This is the email exchange between my son Gareth Icke and Wikipedia, whose president is big-time Israel supporter Jimmy Wales although this fact does not appear in his own Wikipedia profile.
From Gareth Icke
To: [email protected]
I have several times removed the claim that my father, David Icke has denied the holocaust. He has never once denied anything of the sort. A Wikipedia editor in Israel (screen shotted) continues to edit that in to my fathers page, as well as claiming he is antisemitic. He is not, and has never been.
I find it disgusting that people are allowed to write libellous content on your website, without any repercussions.
Regards,
Gareth Icke
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From: Wikipedia Volunteer Response Team <[email protected]>
Date: Fri, May 25, 2018 at 10:07 AM
Subject: Re: [Ticket#2018052510003863] David Icke Wikipedia
To: Gareth Icke
Dear Gareth Icke,
Thank you for contacting Wikipedia. I would like to offer some general advice to subjects of Wikipedia biographies.
Wikipedia is a collaborative encyclopedia written by its readers. The project is a "wiki", which means that anyone visiting the site can edit or add to pages. There is a general introduction to Wikipedia here: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About>.
One of our most important policies is that on biographies of living individuals: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Biographies_of_living_persons>. We also require that all articles adhere to the neutral point of view: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Neutral_point_of_view>.
As the subject of one of our articles, we encourage you to create an account. This is free and helps members of the Wikipedia community to communicate with you. You can create an account here: <https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Userlogin>. If you are having problems creating an account, you may request an account be created for you at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Request_an_account>
Each article has an associated "discussion page" or "talk page"; you can access this by clicking the "discussion" link at the top of the article. You can then ask a question by selecting the "new section" link in the tabs at the top of the page. You will see two text boxes for you to write in: one for a title for your question and one for the question itself. At the top of each page is an "edit" tab, and clicking this tab allows readers to edit the page. To find the specific authors of a page, you can click on the "history" link at the top of the article.
Each Wikipedia editor has a personal user page that you can reach by clicking on their name; that user page has an associated "discussion page" where you can leave them messages. These users' discussion pages can be edited in the same way as article discussion pages.
We would encourage you (or your representatives) to use the article's talk page rather than edit the article directly. This is to protect your own reputation against possible adverse publicity caused by editing your own Wikipedia biography, something that has caused adverse comment in the past and we've formulated a guideline here: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Autobiography>. The community's views on edits by subjects and those working for them can be seen at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Conflict_of_interest>. Obviously we make an exception for fixing obvious vandalism.
It is very important to avoid the use of legal language and threats. We have an absolute prohibition on this: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:No_legal_threats>. In order to maintain an orderly atmosphere we also prohibit personal attacks: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:No_personal_attacks>, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Civility>. If you feel attacked or threatened then please ask for help.
Wikipedia policy is that all articles should remain open for editing by our users as a process of continuous improvement. Though in extreme cases we may "lock" pages from receiving edits for a short time, pages are then reopened for editing, as most edits we receive improve our articles. Because of this, we do not lock articles on request. However, we strive to keep articles free of vandalism and inaccurate material. There is a noticeboard specifically for biographical issues at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Biographies_of_living_persons/Noticeboard>, this is widely watched and is a good place to ask for help. For more general assistance you can use the help desk, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Helpdesk>, or add the text {{helpme}} (including the curly braces) on your talk page.
In some cases an article may be deleted, either due to unfixable problems or because of lack of reliable independent sources, as noted in our guideline on inclusion of biographies: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Criteria_for_Inclusion_of_Biographies> and <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Importance>. This is absolutely not a judgment on the individual themselves, only on whether there are sufficient sources of a quality that allows us to compile a biography which meets objective standards of fairness and accuracy.
Again, we thank you for approaching us with your concerns. The communities of our projects are collaborative and will work with you or your agents to adjust the issues you are having with our content. This will be in-line with project standards, but we do consider the concerns of the subjects in the decision making process. We hope that you find a pleasant resolution and thank you again for contacting us.
Yours sincerely,
Chrissy Anderson
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From: Gareth Icke
To: Wikipedia Volunteer Response Team <[email protected]>
Let me get this right... So even though what is being said is libellous, there is nothing I can do about it? The libellous material has once again been returned to the page and I have been given a final warning for removing it.
What would happen if I went on to say, Bruce Forsyth, and said he blew up goats for a laugh? Would his family be given a 'final warning' for removing that?
