Wikipedia:Unreferenced biographies of living people

Superseded by WP:BLPPROD

Biographies of living people should be sourced at creation, if they are to remain on Wikipedia. The unreferenced backlog needs to be addressed within set timescale that allows for as many to be fixed as people are willing to fix, enlisting as much help from Wikiprojects as possible. Speedy deletion should cease with the advent of an agreed policy.

Background

A core policy of Wikipedia is that all material should be shown to be verifiable, and ideally properly sourced. Unsourced material which is challenged may always be removed unless verified, the onus being on the one wishing to retain the material to show sources that verify it.

With biographical material we have taken a stronger line. Unsourced or poorly sourced material, which may be controversial, MUST be removed. We have a duty not to publish material on living people which is not supported by reliable sources.

There is concern that we now have thousands of biographies of living people that are utterly unsourced, and have been marked as such, in some cases for over four years. Although editors have always been encouraged to fix these articles, the backlog has grown and continues to grow.

Some of these article will contain unfair, untrue, or not neutral material. We cannot tell this unless we check their content against reliable sources, and do so in a systematic and maintainable way. Insisting that every BLP article contains at least rudimentary sourcing is a basic prerequisite of this.

Against this, we need to give as much opportunity as possible for articles to be fixed, with appropriate notification and encouragement.

New biographies

Going forward, any unsourced BLP created from the date of this policy being agreed, may be tagged with {{subst:Prod blp|reason}} and the creator notified. The tag and notification shall politely and without biting inform that the article requires proper sourcing, and invite all editors to source it. It should also point new editors to places they can get help. A bot should be used to notify any wikiprojects that have been mentioned on the talk page - encouraging them to help out.

The tag shall state that it must not be removed unless the editor first references the article, or the editor believes that the existing sources are indeed sufficient. After 7 days, any article remaining tagged may be deleted (if the admin agrees it is unsourced).

However, it may be userfied at any time on request, or undeleted if an editor undertakes to source it within a reasonable time frame. The wikiprojects should be given a list of deleted articles so that interested editors can request undeletion in order to source them.

Existing backlog

These should be treated differently. There should be no mass prodding that might swamp the system and frustrate efforts to reference them. However, there should also be some deadline.

Initially, a bot should provide each wikiproject with a list of unsourced articles ascribed to it, so that interested users may fix them. The bot can update this list so that only outstanding unreferenced articles are listed, plus a list of any articles that might be deleted under this process, so that undeletion can be requested if someone is later willing to fix them.

• In the first instance all BLP articles which have been marked as unreferenced for over two years should be marked for deletion. However, they should be given one month's grace to allow referencing. In fact, many BLPs tagged as "unreferenced" are, in fact, already referenced, so the number may not be so great.
• When stage one is complete, all articles tagged as unreferenced for over 18 months should be marked for deletion. Rinse and repeat.
• Subsequent stages of 12 months, and then 6 months, (perhaps then 3 months)*, and then all remaining unsourced BLPs should be run through the process. This allows for the backlog to be cleared in six months. (This timescale could be extended a bit if necessary.)

In all cases, deleted articles may later be restored (or userfied) if anyone undertakes to source them.

(*The backlog seems heaviest in the last year, and this may require a slower pace)

Speedy deletions

Notwithstanding ArbCom's recent motion, if this policy is adopted, it shall explicitly be considered against policy and disruptive if any BLP is speedy deleted merely for being unsourced (this does not affect deletions under the current deletion policy - G10 and A7). Whatever justification there may or may not have been for recent admin action, future speedies are regarded as unjustifiable when a proper timed process has been agreed by the community.

See also

• Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Biographies of living people
• Category:All unreferenced BLPs

An alternative view

• Wikipedia:Please do not bite the newcomers
• Wikipedia:Newbie treatment at Criteria for speedy deletion