Talk:Climatic Research Unit email controversy/FAQ

Discussion of this page should take place on Talk:Climatic Research Unit e-mail hacking incident.

Q1: Why is this article not called "Climategate" or have the word "scandal" in its title?

A1: Article names are expected to exhibit the highest degree of neutrality to satisfy Wikipedia's neutral point of view requirements. The use of "scandal" or "-gate" frequently implies wrongdoing or a particular point of view. Such terms are words to avoid and should not be used in article titles. Climategate is a redirect to this article, so users typing that in the search box will be directed here. You are not prohibited from proposing a rename, but renaming an article requires consensus. Proposals to rename the article to "Climategate" have consistently been rejected in the course of multiple discussions. However, since then a request was placed on the Neutral point of view noticeboard and an uninvolved editor has said that article title is not appropriate: "The article title "Climatic Research Unit e-mail hacking incident" is inappropriate for the information that nearly any person is likely to be seeking. Currently, this page is the top ranked page for 'Climategate' on a Google search. If it is possible, someone should look at the referral logs from search engines and determine if 'Climategate' is used significantly more often than other search terms arriving at this page. Certainly, if you have logs showing that people arrive here on the heels of a search for 'Climategate' ten times more often than any other, then you should at least create a 'Climategate' page describing Climategate as such rather than the particular partisan beast that you have in place.".[1]

Q2: Why aren't there links to various emails?

A2: The emails themselves are both primary sources and copyright violations. Wikipedia avoids using primary sources (WP:PRIMARY), and avoids linking to Copyright violations. If a specific email has been discussed in a reliable, secondary source, use that source, not the email.

Q3: Why is/isn't a specific blog being used as a source?

A3: Blogs are not typically reliable sources. Blogs by published experts writing in their field of expertise, however, are reliable sources.

Q4: Aren't the emails/other documents in the public domain?

A4: No. Some of the hacked documents are covered by Crown Copyright, others by private copyright. The Freedom of Information Act does not affect copyright.

Q5:Why does the article refer to a hacking and to stolen documents? Couldn't this be an accidental release of information or released by a whistleblowing insider ?

A5: Wikipedia reports the facts from reliable sources. Norfolk Constabulary say that they, alongside a specialist team from the Metropolitan Police, are "investigating criminal offences in relation to a data breach at the University of East Anglia", and both the University and a science blog, RealClimate, have reported server hacking incidents directly associated with this affair.

Q6: Why is there a biographies of living persons (BLP) notice at the top of this page? This article is about an event, and the Climatic Research Unit is not a living person.

A6: The BLP applies to all pages on Wikipedia, specifically to all potentially negative statements about living persons. It does not apply solely to articles about living persons. The notice is there to remind us to take care that all statements regarding identifiable living persons mentioned in the article or talk page comply with all Wikipedia policies and with the law, per the BLP.

Q7: What do I do if I have a complaint about the conduct of other people editing or discussing this article?

A7: Follow the dispute resolution policy. It is not optional. Unduly cluttering the talk page with complaints about other editors' behavior is wasteful. In the case of egregiously bad conduct only, consider contacting an administrator.

Q8: I think there is inadequate consensus on a matter of policy. What should I do?

A8: There are several options. Consider posting the issue on one of the noticeboards, or starting a request for comment (RFC) on the question.