QUOTE(Amarkov @ Sun 23rd March 2008, 2:58am)
Regardless of what disclaimers may say, if something is billed as an encyclopedia, then it has a basic responsibility to be reasonably accurate. Especially when inaccuracy could be harmful.
I can put a bumper sticker on my taxi that reads, "The operator of this vehicle is not responsible for any injury to passengers…"
I can place fine print on my electronic gadget that reads, "this product may explode without warning,"
I can put a warning label on my candy bar, "may be fatal if swallowed."
Do we suppose a fair minded judge would dismiss a resulting claim after I point out, well, you see right here, I warned them!
Would twelve jurors say there's no problem with me remaining in business, doing business as usual?
The disclaimer is meant to be technically there, but relatively ineffective. If the goal were to make it effective, there would be a banner to this effect above the article titles. But then Wikipedia would be harming not its readers or bio subjects, but itself.
Well, you see, I'm not
really breaking my word: I was crossing my fingers!
As you would have seen, had you merely paid close attention to my posture (= clicked through the links.)
This post has been edited by Proabivouac: