or not, do they? The truth is not the POINT. They just like to write BLPs. The argument about "reliable sources" which are timeless (notability is NOT temporary, yo, yo) is a distraction, and it doesn't matter what you prove, or don't prove, about it. It won't change their minds, because they do this stuff to non-notables because they want to, not because they can defend it with any sort of cogent argument of any kind.

But at least we have cleared some rubbish out of the way.