Wikipedia:Update/1/Content policy changes during January 2009

This policy applies equally to biographies of living persons and to biographical material about living persons on other pages. The burden of evidence for any edit on Wikipedia, but especially for edits about living persons, rests firmly on the shoulders of the person who adds or restores the material. This burden applies not just to verifiability of sources, but to all Wikipedia content policies and guidelines. In the case of deceased individuals, material must still comply with all wikipedia policies and prompt removal of questionable material is proper.




  • Wikipedia:No original research
    • Added to WP:NOR#Synthesis of published material which advances a position: "If you are able to prove something that few or none currently believe, Wikipedia is not the place to première such a proof. Once a proof has been presented and discussed elsewhere, however, it may be referenced. See: Wikipedia:Verifiability."
    • Removed from WP:PSTS: "Wikipedia articles should rely mainly on published reliable secondary sources and, to a lesser extent, on tertiary sources. All interpretive claims, analyses, or synthetic claims about primary sources must be referenced to a secondary source, rather than original analysis of the primary-source material by Wikipedia editors."
    • Added the word "secondary" to: "Articles may include analytic, synthetic, interpretive, explanatory, or evaluative claims so long as they have been published by a reliable secondary source."
    • Removed "easily" and "any" from: "Without a secondary source, a primary source may be used only to make descriptive claims, the accuracy of which is [easily] verifiable by a [any] reasonable, educated person without specialist knowledge."
    • The paragraph on "routine calculations" was moved from the lead section down to the WP:SYN section.