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This is really more of a legal question than one about the internet or a particular website like Wiki.
I want to make an entry in Wiki about an individual who was a very well known athlete in his sport and event a long-time ago when he was in HS & College, but don't know how to contact him to ask if he has a problem with my intentions ? I don't even know if he's still alive ( he would be in his 70s today if still living) ?
Odd question I know, but concerned about ending up with legal exposure from this man or his survivors ?
"Gather references both to use as source(s) of the information you will include and to demonstrate the notability of your article's subject matter. References to blogs, personal websites, Facebook and YouTube are unsuitable – we need reliable sources. There are many places to find reliable sources, including your local library, but if internet-based sources are to be used, start with books and news archive searches rather than a simple web search. Extra care should be taken to make sure that articles on living persons have reliable sources – articles about living people without reliable sources may be deleted, especially if they include negative or controversial content."
Thank you for the time and interest and response you made for my question reed303, but I dunno for sure how it answers what I'm asking ?
My subject set the Missouri Scholastic state Track record in the 440 yard dash event in 1957 (at that time they ran 440 yards for the event, i.e., it was not metric and run @ 400 meters as it is today), and several years later while competing collegiately he finished second in that event in the NCAA 440 finals run at Eugene, Oregon, which was and remains today the top collegiate Track Meet in the country. These achievements are highly notable and certainly the info is available in archives of newspapers, so there's reliable documentation available and accesable in electronic form.
But still, there's the issue of getting the green-lite from the subject since I know not how to contact him, though I'm fairly confidant but not certain that he is still living.
Odd question I know, but concerned about ending up with legal exposure from this man or his survivors ?
I'm not lawyer so consult one if what you are going to write puts the person in a bad light. Also note that Wiki's policies may differ than legal ones.
Proving defamation is not easy becsue the onus is on those that are suing, they have to prove it was false statement and caused harm. A false statement in itself is not grounds for a lawsuit. As long as what you write as statements of fact is true then you can't be successfully sued. While the burden of proof is on the person you are writing about I'd very careful about making sure those statements are accurate and can be verified.
I'm not lawyer so consult one if what you are going to write puts the person in a bad light.
On the contrary, I'm going to write nothing but positive information about the man because it will basically be factual information about his career as one of the top amatuer track athletes in his particular event during his time as a competitor in high school and college in the late 1950s & early 1960s.
I've posted several Wiki articles about people, but I think all were dead. Wiki is fussy about living people, and might challenge your posting, unless you back it up with several corroborating source citations and don't put in anything personal (as opposed to professional) besides place and date of birth.
Very large numbers of athletes are in there, including every person who ever played even a single game of major league baseball, and there are over 10,000 former and current MLB players. If he is still alive, just be sure to include only actual athletic accomplishments, and include citations to corroborating sources of them. It's also OK to include a bit of education background, like where he went to high school and college and whether he earned a degree..
It's not a bad idea to request permission from the subject, but I seriously doubt that there are any legal ramifications unless your article actually slanders somebody. Even then, it is possible to submit anonymously, but if you do, Wiki editors will delete it very quickly if there is any inappropriate material in it.
Posting in Wiki is not very intuitive, but for a simple short entry, youj can just go to edit mode for a page already existing, and see the markups that were used in formatting it, and follow that as a guide.
I've posted several Wiki articles about people, but I think all were dead. Wiki is fussy about living people, and might challenge your posting, unless you back it up with several corroborating source citations and don't put in anything personal (as opposed to professional) besides place and date of birth.
Very large numbers of athletes are in there, including every person who ever played even a single game of major league baseball, and there are over 10,000 former and current MLB players. If he is still alive, just be sure to include only actual athletic accomplishments, and include citations to corroborating sources of them. It's also OK to include a bit of education background, like where he went to high school and college and whether he earned a degree..
It's not a bad idea to request permission from the subject, but I seriously doubt that there are any legal ramifications unless your article actually slanders somebody. Even then, it is possible to submit anonymously, but if you do, Wiki editors will delete it very quickly if there is any inappropriate material in it.
Posting in Wiki is not very intuitive, but for a simple short entry, youj can just go to edit mode for a page already existing, and see the markups that were used in formatting it, and follow that as a guide.
One of the reasons I can't locate this person is that he's got a very common name. It's as common as,
oh say "Jim Baker". If he had a real uncommon or unusual name he'd be easier to locate. My wife is big into Geneology and knows about locating persons, but she hasn't been able to locate this fellow.
But my source documentation is very good as he was a prominent track athlete who competed at the state level in Missouri, regionally and even at the national level and his performances are recorded in the archives of the KC Star & St Louis Post Dispatch and there's also documentation in many other places.
Slander or anything negative about the man is the last thing I'm interested in, rather I want to praise the mans athletic career since he was sorta a child hero of mine - he was the best in his event when he was competing and no surfprise here, but it was also my event.
I have no technical skills about Web Development, so I'm wondering can I hire somebody at Wiki to make my entries for this person or must I learn and develope the skills myself so I can make the additions to Wiki ?
I also intend to associate/link him into his High School.
Very thankful for your help jtur88 as you obviously have been down this road before and know what you are doing, and as I'm sure you can see I know virtually nothing about this process. Thanks so much, and would appreciate anything else you could add or suggest.
Do it, you can't seriously believe everyone on Wikipedia that is alive gave consent? That's really not how it works. As long as you aren't slanderous there is exactly zero risk to putting it up. Even if on the outside chance his daughter sees it and objects, it will be taken down. Again, as long as it isn't slanderous there is no way someone is going to sue you over it.
Kind of the point of Wikipedia.
Do it!
PS. Why hide the guys name? Really you can tell us.
Do it, you can't seriously believe everyone on Wikipedia that is alive gave consent? That's really not how it works. As long as you aren't slanderous there is exactly zero risk to putting it up. Even if on the outside chance his daughter sees it and objects, it will be taken down. Again, as long as it isn't slanderous there is no way someone is going to sue you over it.
Kind of the point of Wikipedia.
Do it!
PS. Why hide the guys name? Really you can tell us.
I'm not hiding it, his name is my UserID on this site: "Jim Baker" set the Missouri Scholastic 440 yard dash record in 1957 with a time of 48.8 seconds. If you happen to be a Track & Field buff, you recognize that as a very impressive performance in the 440 way back in that time-period. However if you aren't, that stat would most likely be utterly meaningless to you.
But thanks for your advise and encouragement Peregrine, I appreciate it !
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